Chinese-Canadian PV module manufacturer Canadian Solar was able to significantly improve revenue and shipments in the second quarter of the year, despite what its CEO, Shawn Qu, defined as challenging market conditions.
The company achieved record sales of US$1.43 billion during the period, which is 105% more than it did a year earlier and 31% more than in the first quarter of this year. Quarterly shipments, meanwhile, totaled 3.66 GW, up 26% year-on-year and 17% quarter-over-quarter.
“We posted our highest quarterly revenue of $1.43 billion in the second quarter and made significant progress to capitalize on growth in the battery storage market,” said CFO, Huifeng Chang. “We ended the second quarter with $1.3 billion in cash, and have raised approximately $110 million to date from our at-the-market equity offering program, which is well on track.”
Net profit declined from $23 million in the second quarter of last year to $11 million in the latest quarter. The company attributed this profit drop to lower gross profit and higher operating expenses and said it was also compensated by an unspecified income tax benefit.
“Although polysilicon and transportation costs remained elevated, we continue to raise module pricing, prioritize margins while maximizing capacity utilization, and continue to improve on our product and manufacturing efficiency as we take further cost control measures,” said Yan Zhuang, the president of the company's CSI Solar.
At the end of the latest quarter, the manufacturer had an annual PV module production capacity of 19.7 GW with 5.1 GW of ingot capacity, 8.7 GW of wafer production lines and 13.3 GW of cell output capability. By the end this year, module capacity is expected to reach 22.7 GW, ingot capacity will remain unchanged at 5.1 GW and cell output at 13.9 GW with the wafer figure reaching 11.5 GW.
Canadian Solar said it expects revenues of $5.6-6 billion this year, on the back of 16-17 GW of shipments. In its previous outlook, it had estimated shipments to be in the range of 18-20 GW. Shipments of 1.8-2.3 GW are expected in the current three-month reporting period.
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