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Due to the ongoing saga over its claims of fraud regarding its involvement in GSF, Suntech Power Holding released only preliminary financial results for the second quarter of 2012. The company said that PV product shipments surpassed previous guidance of a 20% increase to approximately a 33% improvement over the prior quarter. Revenue was reported to be US$471 million, up 15%, while the company posted a negative gross margin of 10%, primarily due to a cash inventory provision of US$76 million.
Suntech said that 93% of revenues came from PV module sales, while 7% of revenues were generated from PV systems, cells, silicon wafers and production equipment.
New CEO, David King said, "In the second quarter, greater demand from European markets, China, Japan and Australia drove sequential shipment growth, and we continued to progress towards our annual cost targets. However, the global imbalance between supply and demand, and the challenging price environment continue to impede profitability."
However, despite the boost to quarterly sales, Suntech expects shipments of PV products in the third quarter of 2012 to be relatively flat with the second quarter, while overall shipments for the full-year were revised downwards to between 1.8GW-2.0GW. Previously, Suntech had guided shipments to be between 2.1GW-2.5GW.
Major rival, Yingli Green had also revised its shipment forecast for the full-year. The company is expecting shipments to be in the range of 2.1GW-2.2GW, both higher and narrower in range than Suntech’s guidance.
Based on previous analysis and a new report from NPD Solarbuzz, Yingli Green is on track to replace Suntech as the number 1 PV module manufacturer in the world in 2012.
The gross margin in the third quarter of 2012 is expected to be in the low single digits. Suntech now expects 2012 annual PV shipments to be in the range of 1.8GW to 2.0GW, compared to previous guidance of 2.1GW to 2.5GW.
