Shipments up, revenue down in preliminary SolarWorld Q3 results as module price slump bites

Share

Germany-headquartered solar module manufacturer SolarWorld has issued preliminary third quarter (Q3) financials that reveal how the current global oversupply of PV modules is exerting downward pressure on prices.

Despite increasing shipments year-on-year by 5% – reaching 345 MW in Q3 2016 compared to 328 MW in Q3 2015 – consolidated revenue for the quarter came in below Q3 2015, reaching €204 million $223 million). Last year, that figure stood slightly higher, at €212 million ($232 million).

Extrapolated over the first three quarters of the year, 2016’s figures stack up positively against 2015, revealing a 31% increase in shipments (1,027 MW for 2016 compared to 784 MW for 2015) and a 20% increase in group revenue (€639 million for 2016 compared to €532 million for 2015).

However, the suppression in revenue evident in Q3 cannot be ignored. SolarWorld calls it a "global price erosion" resulting from "increasing dumping by Chinese manufacturers". This has resulted in a €13 million write-down in inventories for the company, which has depressed EBITDA to €-12 million in Q3, compared to €5 million for the same quarter last year.

Over the course of the year so far, EBITDA now stands at €7 million. For the same three quarters cumulative in 2015, that figure was higher at €15 million.

SolarWorld also said in its preliminary earnings report that the current negative market environment has nurtured a build-up of inventories, forcing liquid funds to decrease to €84 million as of September 30. By way of contrast, the group had funds of €148 million at this same stage last year.

Steps have already been taken by the firm to ease its financial burdens. SolarWorld announced in September that it is to lay off 500 temporary workers in Germany, and just last week said that it will not be able to reach its 2016 revenue and EBIT forecast.

The company has been a long and vocal proponent of the EU’s Minimum Import Price (MIP) undertaking for Chinese solar suppliers, but in recent months many Tier 1 and Tier 2 Chinese companies have voluntarily withdrawn from the undertaking, preferring instead to incur the current anti-dumping tariffs that apply – a situation that seemingly highlights just how low solar module prices have fallen this year.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Popular content

SolarEdge U.S.-made home battery now available

10 December 2024 The SolarEdge Home Battery ‘USA Edition’ has a storage capacity of 9.7kWh and is designed to quality for domestic content bonus.

Share

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.