(Wiesbaden, 28/11/2003) ABO Wind was granted the building permit for the wind park Téterchen in Lorraine and can therefore score the first success in France. The six turbines of the type Repower MD 77 with 1.5 megawatts each will be installed just across the German-French border in the vicinity of the locations Téterchen and Tromborn. Construction will start before the winter. The French power supply company EDF is building the seven kilometre long route to the Bouzonville substation, so that the turbines can go online in the summer of 2004. The project is currently financed and up for sale.
The capital increase provided by company assets decided at the AGM in June was entered into the company register. The issue of 500,000 individual shares without nominal value increases the basic share capital of the company from 500,000,-- Euro to 1,000,000.-- Euro. The shares divided between the shareholders at a 1 : 1 ratio will share for the first time in the profits for the fiscal year 2003.
During the current business year, ABO Wind AG brought a total of 35 megawatts of installed output online in Germany. In addition, the granting of building permits for 25 megawatts installed output in Germany is still expected for this year. A final statement relating to the expected annual result will only be possible at the end of the year as a large share of the profit in this industry generally occurs during the final weeks of the year.
The German market will also remain an important focus for ABO Wind AG in the medium term, despite its declining significance. „We expect an average project volume in Germany of 30 to 40 megawatts per year over the coming years, which we are also constructing here. In 2004, however, ABO Wind will focus on further internationalisation“, states Dr. Jochen Ahn, CEO of ABO Wind AG. The training of planning groups in Spain and France provided a good basis for the internationalisation of ABO Wind. Relevant preparations are in progress in two other countries. A third of the employees of the ABO Wind Group is already directly or indirectly working abroad.
This development will continue, so that the board of management of ABO Wind AG is expecting increasing earnings from abroad in addition to good annual profits in Germany. It is still expected that the Spanish regional authorities will grant the building permit for a first wind park with 50 MW for this year. In France, additional wind turbines with more than 30 megawatts installed output are in the planning stages.
(Wiesbaden 18/02/2003) The preliminary figures for the business year 2002 presented by ABO Wind today emphasise its successful annual accounts. It is becoming apparent that the company will achieve the forecast after-tax annual net profit of € 1.3 million. This would more than double the result of the previous year. The final and audited result is expected for the end of March. The positive business development trend previously published in the autumn therefore continued in the fourth quarter, which traditionally yields the highest sales figures in the industry.
The aimed for dividend is also meant to reflect this success: “Depending on the exact amount of the annual net profit, we intend to propose to the next AGM, a dividend payment for the 2002 business year which is significantly higher than that for the previous year (€ 0.30/per share). In relation to the current rate, we are aiming for a dividend yield of at least 4 %. Based on the issue price during the last public capital increase, this would result in a dividend yield of more than 8 %”, states ABO Wind CEO Dr Jochen Ahn.
The price of the ABO Wind share also developed nicely and remains relatively stable between € 19 and € 23 despite the adverse conditions on the capital market and therefore has risen by some 100% over the last 18 months. In addition to the construction of wind farms in Hesse, Rheinland-Pfalz and North-Rhine Westphalia, the acquisition of new sites for wind farms was a focus for the inland activities in 2002.
The expansion strategy abroad was also realised as planned: The French subsidiary submitted applications for the construction of wind power stations in the south of France as well as in Alsace-Lorraine. At the same time, a branch in Toulouse was opened in addition to the Colmar office. The ABO Wind team in Spain gained two additional members, thereby completing its know-how for independent project development. Land leases for wind farms in four locations in Spain have been obtained and the approval procedures were initiated.
Two projects in the biomass sector were in the advanced planning stages at the end of the year. The number of employees also reflects the growth. In 2002, a total of seventeen new jobs were created; apart from the two in Spain, eleven at home and four in France. This means that the number of employees has risen to about 45 in total.
