Broadwind Provides Business Update

CICERO, Ill., Aug. 31, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Broadwind BWEN, a diversified precision manufacturer of specialized components and solutions serving global markets, today provided an update on new order activity and current business conditions.

ORDER ACTIVITY

Broadwind today announced that it has received wind tower orders from an existing wind turbine customer, representing a total value of approximately $21 million.  Broadwind will manufacture the tower sections at its Abilene, Texas facility.  The Company expects to deliver the tower sections to its customer during the first half of 2021. 

BUSINESS UPDATE

A wind turbine OEM customer has chosen to postpone a portion of a tower order originally scheduled for the third quarter 2020 to the first quarter of 2021.  Further, within the Company's Gearing segment, demand conditions remain below prior-year levels, with expectations for improved order activity into 2021.

Due to the reduced plant capacity utilization, Broadwind estimates that up to $2.5 million of adjusted EBITDA will shift from the second half 2020 to the first half 2021.  The Company believes that most of the revenue and EBITDA shift will adversely impact third quarter 2020 results.  Importantly, the Company has not experienced any material customer cancellations within its order book.  

MANAGEMENT COMMENTARY

"While the timing of wind tower orders can vary from quarter to quarter, our tower backlog remains at elevated levels, providing improved visibility as we look ahead to 2021," stated Eric Blashford, President and CEO of Broadwind.  "While the impact of COVID-19 has pushed some customer orders out into early next year, all indications are that tower demand activity is expected to remain strong over the next twelve months, given the overall strength of the wind market supported by the recent Production Tax Credit safe-harbor extension.  For the full-year 2020, we anticipate revenue of approximately $200 million, together with double digit percent year-over-year growth in Adjusted EBITDA, supported by our ongoing diversification efforts and a stable outlook within our core clean tech markets."

ABOUT BROADWIND

Broadwind BWEN is a precision manufacturer of structures, equipment and components for clean tech and other specialized applications. With facilities throughout the U.S., our talented team is committed to helping customers maximize performance of their investments—quicker, easier and smarter.  Find out more at www.bwen.com

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

The Company provides non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation, amortization, share-based compensation and other stock payments, restructuring costs, impairment charges and other non-cash gains and losses) as supplemental information regarding the Company's business performance.  The Company's management uses this supplemental information when it internally evaluates its performance, reviews financial trends and makes operating and strategic decisions.  The Company believes that this non-GAAP financial measure is useful to investors because it provides investors with a better understanding of the Company's past financial performance and future results, which allows investors to evaluate the Company's performance using the same methodology and information as used by the Company's management.  The Company's definition of adjusted EBITDA may be different from similar non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies and/or analysts.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release contains "forward looking statements"—that is, statements related to future, not past, events—as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that reflect our current expectations regarding our future growth, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, performance, business prospects and opportunities, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, our management.  Forward looking statements include any statement that does not directly relate to a current or historical fact.  We have tried to identify forward looking statements by using words such as "anticipate," "believe," "expect," "intend," "will," "should," "may," "plan" and similar expressions, but these words are not the exclusive means of identifying forward looking statements.

Our forward-looking statements may include or relate to our beliefs, expectations, plans and/or assumptions  with respect to the following, many of which are, and will be, amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic: (i) the impact of global health concerns, including the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic on the economies and financial markets and the demand for our products; (ii) state, local and federal regulatory frameworks affecting the industries in which we compete, including the wind energy industry, and the related extension, continuation or renewal of federal tax incentives and grants and state renewable portfolio standards as well as new or continuing tariffs on steel or other products imported into the United States; (iii) our customer relationships and our substantial dependency on a few significant customers and our efforts to diversify our customer base and sector focus and leverage relationships across business units; (iv) the economic and operational stability of our significant customers and suppliers, including their respective supply chains, and the ability to source alternative suppliers as necessary, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic; (v) our ability to continue to grow our business organically and through acquisitions, and the impairment thereto by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; (vi) the production, sales, collections, customer deposits and revenues generated by new customer orders and our ability to realize the resulting cash flows; (vii) information technology failures, network disruptions, cybersecurity attacks or breaches in data security, including with respect to any remote work arrangements implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; (viii) the sufficiency of our liquidity and alternate sources of funding, if necessary; (ix) our ability to realize revenue from customer orders and backlog; (x) our ability to operate our business efficiently, comply with our debt obligations, manage capital expenditures and costs effectively, and generate cash flow; (xi) the economy, including its stability in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the potential impact it may have on our business, including our customers; (xii) the state of the wind energy market and other energy and industrial markets generally and the impact of competition and economic volatility in those markets; (xiii) the effects of market disruptions and regular market volatility, including fluctuations in the price of oil, gas and other commodities; (xiv) competition from new or existing industry participants including, in particular, increased competition from foreign tower manufacturers; (xv) the effects of the change of administrations in the U.S. federal government; (xvi) our ability to successfully integrate and operate acquired companies and to identify, negotiate and execute future acquisitions; (xvii) the potential loss of tax benefits if we experience an "ownership change" under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; (xviii) our ability to utilize various relief options enabled by the CARES Act, including our ability to receive forgiveness of the PPP Loans; (xix) the limited trading market for our securities and the volatility of market price for our securities; and (xx) the impact of future sales of our common stock or securities convertible into our common stock on our stock price.  These statements are based on information currently available to us and are subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual growth, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, performance, business prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these statements including, but not limited to, those set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, as supplemented by our Current Report on Form 10-Q filed August 5, 2020.   We are under no duty to update any of these statements.  You should not consider any list of such factors to be an exhaustive statement of all of the risks, uncertainties or other factors that could cause our current beliefs, expectations, plans and/or assumptions to change.  Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a predictor of actual results.

CORPORATE CONTACT

Jason Bonfigt
708.780.4821