SMA Solar raises H1 sales by 16.6% Y/Y, upgrades 2012 guidance

(SeeNews) – Aug 9, 2012 - German solar inverter maker SMA Solar Technology AG (ETR:S92) increased its sales by 16.6% year-on-year to EUR 833.7 million (USD 1.029bn) in the first half of 2012 and raised the sales target for the full year.

In its financial statement today, the company said it is targeting annual sales of between EUR 1.3 billion and EUR 1.5 billion, which is an upgrade to the previous full-year forecast for sales in the range of EUR 1.2 billion and EUR 1.5 billion.

SMA Solar raised the projected range for its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) in 2012 as well, even though the EBIT for the first half of the year dropped to EUR 83.7 million from EUR 103.7 million.

The new full-year guidance for EBIT stands at EUR 100 million to EUR 150 million, while previously the company targeted a result of between EUR 60 million and EUR 150 million.

The EBIT margin for the first six months reached 10%, while a year earlier it was 14.5%. Despite the decline SMA Solar raised the EBIT margin target range to 8% to 10%, versus the earlier forecast 5% to 10%.

The company sold 4 GW of solar inverter capacity during the first six months of 2012, up from 3.1 GW in the same period of the previous year.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.229)

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