Hanwha Q Cells posts USD-18.7m Q2 profit

Author: Takver. License: Creative Commons, Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic.

Solar module maker Hanwha Q Cells Co Ltd (NASDAQ:HQCL) today reported a net profit to ordinary shareholders of USD 18.7 million (EUR 16m) for the second quarter of 2017 and said results were in line with its guidance.

Chairman and chief executive Seong-woo Nam pointed out that the company reported profits despite uncertainties in major solar markets. “We focused on expanding our footprint in markets with favorable conditions in response to the constantly changing market dynamics,” Nam said.

Revenues rose by 33.7% quarter-on-quarter, but fell by 9.5% year-on-year, to USD 577.7 million. Hanwha Q Cells guided for third-quarter (Q3) revenues of between USD 540 million and USD 560 million.

The table contains key metrics.

Results in USD million	Q2 2017	Q1 2017	Q2 2016
Total net revenues	577.7	432.0	638.0
Gross margin (in %)	11.6	13.8	23.7
R&D expenses	4.1	8.8	14.0
Net loss	3.0	0.4	13.7
Net income to ordinary shareholders	18.7	17.6	76.8
Earnings per fully diluted ADS (in dollars)	0.22	0.21	0.92

The net loss for the period was due to a change in fair value of derivatives in hedging activities.

CFO Jay Seo stressed that the company is continuing to pay off interest-bearing debt instruments. Its debt-to-equity ratio as of the end of June was 361%, down 80 percentage points from the end of 2016.

Hanwha Q Cells affirmed its forecast for 2017 module shipments of 5.5 GW-5.7 GW, revenue-recognised shipments of 5.3 GW-5.5 GW and capital expenditures of about USD 50 million for manufacturing technology upgrades and certain research and development (R&D) expenditures.

At the end of the year the firm plans to have annual nameplate capacities of 1.6 GW for ingot, 1.1 GW for wafer, and 4.6 GW for each of cell and module mainly thanks to conversion efficiency improvements and de-bottlenecking of production operations.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.85)

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