In the first quarter of 2015, Vestas generated revenue of € 1,519 million, an increase of 18 per cent compared to the year-earlier period. EBIT before special items increased by € 39 million to € 79 million.
The EBIT margin before special items was 5.2 per cent and the free cash flow increased by € 170 million to € 146 million compared to the first quarter of 2014. The intake of firm and unconditional wind turbine orders amounted to 1,750MW in the first quarter of 2015. The value of the wind turbine backlog amounted to € 7.5 billion at 31 March 2015. In addition to the wind turbine order backlog, Vestas had service agreements with contractual future revenue of € 7.5 billion at the end of March 2015. Thus, the value of the combined backlog of wind turbine orders and service agreements stood at € 15 billion, an increase of € 1.2 billion compared to the year-earlier period. Vestas upgrades the 2015 guidance on revenue from minimum € 6.5 billion to minimum € 7.5 billion and EBIT margin guidance before special items is upgraded from minimum 7 per cent to minimum 8.5 per cent. Total investments are increased from approx € 300 million to approx € 350 million and guidance on free cash flow is upgraded from minimum € 400 million to minimum € 600 million.
