Juhl Wind Sees ’09 Profit of Up To $1 Million; Newly-Public Firm Has ‘A Lot of Growth Potential,’ Its President Says
Submitted by New Energy News Blog
Juhl Wind Inc. expects full-year profit in 2009 between about $700,000 and $1 million on revenue of at least $8.9 million, John Mitola, president of this self-described leader in “community wind power,” told EnergyTechStocks.com.
Woodstock, Minn.-based Juhl began trading as a public company on June 25. Of its approximately 25 million shares outstanding, about 57% is owned by company CEO Dan Juhl, with Mitola owning about 7% and an investor group approximately 22%. Mitola said his and Juhl’s shares are locked up for a period of three years.
Juhl’s operations are profitable right now, Mitola said; however, the cost of going public will keep the company in the red until the first quarter of 2009.
Mitola said the concept of “community wind” revolves around sharing the ownership of a wind farm with the farmers on whose land the turbines are located. He said community wind farms generally are smaller than wind farms owned by electric utilities, private equity firms and others.
“Our vision is to build a nice little niche,” Mitola told EnergyTechStocks.com, adding that the company’s “secret ingredient” for success is that its wind farms, because they are smaller than most, are less expensive to build and operate and, hence, more profitable. He explained that smaller wind farms reduce substation and other construction costs and permit the farmers themselves to do some of the regular maintenance.
“I believe we have a lot of growth potential,” Mitola said, adding that he thinks the company’s valuation “can easily double, if not triple,” over time. He cautioned that while he doesn’t think Juhl has any significant downside risk, regulations and other matters could affect the timing of when revenues are booked starting in 2010.
Last week Juhl announced it had signed feasibility study agreements for three new wind farm projects with farmers’ groups in Minnesota, bringing its total number of projects in some stage of development to about 20. The company said that since going public, it’s been getting inquiries from local owner groups on an almost daily basis. Company CEO Dan Juhl expressed what Mitola called Juhl’s secret agreement when he said in a press release, “We want our friends in rural America to know that they don’t have to turn their land over to large wind developers. Instead, they can work with us and own their own wind farm and keep a much larger share of the economic benefits for themselves and their neighbors.”
