PARIS (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 30, 2020--S&P Global Ratings today said that Danish offshore wind giant Orsted A/S (BBB+/Stable/A-2) exceeded profit expectations for 2019, which offset higher-than-expected debt due to accelerated capital expenditure (capex). Reported EBITDA increased 17% year on year to Danish krone (DKK) 17.5 billion, higher than our internal expectation of DKK16 billion. This was driven by the wind business, which saw EBITDA increase 30% year on year to DKK14.8 billion, thanks to the ramp-up of offshore wind farms in Europe and the inclusion of the onshore wind business from the Lincoln Clean Energy (LCE) acquisition at year-end 2018. Reported net debt stood at DKK17.2 billion, about DKK5 billion higher than we originally expected, due to accelerated investments
