Spain's Soltec narrows net loss in Q1, sells assets in Colombia

Spanish solar trackers maker and project developer Soltec Power Holdings SA (BME:SOL) posted a net loss of EUR 9.6 million (USD 10.5m) for the first quarter of 2023, compared to a loss of EUR 15.5 million in the same period a year back, the group said in the quarterly earnings report on Thursday.

Adjusted EBITDA was a negative EUR 4.6 million, shrinking from a EUR-13.0-million loss a year prior. Total revenues at group level dropped by 21.6% year-on-year to EUR 76.8 million.

Lower volumes recorded by Soltec’s industrial division, which makes and supplies solar trackers, were behind the revenue decline, the company said.

Soltec Industrial booked revenues of EUR 71.3 million, down by 39.1% year-on-year, and reined in adjusted EBITDA loss to EUR 3.2 million, compared to a EUR-7.5-million loss in the first quarter of 2022.

Explaining the results by the seasonality of the business, Soltec said that it expects the industrial division to return to form in terms of volumes and margins in the second half of the year.

Soltec Development, the division that develops solar projects until shovel-ready before selling them to third parties or Soltec Assets, recorded a EUR-2.1-million loss of adjusted EBITDA, down from EUR 2.1 in the black a year prior.

The development division sold 130 MW of early-stage solar projects in Colombia this May, with Soltec saying that more asset rotation transactions in different regions are due to follow in the coming quarters.

Soltec Development now has some 14.2 GW of projects in different stages in eight countries -- Spain, Italy, Denmark, Romania, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and the United States, the company said.

Finally, the relatively newer Soltec Assets division earned revenues of EUR 3 million and adjusted EBITDA of 2.3 million. The division currently operates two solar farms in Brazil and one in Spain for a total of 225 MW. It also has 25 MW of solar projects under construction, all of them in Spain.

As for guidance, the Soltec group expects to annual EBITDA to arrive between EUR 45 million and EUR 60 million, it said.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.092)

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