Solar company ReneSola has revealed a gloomy business outlook for the first quarter of 2017 and the full year.
ReneSola expects revenue in the range of $130 million to $150 million, external wafer shipments in the range of 240MW to 260MW and external module shipments in the range of 250MW to 260MW for Q1 2017.
ReneSola expects revenue in the range of $900 million to $1,000 million in 2017.
“We expect downstream project sales to pick up in the second quarter of 2017 due to the growth in pipeline as well as our solid execution in project monetization. While some of our end markets can be volatile and will continue to face challenges amidst opportunities, we will remain focused on our long-term objectives,” said Xianshou Li, chief executive officer of ReneSola.
Q4
ReneSola revenue was $232.1 million (+24.1 percent q-o-q and –21.7 percent y-o-y) due to lower ASP and lower shipments to external customers.
Gross profit of ReneSola was $5 million (–73.7 percent q-o-q and –89.5 percent y-o-y), while gross margin declined to 2.1 percent from 10.1 percent in Q3 2016 and from 16.0 percent in Q4 2015 due to lower wafer and module ASPs.
Operating expenses were $26.8 million, representing 11.5 percent of revenue, down from $30.7 million in Q3 2016 and $30.5 million in Q4 2015.
ReneSola posted operating loss of $21.8 million, compared to operating loss of $11.9 million in Q3 2016 and operating income of $16.9 million in Q4 2015.
ReneSola posted net loss of $25.5 million, compared to net loss of $20.5 million in Q3 2016 and net income of $6.7 million in the prior-year period.
2016
ReneSola revenue dropped 27.5 percent to $929.8 million. The company’s gross profit dipped 41.7 percent to $109.5 million, while gross margin decreased to 11.8 percent from 14.7 percent in 2015.
Operating expenses were $124.6 million, or 13.4 percent of revenue, compared to $158.6 million in 2015. Operating loss was $15.1 million, compared to operating income of $29.3 million in 2015.
Net loss was $34.7 million, which compares to net loss of $5.1 million in 2015.
The company recognized revenue from six utility-scale projects in the United Kingdom sold in the fourth quarter. These projects had approximately 26.0 MW of generating capacity. Additionally, the company sold rooftop projects of 2.0 MW in China’s domestic distributed generation market in the quarter.
It has over 330 MW project pipelines under construction and plans to construct over 550 MW of projects in 2017.
Modules and Wafers
ReneSola said total external module shipments were 330.7 MW, up 72.9 percent from Q3 2016 and down 11.4 percent from Q4 2015. Total wafer shipments were 305.9 MW, up 5.3 percent from Q3 2016 and up 13.2 percent from Q4 2015. The sequential uptick in both module and wafer shipments reflected higher demand in the domestic market.
LED
ReneSola said LED revenue of $9.3 million was up 30.8 percent from $7.1 million in Q3 2016. Gross margin was 25.6 percent. The increase in revenue reflected growth from newly established relationships with sales agents in certain regions.