Orsted Reports Widened Net Loss After Booking Hefty Impairments

By Dominic Chopping

Orsted second-quarter net loss unexpectedly widened after it booked hefty impairments on wind and synthetic fuel projects.

The Danish renewable-energy company said Thursday that impairments in the quarter totaled 3.91 billion Danish kroner ($577.1 million), mainly due to delays in the construction of an onshore substation for its U.S. Revolution Wind offshore project and as it has decided to walk away from its FlagshipONE synthetic fuels project in Sweden.

Orsted's FlagshipONE project was being built to produce e-methanol, a liquid fuel made using green hydrogen and carbon dioxide to power shipping and heavy industries.

"The liquid e-fuel market in Europe is developing slower than expected, and we have taken the strategic decision to de-prioritize our efforts within the market and cease the development of FlagshipONE," Orsted Chief Executive Mads Nipper said.

The company reported second-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization excluding new partnerships--the company's preferred metric--of 5.27 billion kroner from 3.32 billion kroner, beating a FactSet consensus of 4.75 billion kroner.

The net loss attributable to shareholders came in at 1.72 billion kroner from a loss of 596 million kroner a year earlier, as revenue rose 3.1% to 15.02 billion kroner. A FactSet consensus had seen net profit at 1.33 billion kroner on revenue of 16.57 billion kroner.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 15, 2024 02:57 ET (06:57 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.