Vestas Climbs as Largest Turbine Maker Wins Australian Wind Farm Contract

Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the biggest wind-turbine maker, rose the most in three weeks in Copenhagen trading after winning a supply order for the largest wind power project in Australia.

Vestas climbed as much 5.1 percent, the biggest intra-day gain since July 22, after saying it will supply 140 turbines of its new V112-3.0 megawatt model to the Macarthur Wind Farm near Victoria town of Hawkesdale in 2011-2013. The park will be developed by AGL Energy Ltd. and Meridian Energy Ltd., Randers, Denmark-based Vestas said today in a statement.

Vestas, which cut its 2010 forecast earlier this year as the credit crunch squeezed financing for projects, is working to book orders this year with a combined capacity of 8,000 to 9,000 megawatts. The Australian order will be the first for Vestas V112 model, which the company started selling today to offer a turbine that works both on land and sea.

“The V112 mill is a very attractive card for Vestas’s efforts to keep its position as market leader because of its high capacity,” Jacob Pedersen, an analyst with Sydbank A/S, said today in a note to clients. “It’s likely that several Vestas clients have waited for the launch of this turbine, thereby delaying orders. The launch of the V112 can therefore start an acceleration of new orders for Vestas in coming months.” He has an “overweight” rating on the shares.

The stock rose 10.1 kroner, or 3.5 percent, to 298 kroner at 11:15 a.m. in the Danish capital. Vestas has lost 6 percent this year compared with a 22 percent decline in the 88-member WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index.

Vestas is due to report second-quarter earnings on Aug. 18. Analysts expect that Vestas will fall short of its 2010 sales forecast of 7 billion euros ($9 billion). The company will have revenue this year of 6.74 billion euros, according to the average estimate of 27 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

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

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