Greek industrial group Mytilineos said 2020 turnover from its renewables and storage development unit was around 40% lower than forecasted due to contracting and construction delays as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The unit’s turnover was down 32% year-on-year to €264 million (US$316 million), while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) almost halved (down 48%) to €15 million.
Despite the challenging circumstances, the company completed engineering, procurement and construction contracts last year for the 170MW Atacama PV plant in Chile and the 300MW Talasol park in Spain.
In terms of build-operate-transfer projects in the renewables business, Mytilineos said its portfolio has reached 4.3GW of capacity, including facilities in countries such as Greece, Spain, the UK, Chile, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia.
While the impacts of the pandemic were strongly felt in the renewables unit in the first nine months of the year, a “gradual recovery” was noted in the last quarter, with the signing of new projects and the normalisation of construction progress.
With the unit undertaking new projects and investments in targeted markets, Mytilineos said the renewables development business will be a “significant catalyst” for the firm’s operational profitability in the coming year.
For the company as a whole, 2020 turnover was €1.9 billion, down 16% year-on-year, while EBITDA increased 1% to €315 million.
Mytilineos said the improvement of Greek electricity consumption and gradual increase of power prices as well as the progress of new renewables projects are setting a “solid foundation for a strong financial performance in 2021”.