With the prospect of impairments of up to DKK 16bn (EUR 2.14bn), some Ørsted shareholders decided to sell their holdings on Wednesday morning.

As a result, the share price has fallen by 13% after the first minutes of trading on the Copenhagen Nasdaq stock exchange.

Ørsted announced late Tuesday evening that it has decided to write down the value of three US offshore wind projects by DKK 5bn due to delays and added costs for materials.

At the same time, the company is keeping the door open for further impairments if the negotiations on a US tax credit do not have the expected outcome and if interest rates do not start falling again soon.

The total write-downs could thus end up in the region of DKK 16bn.

This should be seen in relation to Ørsted’s market value, which was DKK 235bn before Wednesday’s trading.

The 13 percent drop in the share price means that Ørsted shareholders have lost more than DKK 30bn overnight.

According to MarketWire, French financial house BNP Paribas Exane has lowered its price target for the Ørsted share from DKK 780 to DKK 535, corresponding to a drop of 31%.

On Wednesday morning, the Ørsted share is trading at around DKK 485.

(Translated using DeepL with additional editing by Simon Øst Vejbæk)