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A boom in wind farm construction has pushed up profits at Dong Energy in the first half of its financial year.
The strong performance of its wind power division was partially offset by the impact of lower gas, oil and power prices.
The Danish firm’s EBITDA for the period rose by 19 per cent year-on-year to DKK 12.4 billion (£1.4 billion). Revenues fell by 7 per cent to DKK 35.25 billion (£3.96 billion).
Revenues from its wind power division rose by 61 per cent to DKK 12.26 billion (£1.38 billion). Around two thirds of revenues came from construction contracts, including for the Burbo Bank Extension in the UK.
This boom in construction was largely responsible for a 68 per cent increase in the division’s EBITDA to DKK 5.17 billion (£580 million). Profits from construction contracts nearly quadrupled to DKK 2.83 billion (£320 million).
Earnings from wind farms already in operation rose by a much more modest 5 per cent. Increased generation from new additions, including the Westermost Rough farm in Britain, was offset by a general decline in generation across the rest of its portfolio due to lower winds.
The rise in Dong’s first half profits was mainly driven by its performance in the first three months of the period. In the second quarter the company’s EBITDA was actually down by 2 per cent year-on-year to DKK 4.32 billion (£480 million) largely because of a 69 per cent drop in profits from its distribution and customer solutions division.
Dong said Britain’s decision to leave the European Union is “unlikely to result to result in any fundamental changes to the UK offshore wind sector”. It said the “ongoing transformation” of the country’s energy system is driven more by “national objectives for security of supply, cost effectiveness, decarbonisation and industrial development” than by membership of the union.
The results are the first to be released since Dong was floated on the Copenhagen stock exchange in June. In the same month a report revealed the firm is expected to invest £5.4 billion in offshore wind in the UK by 2019.
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