Yingli Green Energy Posts Narrower Q1 Loss; Backs FY14 Shipment View - Update

(RTTNews) - Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (YGE) Tuesday reported a narrower net loss in its first quarter, boosted by margin strength amid higher prices and cost reduction efforts. The Chinese manufacturer of vertically integrated photovoltaic products reported a slight increase in revenues, and reiterated its shipment forecast for fiscal 2014.

In pre-market activity, Yingli Green shares are gaining $0.12 or 3.41 percent, and trading at $3.64.

For the first quarter, the net loss attributable to the company narrowed to 341.76 million Chinese Yuan or $54.98 million from 611.78 million yuan a year ago. Loss per ordinary share and per ADS was 2.18 yuan or $0.35, compared to a loss of 3.91 yuan in the prior year.

Adjusted net loss, which excluded certain items, was 338.5 million yuan or $54.5 million, compared to a loss of 607.1 million yuan in the year ago quarter. Adjusted loss per ordinary share and ADS was 2.16 yuan or $0.35, compared to a loss of 3.88 yuan in the previous year.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax expenses, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA, a key earnings metric, was 221.9 million yuan or $35.7 million.

Total net revenues for the quarter were 2.687 billion yuan or $432.21 million, compared to 2.679 billion yuan last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of $0.24 per share and revenues of $464.04 million for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

In the quarter, total PV module shipments, including shipments for PV systems, were 630.8 MW. On a sequential basis, shipments plunged 32.9 percent.

The company noted that proportion of shipments to markets outside China, U.S. and Europe doubled and accounted for 35 percent of total shipments in the first quarter, compared to 16 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Gross margin was 15.7 percent, significantly higher than last year's 4.1 percent, attributable to the slight increase in average selling price of PV modules and on-going efforts on cost reduction. Gross margin for sales of PV module was 16.8 percent.

Looking ahead, the company continues to expect PV module shipment to be in the estimated range of 4.0GW to 4.2GW (including 400-600MW shipment for PV systems) for fiscal year 2014, which represents an increase of 23.7 percent to 29.9 percent from last year. The outlook is based on current market and operating conditions, estimated production capacity and forecasted customer demand.

The company said it expects to develop approximately 400MW to 600MW of PV projects by the end of 2014, based on the current project development status and the expectation of progress of project pipelines.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Liansheng Miao said, "Since the beginning of the second quarter, we have seen substantial upside in demand from China as well as emerging markets such as South America, Southeast Asia and Africa, we expect this trend to continue towards the second half of 2014. Based on our current order backlog and estimation of market prospects, we expect our shipments in the upcoming quarters will pick up from the first quarter and we are confident to achieve shipment guidance of 4.0GW to 4.2GW for fiscal year 2014."