Ørsted (CSE:ORSTED) on Friday cut its 2025 earnings guidance and moved ahead with a DKK60 billion rights issue Friday as the Danish energy group faces mounting headwinds in the U.S. offshore wind market and a legal battle over its Revolution Wind project.
At an extraordinary general meeting, the company secured approval for the rights issue, first announced in August.
Ørsted said the proceeds will be used to increase its capital structure in 2025-2027 after adverse developments in the U.S. offshore market.
The company said it had already secured backing from large shareholders, including the Danish state and Equinor.
“We expect to receive the rights issue terms in about a week’s time with the rights trading meant to commence in the first half of Sep and close in the first half of Oct,” said analysts at Barclays in a note.
Alongside the vote, Ørsted reduced its full-year 2025 adjusted EBITDA forecast to DKK24 billion to DKK27 billion from a previous range of DKK25 billion to DKK28 billion.
The company attributed the cut to lower-than-average wind speeds in H1 2025 as well as July and August, which caused a roughly DKK1.2 billion hit to earnings, and a damaged export cable at the Greater Changhua 2b project in Taiwan, which is expected to result in a further DKK0.3 billion impact.
Ørsted reaffirmed its DKK50 billion to DKK54 billion gross investment guidance and said it was maintaining its medium-term outlook.
The company has also taken legal action against the U.S. federal government after receiving a stop-work order on the 80% completed Revolution Wind project.
Barclays noted that Empire Wind, the only precedent, “overcame its stop-work order in one month” after state-level negotiations in New York.
“Political negotiations would again be the quicker route to resolution instead of a months to years long legal procedure,” the brokerage said.
Governors of Rhode Island and Connecticut have announced plans to sue the federal government over the halt, according to Barclays.
Barclays flagged Ørsted’s sensitivity to interest rate movements, writing that “for every 10bps rate increase, we estimate about a 2.5% drop in our DKK200 PT.”
The brokerage said this creates “substantial further downside risk going into rights issue terms and considering its increasingly expensive projects.”
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