SMA Solar swings to loss in H1 on supply chain woes

SMA Solar Technology AG (ETR:S92) turned to a loss in the first half of 2022 as persistent supply difficulties for electronic components continue to dent the company's sales.

The German photovoltaic (PV) inverters maker booked a net loss of EUR 10.6 million (USD 10.9m) for the six months through June against a profit of EUR 13.3 million a year earlier.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) plunged nearly 58% year-on-year to EUR 16.0 million with EBITDA margin falling to 3.4%, SMA Solar said in a press release.

In the first half of the year, the company saw its sales decline 3.4% to EUR 471.9 million as it sold inverters with a total capacity of some 5.75 GW compared with 6.79 GW a year earlier. The drop was attributable to the Home Solutions segment where SMA Solar was unable to meet the demand due to the shortage of materials caused by supply chain disruptions. Meanwhile, sales in the Commercial & Industrial Solutions and Large-Scale Project Solutions segments stagnated as supply woes and higher prices led to project delays.

"We have therefore initiated a series of measures to improve our long-term ability to deliver. As a result, we are currently expecting an improvement in the supply situation in the second half of the year compared with the first half. We are expecting a significant improvement of the overall situation and profitable sales growth from 2023 onwards. We are preparing for this by building a new gigawatt factory at the Kassel site and consequently doubling our production capacity by 2024,” said chief executive Juergen Reinert.

For 2022, SMA Solar projects sales of between EUR 900 million and EUR 1.05 billion and EBITDA in the range of EUR 10 million to EUR 60 million.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.029)

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