ReneSola posts 5.9% drop in 2018 revenues but profits grow

Solar Farm. Author: Michael Mees meesphotography.com License: Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic.

Chinese solar projects developer ReneSola Ltd (NYSE:SOL) on Monday reported a 59.4% year-on-year increase in 2018 net profit from continuing operations to USD 5.1 million (EUR 4.5m) but saw net revenues slip by 5.9%.

The company, which exited manufacturing in 2016 and became a pure-play project developer, has operations globally but most of its assets are located in China. At the end of 2018, it had 231.7 MW of operational photovoltaic (PV) capacity, the bulk of which at home, as well as 15.4 MW in Romania and 4.3 MW in the UK.

The table below gives more details about the company’s financial performance in the fourth quarter and full 2018.

Amounts in USD unless otherwise noted	Q4 2018	Q4 2017	2018	2017
Net revenues	5.6m	64.8m	96.9m	103m
Gross margin (%)	51.42	10.54	29	13.7
Operating profit (loss)	(1.9m)	4.9m	15.5m	6.6m
Net profit (loss) from continuing operations	(4.3m)	1.7m	5.1m	3.2m
Net profit (loss)	(4.3m)	1.7m	5.1m	34.5m

For the first quarter of 2019, ReneSola projects revenues of between USD 8 million and USD 10 million, while for the 2019 total is seen at USD 150 million-170 million. Its forecast for gross profit margin is 0%-5% for January-March and 20%-25% for 2019.

ReneSola currently has 670 MW of completed projects, of which 44 MW in Poland and 7.7 MW in Hungary are in the sale process, as well as a solar project pipeline of 773 MW of late-stage developments. It intends to bring those plants online between 2019 and 2022.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.888)

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