ABO Wind reports another record result and growing pipeline

With a net profit of EUR 27.3 million, the ABO Wind Group has exceeded the previous year's record figure of EUR 24.6 million by eleven percent. The Managing Board expects further significant growth in the coming years. "In the medium term, we are aiming for annual results of EUR 50 million," says Managing Director Dr Karsten Schlageter.

ABO Wind increased its revenue by 29 per cent to 299.7 million euros in 2023. This is primarily due to the large volume of billed construction services worth 154.6 million euros (previous year: 96.2 million euros, an increase of 60 per cent). In the segments of development and sale of project rights, revenue rose by around six per cent to 127.3 million euros (previous year: 119.6 million euros. As a service provider, ABO Wind generated a revenue of 17.8 million euros in the financial year (previous year: 15.9 million euros, an increase of twelve per cent). Total turnover and operating revenue totalled 396.3 million euros (previous year: 308.1 million euros, an increase of 29%), including sales revenue and the change in inventories of goods and services. As in previous years, the 2023 annual report in German is available on the website (https://www.abo-wind.com/de/unternehmen/geschaeftsberichte.html). The English version of the annual report will be available shortly here: www.abo-wind.com/en/company/annual-reports.html.

In view of the good result, the Managing Directors and Supervisory Board will propose to the Annual General Meeting on 30 April an increase of the dividend to EUR 0.60 per share (previous year: EUR 0.54). The largest part of the parent company's annual profit, around 21.5 million euros, is to be transferred to the revenue reserve. Shortly after the Annual General Meeting, the Management expects the change of legal form and name to ABO Energy KGaA (partnership limited by shares) to be entered in the commercial register. Prior to this, an expert opinion must be prepared. "We are pleased that the legal disputes have been settled," emphasises Managing Director Schlageter. The Managing Board believes that with the new legal form, the company is ideally equipped to remain successful in the long term.

Around 196 million euros are reported as inventory of work in progress in the balance sheet at the end of 2023. These are the capitalised costs for wind, solar, and battery projects under development. The pipeline contains around 900 projects with a nominal capacity of around 23 gigawatts (https://www.abo-wind.com/en/company/facts-figures.html). Around 65 per cent of these are wind, 30 per cent solar, and five per cent battery projects. The pipeline, which has grown both in quantity and quality, forms the basis for the project developer's good prospects. "Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the political will to use renewable energies has grown," says Managing Director Schlageter. "The wish to become independent from fossil fuel imports as quickly as possible is speeding up approval procedures and increasing the willingness to make sites available." These developments support the company's goals. In Germany and other countries, the more than 1,200 employees managed to secure new sites for numerous new wind and solar projects in the past financial year and to bring them closer to being ready to build. "To continue optimally utilising the opportunities that arise, we need a good liquidity," says Schlageter. The company is therefore, among other things, currently considering issuing a bond.

ABO Wind has recently made significant progress with numerous projects. For example, four wind farms with a combined capacity of 57.5 megawatts won a bid in the most recent tariff tender in France. A similar success was achieved in Germany, where four solar parks with almost 50 megawatts and two wind farms with 22 megawatts won bids. In Germany and France, the two most important ABO Wind markets, public tariff tenders continue to be the central instrument for refinancing renewable energy projects. But in some cases, ABO Wind has already concluded power purchase agreements (PPAs) in these countries as well. For example, a French industrial company has just secured the electricity from an ABO Wind solar farm currently under construction.

In Finland and Spain, state-guaranteed tariffs for the expansion of renewable energies no longer play an important role. The electricity from most wind and solar parks there is commercialised via PPAs with energy suppliers or large electricity consumers. ABO Wind has strengthened its specialised Energy Sales and Markets Department in recent months. In addition, ABO Wind concluded PPAs with a US internet company for the recently commissioned Finnish 30 megawatt Illevaara wind farm and the Spanish 50 megawatt Valdezorita solar farm currently under construction. The two renewable energy projects will supply the group's data centres with the entire electricity production of around 100 gigawatt hours per year over a period of ten years.

In addition to established ABO Wind markets such as Germany, France, Finland, and Spain, which have been contributing to the company's success for years, countries such as Hungary and Colombia are currently gaining in importance. ABO Wind is exclusively developing solar projects in both countries. ABO Wind is currently constructing the first two turnkey solar farms in Colombia, each with a capacity of ten megawatts. In Hungary, ABO Wind had already installed two 6-megawatt solar farms in 2019 and 2020. This year, ABO Wind will construct five turnkey solar farms there with a combined capacity of 90 megawatts. "In more and more countries, we are succeeding in making a growing contribution to the energy transition and at the same time strengthening the basis for our economic success," says Managing Director Schlageter. "This strengthens our confidence that the future ABO Energy KGaA will continue to surprise positively in the coming financial years."