Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world’s biggest maker of wind turbines, said profit fell 34 percent in the second quarter as credit-market turmoil restricted financing for renewable-energy projects.

Net income dropped to 43 million euros ($61 million) from 65 million euros a year earlier, the Randers, Denmark-based company said today. That missed the 84 million-euro median estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Vestas fell as much as 4.2 percent, erasing earlier gains, after Chief Executive Officer Ditlev Engel said on a conference call the company will have to use “will and determination” to reach its 2009 forecast. Industry orders slumped 50 percent and turbine prices tumbled as much as 25 percent in the first half as the economic slowdown curbed demand, according to a July report from MAKE Consulting, which said the market won’t improve until the fourth quarter.

“Delivering on guidance will be nearly impossible,” Ankit Jain, London-based analyst at Standard & Poor’s with a “sell” rating on Vestas, said in an e-mail. “The company’s expectations of strong improvements in order intake will be more feasible from 2010.”

Vestas fell 15.5 kroner, or 3.9 percent, to 377.5 kroner, valuing the company at 76.9 billion kroner ($14.6 billion). The shares gained as much as 6 percent earlier today after the company unexpectedly maintained its forecast.

Job Cuts

Vestas kept its full-year revenue forecast of 7.2 billion euros, exceeding the 6.57 billion-euro median estimate of 25 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg before today’s report.

Profit in the quarter was hurt by severance payments after Vestas, whose biggest competitor is the energy unit at General Electric Co., cut a total of 1,567 jobs in Denmark and the U.K. Turbine shipments fell 12 percent to 618 mills in the quarter, while sales rose 11 percent to 1.21 billion euros.

Global government incentives for renewable-energy production are starting to have a positive effect on the industry, Vestas said.

“We’re seeing that things are easing up,” Engel said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “It’s becoming easier, but not easy, to get the financing in place.”

Vestas said it has booked orders with 700 million euros since the second quarter ended and that it has more than 4.4 billion euros of contracts awaiting evaluation as well as an order back log of 4 billion euros.

“It is a surprise in our view that management again confirmed the guidance,” Mario Kristl, a Frankfurt-based analyst at DZ Bank AG, said in a note to clients. The outlook may be “too ambitious,” according to Kristl, who recommends selling the shares.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 18, 2009 11:30 EDT