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Investing.com -- Nordex (ETR:NDXG) SE reported a strong improvement in profitability for the first quarter of 2025, with EBITDA rising 53% year-on-year to €79.6 million.
This was slightly below the consensus estimate of €81.2 million but still delivered an EBITDA margin of 5.5%, beating expectations by 70 basis points.
The company’s shares rose more than 2% in European trading.
Revenue for the quarter came in at €1.44 billion, missing the Visible Alpha consensus of €1.62 billion.
Total (EPA:TTEF) performance, which includes changes in inventories, rose approximately 7% to €1.6 billion.
The company previously disclosed Q1 order intake of 2.2 GW, with an average selling price of €0.87 million per MW.
Gross margin improved sharply to 27.3%, up 770 basis points from a year earlier.
Citi analysts said the reported gross margin "is very encouraging, as we had expected gross margins to top out at 25-26%."
Nordex also reported a positive free cash flow for the quarter of €4 million.
"In 2025, we continue to deliver the strong performance from last year,” said José Luis Blanco, chief executive of the Nordex Group.
"Overall, the first quarter met our expectations with a strong order intake and a further increase in our profitability levels. We were able to close the first quarter with a positive free cash flow, reflecting our ongoing strong operational performance," he added. "I remain confident of achieving our targets for this year and in the medium term."
Nordex has reaffirmed its full-year 2025 guidance, maintaining its sales outlook of €7.4 to €7.9 billion and an expected EBITDA margin between 5% and 7%.
The company also continues to target a net working capital to sales ratio below -9% and capital expenditures of around €200 million.
"With an improving top-line in coming quarters alongside better fundamentals for profitability, we think this quarter is encouraging," Citi analysts continued.
Separately, Jefferies analysts said that despite Nordex missing sales expectations, the strong beat on profitability and free cash flow "should support the shares this morning, with the call this afternoon setting the tone, particularly on order momentum and profitability comments."