German inverter supplier SMA Solar has posted improved financial results for 2023, with sales increasing by 78.6% year-on-year.
A total of 20.5GW of inverters were sold in 2023, increasing from 12.2GW in 2022. Last year, sales increased to €1,904.1 million (US$2057.1 million), up from €1,065.9 million in 2022. EBITDA increased significantly to €311 million in 2023 from €70 million in 2022.
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SMA Solar said the high demand for its products and normalised delivery situation since the beginning of 2023 drove the improved financial results last year.
Additionally, sales of all three segments improved. The home solutions segment increased its sales to €580.2 million, up from €335 million in 2022. In the commercial and industrial solutions segment, sales rose to €478.9 million from €290.3 million in 2022.
The large scale and project solutions segment increased its sales to €845 million, up from €440.6 million.
“The high demand for our products and solutions, good production capacity utilisation and our ability to deliver have resulted in an exceptional performance in all three segments,” said Jürgen Reinert of SMA Group.
As of the end of 2023, SMA Group’s order backlog dropped to €1,705 million, down from €2,077.4 million in 2022. Of the total order backlog, €1,329.8 million was attributable to product business. Incoming orders declined in the second half of 2023 as the majority of orders in the home solutions and commercial and industrial solutions segments had already been placed by the end of Q1.
Meanwhile in Q4, incoming orders slowed down due to the changing market conditions.
Looking ahead, the company’ sales in 2024 will reach between €1,950 million and €2,220 million, driven by further sales and earnings growth In the large scale and project solutions segment as a result of the high order backlog and the level of incoming orders.
The estimated EBITDA for 2024 will range from €220-€290 million.
Last year, SMA Solar announced a plan to build an inverter production site in the US, with an annual capacity of 3.5GW. The company expects the facility to be operational in 2025 and create up to 200 jobs in the first three years.