EANS-News: Nordex SE Nordex: Profitable growth underpinned by a new corporate
strategy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corporate news transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer/originator is solely
responsible for the content of this announcement.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Strategic management decisions
Subtitle:
Focused sales strategy
New turbines with cost-optimized design
Strengthening of the purchasing department
Hamburg (euro adhoc) - Hamburg, 13 September 2012. "Over the next five years, we
want to increase our annual sales to around EUR 1.5 billion and generate a
margin of over 5 percent," says Dr. Jürgen Zeschky (52), CEO of Nordex SE. The
group is aiming for sales of up to EUR 1.1 billion in the current year. Seven
months after taking up his position, Zeschky together with the other members of
the Management Board unveiled the wind turbine manufacturer's new corporate
strategy. With a sales strategy targeted at selected customer groups and market
segments, Nordex plans to grow at a slightly faster rate than the market as a
whole over the next few years. The analysts at MAKE Consulting expect sales
volumes in the wind power industry to expand by 6% on average p.a. in the medium
term.
Looking forward, Nordex's target customers will comprise large utilities and
increasingly also smaller developers as well as mid-size operators and private
equity investors. The latter group will be a particular focus of the "Project
Development" business unit. This distribution channel is to grow more quickly
than conventional new business. Nordex is strengthening its skills in turn-key
management for this business in particular so that it is able to supply a
greater volume of turnkey wind farms. The company plans to harness additional
growth potential from the service business and is expanding its activities in
this area accordingly. Chief Customer Officer Lars Bondo Krogsgaard explains:
"We are currently generating attractive margins in this segment in particular
and are thus able to make an important contribution to improving our
profitability."
Further significant initiatives include strengthening of the purchasing and
engineering departments. Thus, Nordex wants to lower its product costs by a
double-digit percentage. To this end, suppliers are to be integrated closely in
the product development process. Explains Jürgen Zeschky: "In engineering and
also in our partnerships with our suppliers, the goal must always be to strike
an intelligent balance between costs, quality and efficiency." In this
connection, Nordex will concentrate on the development of wind turbines which
are capable of operating at grid parity and competing internationally with
fossil-fuel power stations. "The launch of the Nordex N117 marked the beginning
of a new product cycle. This turbine is enjoying great success due to its
efficiency in light wind locations. We must now increase product development
speed," Zeschky adds.
Chief Financial Officer Bernard Schäferbarthold is also optimistic: "Looking
ahead over the next few years, we are aiming for a neutral free cash flow." This
will be underpinned by strict working capital management, a strategy which has
already proved to be successful in the first quarters of the year.
As part of its reorientation, the company has decided to reduce the size of its
Management Board to three members. Accordingly, responsibility for operations
will pass to CEO Jürgen Zeschky, who has ceded a number of administrative
functions to the CFO.
Further inquiry note:
Felix Losada
Tel.: +49 (0)40 300 30 1141
flosada@nordex-online.com
end of announcement euro adhoc
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
company: Nordex SE
Langenhorner Chaussee 600
D-22419 Hamburg
phone: +49 (0)40 30030-1000
FAX: +49 (0)40 30030-1101
mail: info@nordex-online.com
WWW: http://www.nordex-online.com
sector: Alternative energy
ISIN: DE000A0D6554, DE0000A0D66L2
indexes: TecDAX, CDAX, HDAX, Prime All Share, Technology All Share, ÖkoDAX
stockmarkets: free trade: Berlin, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart,
regulated dealing/prime standard: Frankfurt
language: English