Orsted warns costs up again at US offshore wind project
Q3 core earnings 4.44 bln crowns vs forecast 4.61 bln
Sees FY EBITDA 24-26 bln crowns vs 23-26 bln before
Cost of Revolution Wind project up another 1.7 bln crowns
Adds CEO quote in paragraph 2, details on U.S. impairments in 3-6
By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen
COPENHAGEN, Nov 5 (Reuters) -Orsted ORSTED.CO, the world's biggest offshore wind farm developer, on Tuesday reported third-quarter operating profit slightly below expectations and flagged construction problems and higher costs at a large U.S. offshore wind project.
"I am pleased with our operational performance and financial results," CEO Mads Nipper said in a statement, adding that costs had again gone up at Revolution Wind, one of its two large wind projects off the U.S. east coast.
Earlier this year, Orsted booked impairment losses of 2.1 billion Danish crowns ($307 million) related to the 704 megawatt (MW) Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island and Connecticut and pushed back the start of commercial operations to 2026.
The company said problems with the installation of an offshore substation had increased the cost of the project by another 1.7 billion crowns in the third quarter.
This was partly offset by a reversal of impairment losses at the 924 MW Sunrise project off New York, the company said.
In total, the company booked impairment losses between July and September of 284 million crowns, compared with 3.9 billion crowns in the second quarter.
Orsted last year found itself at the centre of a perfect storm of rising inflation, higher interest rates and supply chain delays, forcing it to cancel offshore projects in the United States, and related impairments surged above $4 billion.
Profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and excluding new partnerships fell 14% to 4.44 billion crowns ($648 million) in the third quarter. Analysts had on average forecast 4.61 billion in a company-provided poll.
Orsted now expects EBITDA for the full year at between 24 billion and 26 billion crowns, compared with its previous guidance of between 23 billion and 26 billion crowns.
($1 = 6.8477 Danish crowns)
Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Louise Rasmussen and Mark Potter
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