Major tier-1 integrated PV manufacturer JA Solar reported second quarter financial results within guidance but raised full-year shipment guidance on the back of stronger than expected demand in China.
The company reported total shipments of 681.8MW, 6.8% up from the previous quarter and 47.0% higher, year-on-year.
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Modules and module tolling in the quarter was said to have reached 445.8MW, up 14.9% from the prior quarter and up 75.6% year-on-year.
Solar cell and cell tolling were 236.0MW, down 5.7% sequentially and up 12.5% year-on-year.
Revenue in the second quarter of 2014 was reported to be US$390.5 million, 6.5% higher than the prior quarter and 52.9% higher year-on-year.
However, gross margin was 15.2%, down from 16.7% in the previous two quarters, due to shipments in China experiencing softer pricing in the quarter as well as an adjustment was made to the minimum module import prices into the EU market.
Baofang Jin, chairman and CEO of JA Solar, commented, “Our second quarter results were satisfactory, with strong revenue growth, continued bottom-line profitability, and progress in our transition from cells to modules as our main revenue stream. This successful transition has enabled us to emerge as a tier 1 module supplier in the world. Furthermore, we are actively growing our downstream business. In the second half of 2014, we expect to sustain both our growth and profitability, due to accelerating activity in China, and continued favourable product and geographic mix.”
Shipment guidance revised
Indeed, increased shipments in the second half of 2014, notably stronger than expected demand in China for distributed generation and ground mount utility projects led to management upwardly revising shipments targets for the year.
JA Solar said that it expected total cell and module shipments in the third quarter to be in the range of 730MW to 760MW and full-year shipments to be in the range of 2.9GW to 3.1GW, up from previous guidance of 2.7GW to 2.9GW.
Although JA Solar still expects to grid connect around 100MW of PV project business in China by the end of the year, the company is expanding its 2014 pipeline to 200MW, which accounts for part of the shipment guidance increase for the year.
“We are confident in our prospects in the second half of this year. Our optimistic outlook is predicated on several trends. We expect better demand in China as both utility scale and distributed generation projects start construction in the second half. We believe secular demand trends in Japan will continue due to their unique energy needs, and we expect to grow our business in the North American market,” added Jin.