Orsted recorded operating profit of Dkr17.5bn (€2.3bn) for 2019, outstripping its Dkr16-17bn full-year guidance.

The increase compared to the company’s most recent guidance was mainly due to strong offshore generation in December and better than expected performance from trading activities.

The Danish offshore wind giant said the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was driven by increased operational returns from projects, up 30% year-on-year to Dkr14.8bn.

In addition, development was positively impacted by higher earnings from trading activities and the reversal of a provision related to the Elsam competition case, although this was partly offset by the increase in provisions related to our LNG activities and higher project development costs.

The year’s EBITDA was down from Dkr30bn in 2018, although this was largely due to higher divestment returns in the year-ago period of almost Dkr20bn (Dkr6.9bn in 2019) and a positive outcome of a gas sourcing arbitration case which was not repeated in 2019.

Net profit for the amounted to Dkr6.1bn, down from Dkr19.5bn in 2018, again skewed by the one-offs in 2018.

The green share of Orsted’s heat and power generation continued to increase to a new high of 86%, following continued ramp-up of our offshore wind capacity, new onshore capacity and lower heat and power generation based on coal and gas.

The Board of Directors have recommended a dividend of Dkr10.5 per share, up 7.7% and in line with dividend policy.

Chief executive Henrik Poulsen hailed 2019 as a “great year” for the company, which achieved “continued strategic progress and global expansion”.

“We achieved a very satisfactory operating profit (EBITDA), and the green share of our heat and power generation increased to a new high of 86%,” he said.

He pointed to “significant milestones” by winning two large-scale offshore projects in the US, the 1,100MW Ocean Wind project in New Jersey and 880MW Sunrise Wind project in New York.

“With these awards, we have secured a US offshore wind portfolio with a total capacity of 2.9GW to be completed towards 2024. In addition, we have up to 4.5GW of lease rights which can be developed for future offshore wind projects in the US.”

He also pointed to progress in the UK, including the commissioning of the 1.2GW Hornsea 1.

“We passed further milestones when we inaugurated phase two of Taiwan’s first-ever offshore wind farm Formosa 1, and when we commissioned the onshore wind farm Lockett in Texas in the US,” he added.

“We remain strongly committed to our vision of a world running entirely on green energy and will continue to work hard to help limit global warming and its impact on biodiversity and global living conditions for current and future generations.”

The EBITDA outlook for the year ahead, excluding new partnerships, is expected to be Dkr15- 16 billion compared to DKK 17.5 billion in 2019. The decline relates to earnings from existing offshore wind partnerships which amounted to Dkr3.8bn in 2019, but are expected to be “very limited” in 2020.

Gross investments for 2020 are expected to amount to Dkr30-32 billion, reflecting a high level of construction activity related to offshore and onshore wind and solar PV projects.