Danish utility Ørsted saw an 11% fall in operating profits in the third quarter of 2021 to DKK 2.98 billion (€401 million), which it attributed to lower wind speeds that lowered profits by DKK 0.8 billion.
The firm said it had good financial results in the first nine months of 2021 overall, posting operating profits of DKK 16.04 billion, up 22% compared with the same period in 2020.
Net profits were sharply down — 47% — for the first nine months to DKK 7.63 billion, while Q3 21 profits were 96% down at DKK 487 million. Ørsted said this was mainly due to a DKK 11.1 billion gain in August 2020 from the sale of its distribution, residential, and city light businesses that had boosted its net profits in Q3 20.
Revenue for Q3 21 was up by 45% at DKK 14.5 billion, from DKK 10.04 billion in the same quarter a year earlier, while the first nine months saw a 27% rise to DKK 47 billion, up from DKK 37 billion in 2020. Ørsted said the rise was mainly due to higher gas and power prices in all markets and the sale of the offshore transmission asset at Hornsea 1 in 2021.
Power generation from wind and solar assets rose by 4% in the first nine months to 14.9TWh as the ramp up of new generation offset the effect of lower wind speeds, which fell to 8.7m/s in the first nine months from 9.8m/s in the same period in 2020.
