Leading PV inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology has backed up recently raised full-year revenue guidance with first half sales reaching €429.3 million, driven the most by the utility-scale PV power plant market.
SMA Solar’s sales in the first half of 2015 are 26% higher than the previous year period, reaching €429.3 million and inline with the mid-range of previous guidance.
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SMA sold PV inverters with an output of 3.153GW in the reporting period, around 58% higher than the first half of 2014 when inverters output was 1.99GW.
However, first quarter 2015 sales were €226.3 million, compared to €203 million in the second quarter. Management noted that around 80% of sales expected in 2015 had already been booked into backlog.
SMA Solar reiterated sales of €800 million to €850 million in 2015, up from previous guidance of €730 million to €770 million.
Driving sales growth is the central inverter segment, coupled to increased sales in North America. Utility market sales were €176 million in the first six months of 2015, up from €98 million in the prior year period, accounting for 40.9% of total sales.
Around 50% of the estimated 3.5GW US installations in the first half of the year were attributed to large-scale PV power plants.
However, utility-scale growth in the UK due to ROC changes at the end of the first quarter also pushed SMA Solar’s central inverter sales higher.
With the continued end-market decline in Germany, international sales accounted for 87% of sales, up from 73% in the prior year period.
Continued restructuring and cost reductions, coupled to increased sales enable SMA Solar to report EBITDA of €21.3 million, compared to a negative EBITDA of €17 million in the prior year period.
“After the positive development in the first half of the year and in light of the continued high order backlog, the SMA Managing Board is anticipating a rise in sales again in the current fiscal year for the first time since 2010,” noted Pierre-Pascal Urbon, SMA Solar’s CEO and CFO.