REC Silicon ASA (STO:RECO) reported positive EBITDA of USD 1.3 million (EUR 1.1m) for the second quarter of 2017 but saw sales drop to USD 61.4 million due to lower polysilicon sales volumes.
The Norway-based company, whose manufacturing facilities are located in the US, said on Thursday that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) included USD 2.5 million from the collection of previously reserved trade accounts receivable. In the year-ago period, the company registered an EBITDA loss of USD 14.3 million.
REC Silicon sold 2,960 million tonnes of polysilicon in the three months, which it said was near expectations and marked an 18% increase as compared to the previous quarter. Nevertheless, average solar grade polysilicon prices realised by the company slipped by 6.9% on a quarterly basis due to restricted access to markets in China following the trade war between the US and China, as well as excess polysilicon production capacity.
Polysilicon production was 0.6% above the company’s guidance at 3,057 million tonnes. Production volumes of FBR (Fluidised Bed Reactor) polysilicon amounted to 2,380 million tonnes, exceeding REC Silicon’s guidance by 1.6%.
More details about the company’s Q2 and six-month performance can be found in the table:
| (in USD million) |
Q2 2017 |
Q2 2016 |
H1 2017 |
H1 2016 |
| Revenues |
61.4 |
71.1 |
118.9 |
139.9 |
| EBITDA (loss) |
1.3 |
(14.3 ) |
5.9 |
(27.8) |
| EBIT (loss) |
(19) |
(38.1) |
(35) |
(75.7) |
| Profit (Loss) from continuing operations |
(64.8 ) |
(19) |
(91.9) |
(83.4) |
Polysilicon sales
(in million tonnes) |
2,960 |
3,634 |
5,469 |
7,491 |
The Norwegian group noted it is still focused on identifying sales opportunities outside China to mitigate the impact of the solar trade war. Overall, it expects the continued market uncertainty and the reduction of feed-in tariffs (FiT) in China to lead to modest increases in polysilicon spot prices in the following quarter.
Looking ahead, REC Silicon projects polysilicon production of 3,070 million tonnes for the third quarter, while for 2017 it is seen to be 12,500 million tonnes.
REC Silicon also said its Yulin joint venture in China is on track to begin FBR polysilicon production, with start-up of its first silane unit planned to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2017. The company is continuing talks to defer its remaining USD 169 million capital contributions until after 2018.
(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.865)
Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!
The Moses Lake polysilicon factory. Source: REC Silicon. License: All Rights Reserved.
