Covid delays drove 20% dip in solar project revenue for Chinese developer last year

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Chinese curtain-wall-to-solar company China Shuifa Singyes Energy saw revenue rise more than 60% last year despite losing a fifth of its solar project income because of Covid-19-related delays.

The former Singyes business, which was bailed out by state-owned construction group Shuifa in 2019, reported solar project revenue fell from RMB1.5 billion ($231 million), in 2019, to RMB1.19 billion ($183 million) last year, with delays caused by the global health crisis cited as the main reason.

Interestingly, the company's solar engineering, procurement and construction operation entirely reversed focus from public to commercial and industrial projects during 2020. Whereas Singyes had generated RMB1.12 billion from public projects in 2019, and just RMB381 million ($58.6 million) from commercial installations, those figures were reversed last year, to RMB24.8 million and RMB1.17 billion, respectively.

The group's overall performance was not dented, with the rise in total revenue adding up to net profits of RMB203 million, following a near-disastrous RMB976 million loss a year earlier.

New business activity helped things along, with the developer and manufacturer generating revenue of RMB189 million from the coal-fired steam business it acquired from its state-owned parent last year, for RMB190 million, and a further RMB925 million from a new venture selling petrochemical products. Both operations are grouped under the company's “renewable energy business” division.

Most of the figures on the balance sheet moved in the right direction, with the exception of current liabilities, which soared from RMB3.32 billion to RMB5.45 billion ($839 million). A large chunk of that came from “other payables and accruals,” which rose from RMB384 million in 2019 to RMB2.1 billion last year. The only explanation for the change, provided on page 225 of the 305-page annual report, was an “amounts due to related parties” figure, which rose from RMB10 million ($1.54 million) in 2019 to RMB1.49 billion last year, with no further information offered.

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