Windflow - half-year results:
Revenue: $11.8m up 300pc
Profit: $1.1m loss, up 50pc
Christchurch wind turbine manufacturer Windflow Technology is reporting a smaller half year loss from a year earlier as revenues soared.
Revenue of $11.8 million for the six months to the end of December compared with $2.9 million a year earlier.
But Windflow said today that while the increase in revenue was substantial, it was less than had been anticipated due to issues ranging from supplier quality control through to wind farm development delays.
Direct production costs, including turbine costs, for the latest period were $10.8m. The deficit for the period was $1.1m, compared to a deficit of $2.2m a year earlier.
During the past half year Mighty River Power became a cornerstone shareholder in Windflow, investing more than $7.1m. Windflow also received an order for the remaining 32 turbines in the existing contract for the Te Rere Hau windfarm near Palmerston North.
The company said its production figures for the 2008/09 financial year would be below the 60 turbines it had targeted. But it did expect to achieve and maintain its target production of five turbines a month.
The production of turbines for Te Rere Hau was expected to be finished in early 2010. Proposals to extend the windfarm could lead to a future order for further Windflow 500 turbines.
A resource consent application was also lodged last week for the Long Gully windfarm, near Wellington, with the proposal for up to 25 Windflow 500 turbines.
Windflow said it continued to work with windfarm developers and consultants in this country to evaluate the Windflow 500 turbine for their potential projects.
Recent exchange rate movements put Windflow, as the only turbine manufacturer in Australasia, in a much stronger competitive position in the New Zealand market as imported turbines become prohibitively more expensive, the company said.
The focus of the new administration in the United States on renewable energy was creating opportunities which were being explored, the company said.
Windflow shares last traded on Friday at a year-low of $2.50, down from $4.25 in July.
- NZPA
