German solar company Q-Cells SE (QCE.DE) published
preliminary figures for 2008, showing that the company continues to turn a profit while significantly increasing its worldwide production capacity.
Net income for the company, which was the largest producer of solar cells in 2007, rose to EUR 190.5 million in 2008, a 28% increase from the previous year's income of EUR 148.4 million.
In the past year, production of crystalline solar cells was increased
to 570.4 megawatts peak (MWp), up from 389.2 MWp a year ago--an increase of
47%.
Production by all the Group’s investments in thin-film technologies totalled
15.4 MWp, with Q-Cells’ fully consolidated companies contributing approximately 4 MWp to this figure. As a
result, the Group’s total production stood at around 574 MWp.
For2009, Q-Cells expects production volume of between
800 MWp and 1 gigawatts peak (GWp).
In 2008, sales increased by 46% to
EUR 1,251.3 million. Q-Cells International’s project business
contributed EUR 91.9 million to this figure (2007: EUR 13.5 million). In 4Q, Group
sales amounted to EUR 319.4 million, which equates to an increase of 13% compared with
the same quarter in the previous year.
In 2008, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to EUR 205.1 million in total (2007:
EUR 197.0 million). Without taking into account the considerably increased start-up costs for the
(fully consolidated) new technologies, Q-Cells achieved an EBIT of EUR 224.4 million in its core
business (including the one-off effect of the ramp-up costs for the factory in Malaysia) and
consequently an EBIT margin of 17%.
Operating income in 4Q, which the company said was heavily
influenced by the sales crisis at the year end, stood at EUR 32.2 million for the Group and
EUR 35.3 million for the core business. This meant that the targets for operating business, which were
revised in December last year, were met.
Excluding the profit contribution from the stake in Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC.OL), Q-Cells’
net income for the year stood at EUR 140.2 million (2007: EUR 127.1 million).
A presentation on the 2008 preliminary figures can be downloaded at the link below.
