Vestas Wind Systems has forecast that sales will increase to a record this year after it gained market share last year.
Revenue will rise to about $9.5 billion, Denmark-based Vestas said Wed nesday in a stock-exchange statement.
Vestas last year lost 44 percent of its value after twice lowering its 2010 sales forecast. The company said Wednesday that after a “tough year” it’s back on track as customers agreed to buy a record amount of wind turbines last year. The company’s market share in 2010 rose to 16 percent from 12 percent, according to Bloomberg calculations.
“People are so used to serial disappointments at Vestas, so solid numbers and a solid outlook is a good outcome,” Robert Clover, head of alternative-energy equities in London at HSBC Holdings, said in an interview.
He has an “overweight” rating on the stock.
Chief executive Ditlev Engel said he’s confident that Vestas can meet its “triple 15” goal of raising revenue to 15 billion euros and operating margin to 15 percent no later than 2015.
With oil at nearly $90 a barrel, the cost of energy “will keep on going up,” boosting incentives to switch from fossil fuels to wind, he said.
“We’re still very confident, but we’re not saying it’s going to be easy,” Engel said. “Walt Disney once said if you can dream it, you can do it. We can dream ‘triple 15,’ but of course we have to prove we can do it.”
Orders last year were for a record 8,673 megawatts of turbines, more than double the 2009 level. The company predicted orders of 7,000 to 8,000 megawatts this year.
“Orders have gone up dramatically; we’ve had the biggest order intake ever,” Engel said on Bloom berg’s “On the Move” show.
Engel said Brazil and Mexico are two markets that look “interesting,” though no decision has been made to build manufacturing plants there.
“We want to make sure Vestas has a good geographical spread and balance,” he said.
