World’s biggest wind turbine maker falls as Trump drops Paris

Bloomberg

Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world’s biggest maker of wind turbines, dropped to its lowest in more than 1 1/2 months after US President Donald Trump’s decision to exit the Paris climate accord threw into doubt the future of renewable energy.
Vestas fell as much as 3 percent, and traded 2.3 percent lower at 571.50 kroner as of 12:53 p.m. in Copenhagen. It was the worst performing stock on the Copenhagen benchmark index of Denmark’s most traded companies, and was among the biggest losers in the Stoxx Europe 600 index, which was up about 0.7 percent overall.
Trump said he would pull the world’s biggest economy out of the Paris climate pact, arguing it puts American workers at a disadvantage. His announcement instantly drew severe criticism from leaders across the globe, with Nordic politicians, in particular, condemning the move. In Denmark, where Vestas is based, Energy Minister Lars Chr. Lilleholt says he’s planning a trip to the US in the fall in an effort to promote renewable energy at the state level, “regardless” what Washington D.C. decides.
“Of course it would be better if the US were to stay in the Paris Agreement,” Morten Dyrholm, Vestas senior VP marketing, communications and public affairs, said in an emailed comment to Bloomberg.
Vestas derives about 40 percent of its revenue from the Americas. Shares in the company plunged after it was clear that Trump, who has lashed out against wind turbine technology in the past, was the winner of the US election in November. Vestas said a withdrawal from the climate pact makes little economic sense.
“The US wind industry has broad bipartisan support because it is cost-effective and provides strong returns for investors,” Dyrholm said. Wind is “the lowest-cost energy source in many parts of the country; it’s compatible with farming, ranching, and hunting; it uses no water; it supports more than 100,000 jobs in 50 states, and it brings billions of dollars in economic development to the communities that host the projects.”
Vestas’s share-price decline provides an “excellent buying opportunity,” Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Douglas Lindahl said in an email. He said the same applies to shares of Gamesa Corp Tecnologica SA, a Spanish
rival, which traded about 1 percent lower.
“More than 190 nations have signed the Paris agreement and the US now joins a very small club of outsiders not part of the accord,” Lindahl said.