German solar giant Q-Cells (QCE.DE) today withdrew its full-year sales outlook and said it saw no signs of an upturn in the solar market, which has been hit hard by the current economic recession.
Q-Cells said the seasonal market upturn which the industry had been anticipating to start in 2Q09 has not materialised for the company.
Lower sales volumes, the postponement of a large scale project to 3Q09 and the continued downward trend in solar cell prices has led, according to preliminary calculations, to a reduced revenue of around EUR 142 million, down from EUR 225 million in 1Q09.
Operating income (EBIT) fell to approximately EUR -62 million, compared with EUR 15 million in 1Q09, teh company said.
Furthermore, the drop in cell and wafer prices has led to non-cash relevant devaluations of current assets.
Despite this negative business development, Q-Cells said it maintains a considerable financial reserve (cash and short-term available credit lines) of approximately EUR 520 million as of June 30, 2009.
In spite of an expected recovery in market volume in the second half of the year due to seasonal upturn a generally tough market environment is still being expected, Q-Cells said in a release. Furthermore, the company expects the project business still to be largely dependent on the development of the financial markets.
"From a current standpoint, it will not be possible to attain the revenue and production levels which had been anticipated for the current business year. In light of this, the Management Board is not making new revenue and production forecasts for the current business year at this time," the release stated.
Reuters reported that shares in European solar stocks fell on the news, with Q-Cells leading the pack, down 15.8%, while peers SolarWorld (SWVG.DE), Solon (SOOG.DE), and Phoenix Solar (PS4G.DE) were all down 1.6% to 3.1%.
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