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Sunways FY 2011 in line with expectations

Germany-based Sunways AG has announced its preliminary fourth quarter (Q4) and full year (FY) 2011 financial results, which are said to be "in line with expectations". These expectations include annual sales of €115.4 million and "record" photovoltaic module sales.

There were no surprises in Sunways preliminary 2011 FY financial results.

Sunways AG

Acknowledging the "still tense" situation in the European markets, the company recorded Q4 2011 sales worth €31.2 million – slightly up from the €23.3 million achieved in Q3 2011, but still down on Q4 2010, which saw sales of €55.5 million. For the FY, preliminary figures show that sales of €115.4 million were reaped.

The operating result (EBIT) is expected to be in line with that achieved in Q3 2011, namely around €-11.8 million. In a statement released, Sunways commented, "The operating result will, however, be affected on the one hand by non-recurrent extraordinary effects in the lower double-digit million range relating to provisions for anticipated losses resulting from wafer supply contracts (Deutsche Solar) and various agreements for the manufacture of inverters, provisions for warranties and fixed asset impairments. On the other hand, the LDK transaction involved additional non-recurrent expenses reported in the fourth quarter in an amount of approx. €22 million."

At 22.1 megawatts (MW), sales of photovoltaic modules increased in Q4 2011, despite the difficult market conditions – a new record for the solar company. This is in comparison to 11.4 MW in Q3 2011 and 16.6 MW in Q4 2010. Overall, Sunways estimates that it has sold 66.8 MW worth of modules across 2011, up from 54 MW in 2010.

"The solar inverter business also recovered in the fourth quarter 2011," says Sunways, "while buying reluctance still led to a marked decline in sales volumes in the previous quarter, the segment now reported the best quarterly result in 2011 with sales volumes corresponding to a total capacity of 49.6 megawatts (Q4 2010: 46.1 megawatts)."

Commenting, Michael Wilhelm, chairman of the management board, says that in addition to the price declines and "hesitant" demand, "the transaction with LDK also had a negative impact on quarterly results. We do, however, believe that the envisaged acquisition of a majority stake will be an important cornerstone for the future development of Sunways AG and are confident that we will be able to jointly realize substantial synergies in the global PV market," he said.

The company’s full financial results will be published on March 30.