Areva told its shareholders it expects to see sales of about €600m ($795m) from renewables next year, roughly the same as 2012’s figure.

The company had previously foreseen revenues above €750m.

Areva says the shortfall is “due to the time required to set up financing for certain customer projects, delaying their execution”.

It was one of the factors cited for a slight lowering of Areva’s forecast earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to about €1.1bn.

Areva’s