Shunfeng posts $265.2m loss in 2019

Shunfeng International Clean Energy (SFCE) recorded a loss of RMB1.88 billion ($265.2 million) last year, from RMB1.71 billion loss in 2018.

Group revenue edged up 5.4% year on year to RMB1,731,106,000, up 5.4% year on year to RMB1.7 billion, according to the group’s unaudited results for the year to Dec. 31, 2019. It attributed the delay in the auditing process to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Its PV projects in China accounted for RMB1.37 billion of its total full-year revenues, up 4.6% year on year. However, it said that its electricity-generating business faced a number of critical challenges in 2019.

“The company was under unprecedented liquidity pressure due to a delay in receiving tariff subsidies payable by the relevant financial departments of China,” SFCE said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Its operational solar arrays throughout China generated about 1,843.8 GWh of electricity in 2019, up 6.2% year on year. By the end of December, its total installed PV capacity in China had reached roughly 1.5 GW.

SFCE spent much of the past year selling off parts of its business. In September it sold its PV equipment production business to Zhonghe Shandong Energy in September, and unloaded 11 solar projects in November. It sold off these assets to pare down its debts, as it shifts its focus to PV generation in China and the production of LED lighting kit. It said that its “LED business continued to maintain its growth” throughout 2019, with sales from the segment rising from RMB334.5 million in 2018 to RMB362.7 million by the end of December.

“Looking forward, the continuous drop in solar power generation costs will lead to a new era in the global clean energy market,” SFCE said, noting the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. “With challenge comes opportunity. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”