Despite being technically bankrupt, Yingli Green as a NYSE listed company has been in stealth mode over its future viability since reporting third quarter 2015 results at the beginning of December last year.
The company has managed to file only one SEC filing in 2016, which related to one of only seven press releases the company has issued this year and only one of those at the beginning of the year related to its financial condition with the expected reverse stock split to counter a looming delisting.
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In recent years, Yingli Green has been the last publically listed solar company to report quarterly results and at time of posting this blog has yet to announce when it will report fourth quarter and full-year 2015 financial results.
Since the beginning of this year the only insight into the company’s acute financial position has been leaks to the mainstream financial media over possible loans from Chinese banks to avert bankruptcy. The problem with those rumours has been that the company has needed such funds since the start of 2015 and yet nothing has yet materialised.
Yesterday, (April 12) Yingli Green announced a 200MW PV module supply deal with an un-named customer (European-based EPC) for PV power plant projects in the Dominican Republic.
The news can be interpreted in several different ways. Firstly, as many publically listed companies do, a seemingly positive press release is a precursor to announcing quarterly results. But as Yingli Green has yet to set that date the release doesn’t gel with that assessment.
Secondly, a module supply deal of this size is worth noting, especially when it relates to a such a distressed company, which gives the impression that things are not as bad as they look and that an EPC wouldn’t risk purchasing modules from a company that’s bankability is in question.
However, the supply deal is for 2017 onwards and little clue to any further specifics over timelines. If the press release related to a supply deal in 2016 then the impression would be that the company could well be on the way to averting bankruptcy by whatever means is currently possible. In another way, a supply deal for 2017 is a meaningless bit of news as the company may not be in existence then.
