Taiwanese solar cell and module manufacturer Neo Solar Power (NSP) improved its turnover for the first quarter of 2016 by 27.5% YoY with NT$5,904 million ($180.6 million). Stable ASPs and increased module shipments in the quarter led to this growth level. But when compared to the previous quarter revenue of NT$7,011 million ($214.5 million), sales dropped 15.7%.
Gross profit in the reporting period was $751 million ($22.9 million) with a gross margin of 12.71%, which is significantly higher than the 8.71% achieved in the same period last year. Operating profit was NT$157 million with an operating margin of 2.66%. The company noted that its net profit for the period was NT$109 million ($3.3 million) and it has 'abundant cash' amounting to NT$7,584 million ($232.1 million), while the debt to asset ratio maintained at the low level of 46%. Recently the Taiwanese company had raised NT$2.88 billion ($881.4 million) through rights issue; it plans to use the money for solar projects with partners in Taiwan and beyond.
According to NSP, orders from China have been slow since April 2016, but the cyclical supply-chain adjustment this year has been 'rather mild' as compared with past years. This was one reason why its April 2016 revenue of NT$1,547 million was a 25.55% drop from March 2016 revenue of NT$2,078 million. Even YoY it dropped 0.66%. Taiwanese cells are usually not used for Mainland China projects, but after China had already installed 7.1 GW in Q1, which is a big chunk of the 15 GW target for 2016 (see China Q1/2016 PV Capacity), one explanation might be that Chinese producers can now use more of their own products for exports.
Regional and business diversification
The management pointed out that it will diversify orders to different regions, expand its solar system business investment, and build up manufacturing sites overseas to 'respond to any possible industry change'. It is hoping for better shipment volume in the next quarter as it says there has been demand recovery from China, US, and emerging markets in the second half of the year.
NSP's accumulated annual revenue for the first 4 months of 2016 increased 20.45% to NT$7,453 million ($228.0 million), from NT$6,187 million ($189.3 million) for the first 4 months in 2015.
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