Ørsted has reported preliminary earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of roughly DKK 22.5 billion (£2.67 billion) for 2017.
The unaudited figure is an improvement on the company’s most recent outlook of around DKK 21 billion (£2.5 billion) and represents a nearly 18 per cent rise on the previous year’s result of DKK 19.1 billion (£2.27 billion).
The increase was mainly attributed to healthy earnings from its offshore wind farms resulting from both strong winds and the ramp-up of generation at its Race Bank and Walney Extension wind farms.
Earnings from partnership agreements were better than expected due to good progress and lower costs on the construction contracts for the two projects.
Profits from its gas portfolio activities within its distribution and customer solutions division were also better than expected, partly due the appreciation of its stored gas in the last part of the year.
Ørsted (formerly known as Dong Energy) will publish its annual report for 2017 on 1 February.
The company agreed in November to sell a 50 per cent stake in the Walney Extension wind farm to two Danish pension funds in a deal worth £2 billion.