Phoenix Solar insolvency official

The German solar PV project developer, Phoenix Solar AG has officially filed for insolvency today, December 13.

In a one sentence statement on its website, the company said, “The Executive Board of Phoenix Solar AG has submitted an insolvency filing to the relevant insolvency court in Munich, today.”

Last Friday, it announced it would start insolvency proceedings this week after its U.S. subsidiary, Phoenix Solar Inc. received a payment request from an unidentified customer to the tune of US$8 million.

“This exceeds the financial capabilities of Phoenix Solar AG, therefore leads to insolvency and forces the Board to start the insolvency proceedings,” it said on Friday.

According to its latest financial data, the Phoenix Solar Group has 128 employees. It is unclear how many of them, or the subsidiaries, will be affected. The phone number for the company does not connect, and an automatic email response stated, “Because of the insolvency filing of Phoenix Solar AG the investor relations office is currently unavailable.”

In its Q3 2017 financial results, the company noted that several EPC contracts for large-scale projects in the U.S. and Asia/Pacific region had been signed, including its first large ground-mounted PV power plant in Australia.

“These projects, as well as the issuing of the respective notices to proceed had originally been expected to come in earlier in the financial year,” wrote Phoenix Solar.

“On October 24, 2017, the Executive Board of Phoenix Solar AG, therefore, lowered its 2017 forecast and now expects revenues in the range of € 90 to €110 million (2016: €139.2 million) and an EBIT in a range between €-10.0 to €-8.0 million for the full year 2017.”

Despite losses this year, the company said that due to its significantly increased weighted global project pipeline, renewed revenue and earnings growth was expected in 2018. It also renewed the tenure of Group CEO, Tim Ryan by another year on the back of “improving prospects”.