Meyer Burger posts higher EBITDA loss in H1, says fully sold out until Q4

Meyer Burger Technology AG (SWX:MBTN) today reported an expected drop in sales for the first half of 2021, which, coupled with additional operating costs, led to an expanded loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

During the period, Meyer Burger completed the strategic transformation of its business model from a solar machinery maker to a manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules. The company said in a statement it is fully sold out until well into the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021. It has orders on hand from both Europe and the US at prices that fully align with expectations, and has won its first projects in the segment for utility-scale and large industrial rooftop systems.

As previously announced, the company will be unable to achieve full solar module production capacity in August because of delays of the commissioning of individual parts of the production lines at its two new sites in Germany. A few weeks more will be needed.

Meyer Burger noted it has financing in place for an accelerated expansion of production capacity. It plans to hit 1.4 GW of cell and module production capacity already by the end of 2022.

For January-June 2021, the company posted a net loss of CHF 37.2 million (USD 40.6m/EUR 34.7m) compared to CHF 37.4 million a year back on sales of CHF 18 million, which reflect residual sales under the old business model and compare to CHF 51 million in sales for the first half of 2020. The second half of 2021 will bring first revenues from solar module sales.

The company’s loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation expanded to CHF 30.9 million from the adjusted figure of CHF 25.5 million for January-June 2020.

In conclusion, Meyer Burger rated its entry into the solar module market as strong and said it expects to maintain its momentum in the coming years.

(CHF 1.0 = USD 1.092/EUR 0.933)

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