Suzlon Reports Profits of USD 96 m in Fourth Quarter (India)

Suzlon Energy Limited, the world’s fifth largest wind turbine supplier, reported its earnings today, for the quarter ended March 31, 2011.

Mr. Tulsi R. Tanti, founder, Chairman and Managing Director – Suzlon Group, said: “The past year has seen consistent improvement in our Group performance, and we are very pleased to report a profitable fourth quarter. Our focus on emerging and key developed markets, along with offshore, is paying dividends with a robust orderbook and a strong pipeline of projects under discussion. The India market, in particular, has delivered tremendous growth. We have made substantial progress on many strategic initiatives, including successfully launching the S9X and 3XM turbines suites, and initiating the ‘squeeze-out’ of REpower’s minority shareholders – both of which will play an important role in further strengthening our position.

“Looking at the bigger picture, events over the past year have reinforced the need for a balanced, safe energy portfolio to secure and de-risk our energy future, and to mitigate the threat of climate change. The case for wind is stronger than ever, and I remain very optimistic about the future of our company and the industry.”

Mr. Robin Banerjee, Chief Financial Officer – Suzlon Energy Limited, said: “We are very pleased to report a profitable Q4. Key initiatives focused on lowering operating costs, rationalizing inventories and improving overall operating efficiency have delivered positive results. Along with lowering our cost base, we have brought down our net debt-to-equity ratio to 1.36, and maintained a tight focus on cashflow and driving orders. This has resulted in strengthening our competitive positioning and making the Group more flexible and agile.”

Key Updates

Market Outlook: In the short-term we anticipate growth in our key markets and offshore. The medium-to-long-term scenario remains positive with price volatility in fossil fuels, energy security and climate change concerns, and strong growth in emerging markets and offshore.

Orders: The Suzlon Group orderbook stood at 4,639 MW (~Rs. 30,100 cr, ~US$ 6.7 bn) in value as on 13th May, 2011. The Group, over the year, secured the highest order intake of 4,000 MW. Some of the firm orders included:

Germany: REpower has signed a 74.8 MW contract with German wind farm project developer Denker & Wulf AG, for a new project in Mecklenburg- Western Pomerania, Germany. Further, REpower has also signed a 720 MW frame agreement with German wind developer Juwi.

UK: REpower and UK-based wind energy company Energiekontor UK Construction signed two contracts for a total of 43 MW.

US: REpower concluded a contract for the delivery of 51 MW for EverPower Wind Holdings, Inc. for development projects located across the states of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington.

Offshore: REpower signed a 295 MW contract with C-Power for Thornton Bank offshore wind farm in Belgium. This contract – as measured by investment volume – represents the biggest ever project financing in the offshore wind industry. REpower supplied 30 units of the 5M turbine, totaling 150 MW in capacity, to the Ormonde offshore windfarm project in the UK. In addition, REpower has supplied over 70 MW to the Beatrice windfarm in the UK, Thorton Bank in Belgium, and Alpha Ventus in Germany, totaling over 220 MW of offshore capacity supplied till date.

Initiated REpower ‘squeeze-out’: Suzlon crossed 95 per cent share holding in REpower and initiated the ‘squeeze-out’ process of minority shareholders in order to move towards full ownership of the company.

Suzlon Energy Limited One Earth, Hadapsar, Pune – 411 028, India Registered Office “Suzlon”, 5, Shrimali Society, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad – 380 009, India  Financials: Suzlon successfully completed the issuance of Foreign Currency

(suzlon)

[mappress]

Source: suzlon, May 16, 2011