Ørsted looks at continuously ‘rightsizing’ organisation

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Ørsted looks at continuously ‘rightsizing’ organisation

Ørsted has not ruled out redundancies after it said it will be “rightsizing” its organisation following the departure of former chief executive Mads Nipper. Nipper left the Danish wind developer at the start of February. The company’s share price had fallen by 80% since he joined in January 2021, and it was hit by a […]

Ørsted has not ruled out redundancies after it said it will be “rightsizing” its organisation following the departure of former chief executive Mads Nipper.

Nipper left the Danish wind developer at the start of February. The company’s share price had fallen by 80% since he joined in January 2021, and it was hit by a string of impairments in the past two years amounting to 12.1bn kroner – driven largely by worsening economics within its US portfolio.

“We will continue our company-wide efficiency programme to further drive cost efficiency beyond the DKK 1 billion savings plan implemented during 2024,” the Danish wind developer said in a statement this month, explaining its adjusted business and investment plan.

“As we do not expect to construct at the same pace as our current build-out programme, we will also be rightsizing our cost base and organisation continuously.”

A spokesperson did not rule out redundancies, though he said it was “too soon” to be drawing any conclusions about whether the apparent “rightsizing” would necessitate lay-offs, and declined to put a value or date on the reorganisation.

Ørsted made the last of a series of redundancies in late October, after conducting a comprehensive review of its portfolio in February 2024, the spokesperson said.

“Last year’s redundancies followed the plan that we announced in February 2024 where we said we would reduce 600-800 positions globally (out of approx. 8,900 employees at the time),” they said.

“We made the last of those reductions in late October.”

Former chief executive Nipper stepped down from the role in February, after the company increased its operating profit to 32 billion Danish kroner (£3.5bn) in 2024, compared to 18.7bn kroner (£2bn) a year earlier. However, most of its overall profit was wiped out by impairments, according to a statement.

Ørsted group president and new chief executive Rasmus Errboe said: “We are pleased with our operational performance and financials results, where we ended the year in line with our updated expectations.

“2024 proved to be a challenging year for the industry and for Ørsted. We’ve experienced headwinds and have therefore taken necessary actions, including the adjustment of our business plan with a reduced investment programme, to strengthen our capital structure and value creation.”

He said the developer’s partnership and divestment programme was running “on track”, with total proceeds amounting to 22bn kroner out of an up to 80bn kroner target to 2026.

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