Good and Bad for Gamesa

On the surface of things, Gamesa’s 2011 sales figures seemed to suggest some good things. Sales from new and emerging markets accounted for 57% of the total with India at 19%, Latin and South America at 15% and China coming in at 23%.

With some of the major European manufacturers struggling to make headway in the current climate, the figures should provide some confidence that there is still a place for European turbine firms in the global markets.

The good news, however, has been tempered by Gamesa’s own forecast for next year, which has revised growth down 4%, blaming uncertainty in the US, grid infrastructure delays in China and volatility in India.

Whilst it’s undoubtedly a safe move for the business to downgrade its forecast for the next year given the global market challenges, it does pose a few questions as to where the business is really headed.

The firm recently announced the acquisition of a partial stake in an electric vehicle technology developer – a market that has suffered far more falls than anything witnessed by the wind energy sector.

And although the business’ facilities in India have enabled access to a new market, there is an emerging tier of new manufacturers that will start to give traditional players a run for their money. Something that our editorial team witnessed first hand, during a visit to an Indian manufacturer earlier in the month.

Evidently then, you don’t need to be an economist to recognise that suddenly, Southern European countries such as Spain need to make their proposed austerity measures count. And for Gamesa, this means that irrespective of the size of its domestic market in the future, it can’t afford to dismiss the wider European economy.