ReneSola records positive performance following restructuring

The move from solar PV manufacturer to a pure play project developer has, thus far, been a positive one for ReneSola, which today announced its unaudited Q4 and FY 2017 financials.

While figures across the board were up, it remains to been what its financials will look like, when its discontinued manufacturing operations are included.

CEO, Xianshou Li, labeled 2017 a “transformative year” for the Chinese company, which sold its polysilicon, wafer, cell and module manufacturing business to Li last September, following a going-concern and de-listing risk earlier in August.

Under the agreement, a total of RMB 3 billion (US$452,430 million) in debts were transferred to the CEO via ReneSola Singapore Pte Ltd, thus removing from ReneSola’s books its most debt-heavy business, and reducing its immediate liability and other short-term debt to $217.3 million.

Its total liabilities as of December 31, 2017 stood at $245.2 million, which is a significant improvement on the over $1 billion at the end of December 2016.

Meanwhile, Q4 net income was just $1.7 million, down from $87.4 million in Q3, but significantly up from the loss of $25.4 million YoY. For the FY, an income of $34.5 million was recorded, up from a loss of the same in 2016.

Revenues, gross profit and EBITDA were also all up in the final quarter of 2017, at $64.8 million, $6.8 million and $4.7 million, respectively, while the FY saw $103 million, $14.1 million and $11.6 million, respectively.

Overall, ReneSola says it has a global PV project pipeline totaling around 1.1 GW, of which 92.2 MW of these are under construction.

In addition to China, the company is active in Europe, including Hungary, with a pipeline of 38.4 MW; Spain, with an early-stage pipeline of 162 MW; and France, where in addition to being awarded 16 solar projects totaling 4.65 MW, it will also develop four parks in the south totaling 69 MW, in partnership with Green City Energy, a subsidiary of Green City e.V., a Munich, Germany-based project developer and financier.

At home, ReneSola says it is in a late stage discussion with an unnamed strategic investor, to form a partnership to co-own its China DG Holdco. “The investor plans to inject 200 million RMB (around $31.6 million) in cash into the Holdco, in exchange for minority interest of the Holdco. We are hoping to finalize the details of our partnership in a few days,” said the company in a statement released.

Also in China, ReneSola says it currently owns over 187 MW of operational rooftop projects, and has an additional 28 MW under construction. Overall, it aims to owning between 350-400 MW of rooftop projects in the country by the end of 2018.

Looking ahead, ReneSola expects its project business to generate revenue in the range of $30 million to $35 million and an overall gross margin in the range of 15% to 20% in Q1.

For the FY, it is targeting revenue in the range of $130 to $140 million with overall gross margin in the range of 20 to 25%.

“Fourth quarter results were largely in-line with our expectations. On a year-over-year basis, Q4 revenue growth was over 60%, and operating income was up over 136%,” said Li.

He added, “We remain excited about the opportunities ahead of us, and believe that our talented team, diversified geographic coverage and track record of success at every stage of project development will position us for profitable growth.”

Popular content

Batteries set to drive rapid solar growth

25 December 2024 Chemical battery storage, led by lithium, has made such significant strides in terms of cost, capacity and technology that batteries are now positione...