The Board of Directors of Ørsted has decided to initiate a share buy-back programme and thereby exercise the authority granted by the general meeting on 20 May 2016 to buy own shares in accordance with section 198 of the Danish Companies Act.
Purpose
The purpose of the share buy-back programme is to meet obligations arising from Ørsted’s share-based incentive programme.
Time frame
The share buy-back programme will run from 1 May 2019 to 22 May 2019, both days inclusive. During this period, Ørsted will buy own shares in accordance with Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 of the European Parliament and Council of 16 April 2014 and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 of 8 March 2016, also referred to as the ‘Safe Harbour rules’.
Buy-back terms
Ørsted may repurchase shares up to 191,000 shares, corresponding to 0.05% of the current share capital of Ørsted, subject to a maximum total purchase price of DKK 107.1 million.
The purchase price per share shall be the price of the shares quoted at the time of the acquisition with a deviation of up to 10%.
The share buy-back may not be executed at a price which exceeds the higher of (i) the price of the last independent trade and (ii) the highest current independent purchase bid on the trading venue on which the purchase is carried out at the time of the purchase.
The maximum number of Ørsted shares that may be purchased on each business day may not exceed 25% of the average daily trading volume of Ørsted shares on the trading venue on which the purchase is carried out over the last 20 trading days prior to the date of purchase.
Ørsted has appointed Nordea Danmark, filial af Nordea Bank Abp, Finland (“Nordea”) as lead manager of the programme. As lead manager, Nordea, will make its own trading decisions independently of Ørsted and execute the share buy-back within the announced limits.
Ørsted may terminate the programme at any time.
On a weekly basis, Ørsted will publish a company announcement of any transactions under the programme.
The information provided in this announcement does not change Ørsted’s financial guidance for the financial year 2019 or the announced expected investment level for 2019.
The Board of Directors of Ørsted approved the interim report for the first quarter of 2019.
We achieved an operating profit (EBITDA) of DKK 5.1 billion, down 7% compared to Q1 2018. The decrease was expected and was mainly due to a positive one-off compensation awarded following the completion of an arbitration case in Q1 2018 as well as cyclically lower earnings from our gas portfolio in Customer Solutions. This was partly offset by a 13% increase in earnings from offshore wind farms in operation and earnings from our new onshore wind farms.
Return on capital employed (ROCE) increased marginally to 28% compared to 27% in Q1 2018.
The green share of generation increased from 68% to 80%.
Our guidance for 2019 is unchanged relative to the guidance in the annual report for 2018. EBITDA, excluding new partnerships, is expected to be DKK 15.5-16.5 billion and gross investments are expected to amount to DKK 21-23 billion.
CEO and President Henrik Poulsen says:
“We delivered strong results in line with expectations. Our full-year guidance remains unchanged.
During the first quarter we have continued to strengthen our portfolio within both Offshore and Onshore.
In April, we took final investment decision (FID) on our 900MW Taiwanese Greater Changhua 1 & 2a offshore wind project following the achievement of an establishment permit, approval of the supply chain plan and signing of the power purchase agreement with Taipower.
We have submitted bids for offshore wind projects in France, the Netherlands and the US. We expect an outcome from all five tenders and auctions over the coming three months.
In April, we took final investment decision on the 338MW US onshore wind farm Sage Draw with expected commercial operation date (COD) in Q1 2020.
Furthermore, we have entered into an agreement to acquire a subsidiary of US-based Coronal Energy. The subsidiary is a nationwide solar and storage developer with a significant pipeline of solar and storage projects expanding our capability platform and exposure to new attractive regional markets.
We remain very pleased with the operational and financial performance of the company as we continue to expand our position as a global leader in green energy.”
