But, for some, there have been clouds and silver linings in equal measure.
A good example was Nordex. It was able to announce a 59% rise in orders, with the majority coming from the competitive US market. The US accounts for 25% of revenue compared with 12% in Q1 last year.
However, "structural costs" have lowered profits with earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) dropping to €1.6 million from €7.1 million last year. Additionally, the company will fail to hit its EBIT target of 4% and said this was unlikely to be achieved until next year.
Recently, Gamesa has faced a lack of activity in its home market of Spain, but has seen a four-fold rise in Latin American sales to 243MW for H1. The firm confirmed year-on-year first-half global revenue and pre-tax profit both rose by 26%, thanks to strong growth in Latin America and India. Europe — primarily Eastern Europe — and China remain Gamesa's largest markets, accounting for 27% and 20% of sales respectively.
The world's number one supplier Vestas posted better-than-expected H1 results. Pre-tax profit for Q2 of €77 million was above the €62 million predicted by analysts. Vestas' turnover was €2,461 million with a pre-tax profit of €8 million, up from €1,881 million in revenues in H1 2010. Vestas also announced it would maintain its FY2011 guidance of 7-8GW of new orders. However, to date, Vestas has secured just 3.5GW of new orders and Matrix Group analyst Michael McNamara said in his advisory note that the firm would need to accelerate new order announcements to hit the 7-8GW target.
Suzlon Group recorded a Q1 profit of $79 million for the three months to 30 June 2011. Hitting positive figures was a significant improvement following a loss of $152 million in the same period last year. This 8.1% profit margin was recorded on revenues of $980 million, up 80% on revenues of $544 million in the same quarter last year. Turbine orders totalled 580MW for the quarter and the group's order book, including subsidiary Repower, stood at 4.74GW as of 29 July 2011.
Repower has announced a 23% increase in revenue to EUR248.3 million as part of its preliminary results for Q1 2011, with offshore playing a large role. Repower said the rise, which covers the three months preceding 30 June, is largely attributable to higher demand from the North American and offshore markets.
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