Broadwind Announces Transformational Two-Year, $175 Million Wind Tower Order With Global Wind Turbine Manufacturer

CICERO, Ill., Jan. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Broadwind (NASDAQ: BWEN, or the “Company”), a diversified precision manufacturer of specialized components and solutions serving global markets, today announced receipt of approximately $175 million in new tower orders from a leading global wind turbine manufacturer.

Fulfillment of the new order will occur during the full year 2023 and conclude by the end 2024. Ordered tower sections will be produced at both the Company’s Abilene and Manitowoc facilities.

NEW ORDER HIGHLIGHTS

• Transformational order reflects continued execution of business development strategy.   During the last three years, Broadwind has pursued an aggressive development strategy designed to both increase its share-of-wallet with existing customers, while expanding into complementary adjacent markets – and new customer relationships. This expansion further leverages its proven precision manufacturing expertise, as evidenced by its continuing customer and market diversification during this period. This order, which is the largest-ever received from this OEM customer, reflects the successful expansion of this customer relationship that is expected to scale, over time.
• Order secures significant production capacity over multi-year period. The two-year order secures approximately 50% of optimal tower production capacity across Broadwind’s facilities in 2023 and 2024. This order is anticipated to further optimize plant utilization over the near-to-medium term, and facilitate improved economies of scale, liquidity and financial performance, versus the prior-year period.
• Order carries favorable economics, including the benefit of federal tax credit.   The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed into law in 2022 provides critical industries, including those supporting the energy transition, with tax credits designed to accelerate a generational shift in the energy production mix from fossil fuels toward renewable energy, including wind.   Included within section 45x of the IRA is a provision for a new advanced manufacturing tax credit for which this order qualifies.

MANAGEMENT COMMENTARY

“This transformational new tower order is an historic accomplishment for our entire team, one that further establishes Broadwind as the leading precision manufacturer of heavy fabrications advancing the global energy transition,” stated Eric Blashford, President and CEO of Broadwind. “This important win will support a balanced production schedule over the next two years, materially increase system-wide facility utilization, and drive improved economies of scale across our organization.”

“Importantly, this new order will more than double our current total backlog, when compared to the backlog level reported at the end of the third quarter 2022,” continued Blashford. “Further, when adding in the benefit of the advanced manufacturing credit afforded by the IRA, this order will carry a favorable margin profile, one supportive of our strategic focus on profitable growth.”

“We anticipate that our tower order book will continue to fill throughout 2023, as raw materials prices and supply chain conditions further normalize, and development activity gradually improves,” concluded Blashford. “Importantly, while installation activity within the domestic onshore wind market has not yet returned to 2020 levels, orders such as this will position Broadwind to outpace growth within the broader market, particularly as we further consolidate share across leading global customers who value our domestic manufacturing base, skilled labor force and commitment to quality. We look forward to building on the momentum evident across our business, while continuing to drive long-term value creation for our shareholders in the year ahead.”

ABOUT BROADWIND

Broadwind (NASDAQ: 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

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 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act); (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 most recently filed Form 10-K and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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.

CONTACT: CORPORATE CONTACT

Noel Ryan, IRC
investor@bwen.com