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November 13, 2008
Bitterfeld-Wolfen,
Germany: Q-Cells Publishes Results to September 30, 2008
Germany
solar cell manufacturer, Q-Cells SE has published its Q3 report
as of September 30, 2008.
Production
increased for the first nine months increased by 63 % to 417.0
Megawatt peak (MWp) (9M 2007: 256.6 MWp). Production in Q3 was
153.5 MWp, slightly up on Q2 (146.5 MWp).
Sales
for the first three quarters increased by 61% to 931.9 million
(9M 2007: 577.1 million). For Q3, this means sales growth of
approximately 14 % compared with the previous quarter. In the
first nine months, Q-Cells SE achieved an EBIT of 189.1 million
- not taking into account the start-up costs of new technologies.
Taking these start up losses into account, Group EBIT amounted
to 172.9 million (an increase of 32% compared to previous year).
EBIT
for the third quarter amounted to 59.2 million not including
start-up costs and 53.8 million when taking them into consideration.
The main reason for the reduction of operating income in Q3 was
considerable wafer delivery cutbacks by the biggest supplier,
REC. As a consequence, expensive spot volumes had to be bought
in the short-term.
EBIT
margin in the first nine months for the core business amounted
to around 21% (Group: 18%) and to approx. 17% (Group: 15%) in
Q3. Without the effect of lower deliveries, the EBIT margin in
Q3 would have been stable at approx. 22% for the core business
and 20% for the Group.
Net
income for the reporting period (after minorities) amounted to
155.7 million (9M 2007: 111.2 million) or to 124.7 million
when not taking the effects of the stake in REC into account (9
Months 2007: 84.2 million). This corresponds to an increase of
40 % and 48 % respectively compared with the same period in the
previous year. Net income for Q3 amounted to 73.5 million, up
by 166% compared with Q2. Without the REC effects, the company
achieved net income for the period totalling 49.9 million (up
32 % on the previous quarter).
For
the ongoing year, Q-Cells SE confirms the goal of a production
volume in the core business of approximately 585 MWp (plus production
volume of all thin-film subsidiaries from 10 MWp to 20 MWp). As
a result of the positive development of the project business Q-Cells
International, the company is slightly raising its forecast for
Group sales to approximately 1.35 billion (previously 1.325
billion).
Despite
reduced wafer deliveries in Q3, the company is confirming the
goal for EBIT totalling approximately 260 million for 2008.
The Groups net income should now amount to approximately 215
million (previously 200 million), particularly due to the increased
REC income contribution (36 million instead of the previous 23
million).
Q-Cells
SE expects to generate a production volume of more than 1 GWp
throughout the Group in 2009. Furthermore, Q-Cells SE confirms
its sales forecast for 2009 totalling approx. 2.25 billion. Additional
to that, phases of expansion allowing a production volume totalling
approx. 1.8 GWp in 2010 are financed at this point.
Therefore,
an average growth of the production volume of approximately 70
% p.a. has already been secured for the two following years. A
higher production volume (including thin-film companies) of approx.
2.5 GWp for 2010 is possible, once additional funds can be raised.
Further details about: Q-Cells
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