Corporate News

ENCAVIS confirms positive business development after 9 months despite Corona -
Operating cash flow benefits from capacity expansion

Revenue increase by about 5% to EUR 234.3 million (9M/2019 EUR 223.4 million)

Operating cash flow increases by 25% to EUR 166.6 million after 9 months

Management Board again confirms positive outlook for the full year 2020

 

Hamburg, November 16, 2020 - SDAX-listed wind and solar farm operator Encavis AG (ISIN: DE0006095003, Prime Standard) continues to benefit after nine months of the current fiscal year from the continuously growing portfolio of wind and solar power generation capacities as well as from positive meteorological effects. Unimpressed by the corona virus, the wind and solar plants produced green electricity, resulting in significant increases in revenue and especially in cash flow after nine months of 2020 compared to the same period of the previous year. Therefore Encavis reaffirms its revenue and earnings forecast for the FY 2020.

The on-schedule completion of the major "La Cabrera" project in Spain with a generation capacity of around 200 megawatts (MWp) strengthens confidence that the even larger "Talayuela" solar park (300 MWp) will also be connected to the grid in Spain on schedule this year. With a generation capacity of around 500 MWp, Spain will become the leader of Encavis' solar farm portfolio.

"We will profit strongly from the growing market for long-term private power purchase agreements (PPAs) in many other European countries, as in Spain, in the future," explained Dr. Dierk Paskert, CEO of Encavis AG, the decision to locate in Spain, which was made years ago.

The increase in revenue in the first nine months of 2020 by around 5% to EUR 234.3 million mainly benefits from the acquisition of several wind farms in Denmark in 2019. In addition, a positive meteorological effect of EUR 7.1 million was measured by the end of September 2020, which, however, was EUR 5.8 million below the even stronger comparative period of the previous year 2019 (EUR 12.9 million).

Accordingly, operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (operating EBITDA) of EUR 181.0 million are EUR 4.8 million below the previous year's figure; however, this corresponds to an EBITDA margin of a good 77% and is thus clearly above the medium-term target of 75%. One reason for the absolute decline is the negative meteorological effect already mentioned (-5.8 million Euro). In addition, the previous year's figure included a positive earnings contribution of around EUR 5.9 million from the sale of minority interests in a wind farm portfolio, whereas the first nine months of 2020 initially only included the proceeds from the sale of a technical unit (EUR 1.9 million). Finally, the expenses for the virtual stock option programme as a result of the strong increase in the share price have a much stronger impact on the key earnings figures for the first nine months of 2020 (EUR -4.0 million) than in the same period of the previous year (EUR -1.1 million). Without these effects, operating EBITDA after three quarters of 2020 would have been 5% higher than the corresponding figure for the previous year.

The same applies to the operating result from operating activities (operating EBIT) after nine months. The achieved EBIT of EUR 113.2 million after EUR 121.8 million in the same period of the previous year corresponds to an EBIT margin of a good 48% and thus also clearly exceeds the medium-term target of 45%. Without these effects, operating EBIT would have been 3% higher than in the previous year.

At EUR 166.6 million, operating cash flow was EUR 34 million (+25%) above the figure for the same period of the previous year. Key drivers of the higher operating cash flow were newly acquired wind farms (EUR +9.1 million), the operating swing of Encavis Asset Management (EUR +8.7 million) as well as positive effects from capital gains tax payments and refunds in the current year (EUR +18.0 million).

Following the overall positive development in the first nine months, the Management Board expects the growth course taken to continue and reaffirms its revenue and earnings forecast for the current fiscal year 2020. Based on the existing portfolio, and in anticipation of standard weather conditions, the Management Board expects revenues to increase to over EUR 280 million in fiscal year 2020 (2019: EUR 273.8 million, weather-adjusted EUR 263.3 million). Operating EBITDA is expected to increase to over EUR 220 million (2019: EUR 217.6 million, weather-adjusted EUR 210.6 million). The Company expects operating EBIT to increase to over EUR 130 million (2019: EUR 132.2 million, weather-adjusted EUR 125.2 million). The Group expects operating cash flow to exceed EUR 200 million (2019: EUR 189.3 million). In addition, operating earnings per share of EUR 0.41 are expected (2019: EUR 0.43, weather-adjusted EUR 0.40). Earnings per share will initially grow at a disproportionately low rate, as the number of shares increases, but the investments made with the funds will only fully develop their contribution to earnings in the following years.

"Only from the two Spanish solar parks, we will generate additional subsidy-free sales of more than EUR 36 million in the coming year, as well as additional EBITDA of more than EUR 27 million," says Dr. Christoph Husmann, CFO of Encavis AG, giving an initial outlook for the coming year 2021.
 

About ENCAVIS:
Encavis AG (Prime Standard; ISIN: DE0006095003 / WKN: 609500) is a producer of electricity from renewable sources listed on the SDAX of Deutsche Börse AG. As one of the leading independent power producers (IPPs) Encavis acquires and operates solar parks and (onshore) wind farms in ten European countries. The plants for sustainable energy generation generate stable yields through guaranteed feed-in tariffs (FIT) or long-term power purchase agreements (PPA). Within the Encavis Group, Encavis Asset Management AG specializes on institutional investors.

The environmental, social and governance performance of Encavis AG has been evaluated by ISS ESG and MSCI ESG, two of the world's leading ESG research and rating agencies, and received the ISS ESG Prime Label and the MSCI Rating A.

Further information about the company can be found at www.encavis.com.

Contact:

Encavis AG
Jörg Peters
Head of Investor Relations & Public Relations
Tel.: + 49 40 37 85 62 242
E-Mail: joerg.peters@encavis.com