Sunways' sales drop 40% Y/Y in Q2 2011 on slowing demand, price pressure

Aug 11, 2011 - German solar cells and photovoltaic (PV) components maker Sunways AG (ETR:SWW) saw its sales slump 40.1% on the year in the second quarter of 2011, as a result of the dropping demand and massive pressure on prices.

The company said today its sales for the period amounted to only EUR 38.7 million (USD 55.1m), while a year ago they stood at EUR 64.6 million.

Demand shrank, especially in Germany, and the pressure on PV component prices continued to grow. The tightening fiscal and political situation also fueled the volatility of the sector market.

In this environment Sunways slipped to a loss before interest and tax of EUR 6.3 million from earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of EUR 5 million in the same period of 2010.

The only thing which helped the company booked a net profit for the second of 2011 was the sale of its MHH Solartechnik GmbH subsidiary. Sunways received EUR 4.9 million as the second part of the payment on the deal and thanks to that it recorded a net profit of EUR 200,000, which was still way below the EUR 3.5 million profit it made for the second quarter of last year.

Sunways said it currently cannot make an adequate prediction about its full-year performance. The company withdrew its outlook for 2011 in April, based on its sames and order intake to date.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.424)

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