Acquired ABB HV Cable Business Boosts NKT’s Revenue, Offshore Wind Fills Orderbook

The high-voltage activities acquired from ABB have driven an increase in NKT’s Q3 2017 revenue, which was at EUR 303.2 million, EUR 106.9 million more than in Q3 2016. Looking at the first nine months, NKT posted a revenue of EUR 776.5 million, compared with EUR 559.7 million reported for the same period in 2016.

The high-voltage order backlog of NKT currently includes several offshore wind projects such as Hornsea Project One, Kriegers Flak, Rentel and Borssele Alpha. NKT executed several orders, including production for the Hornsea project which is taking place at both of its factories.

NKT’s cable-laying vessel NKT Victoria maintained a high level of activity in Q3 2017, the company said, with satisfactory execution on the Kriegers Flak and Rentel offshore wind projects.

The Galloper and Race Bank offshore wind projects have also progressed satisfactorily towards finalisation in the near future, NKT stated.

The cable supplier to the offshore wind industry said that tender activity in the high-voltage market remained intense with the company being awarded one offshore wind order and selected as preferred supplier for two more after the balance sheet date. These include the order for the Borssele Beta project in the Netherlands (NKT’s contract value approx. EUR 90 million), and selection of the company as a preferred supplier for two UK offshore wind farms, Triton Knoll (approx. EUR 115 million) and Moray East (approx. EUR 130-170 million).

NKT Group Executive Director Michael Hedegaard Lyng said: “In NKT, our revenue and earnings increased as expected driven by the performance in the acquired high-voltage activities, and our full-year financial outlook is unchanged. Further, I am excited that we have recently marked our strong position in the offshore wind cable market with the award of one firm order and two Preferred Supplier Agreements.”

In its Q3 2017 financial results, NKT said that project orders awarded in the high-voltage cable market are expected to increase in the years to come, with orders amounting to approx. EUR 5 billion annually expected to be awarded in 2018 and 2019 (against an average of approx. EUR 2.3 billion annually from 2015-2017). This increase is expected to be driven by a greater percentage of interconnector projects and a continued flow of offshore wind projects, NKT stated, adding that emerging projects outside Europe will also provide opportunities for the company, with particular prospects in the U.S. where NKT established an office during Q2 2017.