Nordex shares punished after the trading day: Nordex corrects annual targets – numbers in the red possible

In 2022, black numbers can only be achieved in the best case. The company is currently anticipating an operating loss in the current year. “We have to assume that some of these effects will accompany us into the coming year,” said CEO José Luis Blanco, according to a statement on Tuesday evening. The news frightened investors on the stock exchange: Compared to the Xetra closing price, the Nordex shares were listed 8.3 percent lower on the Tradegate trading platform after the hours.

Instead of an operating profit margin (EBITDA margin) of 1 to 3.5 percent, the board now expects minus 4 to 0 percent, the company, which is listed in the SDAX small-cap index, surprisingly announced on Tuesday evening after the stock exchange closed in Hamburg. At 5.2 to 5.7 billion euros, sales will be somewhat lower than previously assumed (5.4 to 6.0). For comparison: Nordex closed the past year with sales of EUR 5.4 billion and an operating result of EUR 52.7 million.

The reason for the canceled forecast is that at the end of March the Ukraine war and the consequences of the corona lockdowns in China “due to a lack of sufficient foreseeability” could not have been taken into account. The consequences of both geopolitical events are now included in the updated outlook. The company also expects a loss of sales of around 200 million euros as a result of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. Furthermore, further write-downs are to be expected. “The immediate impact of this could amount to up to one percentage point of the Ebitda margin in fiscal year 2022,” it said.

The volatile situation and the disruptions in the supply chain, especially in the case of sea freight bookings, are putting a considerable strain on ongoing projects, the board of directors said. There are significant shortages of steel and other critical components. It is true that the scope and extent are difficult to estimate and even more difficult to predict. However, Nordex expects that these factors will also weigh on the Ebitda margin.

The new forecast also includes the costs and effects of a hacker attack at the end of March. This has already resulted in Nordex postponing the presentation of the figures for the first quarter until mid-June. Because access to various systems was then temporarily restricted, internal processes were delayed.

HAMBURG (dpa-AFX)

Image sources: Lukassek / Shutterstock.com, Nordex