PV Crystalox dives into losses due to Chinese solar overcapacity
PV Crystalox Solar
33.10p
13:19 28/09/20
PV Crystalox Solar said on Thursday that prices had remained decoupled from production costs due to an over-capacity of the photovoltaic (PV) industry in China, the biggest manufacturer of solar products in the world.
Crystalox shipped a total 69 megawatts (MW) of its multi-crystalline silicon wafers in the six months leading up to 30 June, a 15% improvement on the 59MW it moved at the same time last year.
The majority of these shipments were destined for France which had an accumulative of PV capacity of approximately 7.1 gigawatts (GW) as of April 2017 and has set an ambitious growth target of 18-20GW by the end of 2023.
Group revenue of €12.6m was 64% lower than the same time last year despite a 17% increase in shipments of its wafers, due mainly to a lower volume of polysilicon trading than the first half of 2016.
It reported a pre-tax loss of €5.4m, a significant turnaround from the €4.7m profit reported last year.
Net cash was down just 3% year-on-year, from €28.8m to €27.9m.
Chief executive, Iain Dorrity, said, "The board remains mindful of the need to protect shareholder value and will await the judgment of the arbitral tribunal on the group's dispute with a customer who failed to purchase wafers in line with its contractual obligations before completing its strategic review."
As of 0920 BST, shares had slipped 7.28% down to 22.03p.