Thursday, March 10, 2011

Evergreen Solar Reports Audited 4th Quarter Financial Results ...03.10.2011

Evergreen Solar yesterday announced audited financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2010.

Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2010 were $89.3 million, up 3.2% sequentially compared to third quarter revenues of $86.5 million. Average selling price for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $1.90 per watt, down approximately 6% from $2.02 per watt recorded in the third quarter of 2010.

Gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2010 was -84% compared to 7.5% in the third quarter of 2010. The decrease in gross margin resulted primarily from the write-down of prepaid inventory resulting from the decision to close the Devens manufacturing facility and the countervailing duties assessed on the Company's imported aluminum frames, as previously disclosed.

Operating loss for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $399.1 million, compared to $22.7 million for the third quarter of 2010. Operating loss in the fourth quarter of 2010 increased sequentially from the third quarter due mainly to the inventory write-down and the impairment of long-lived assets totaling $377.5 million in connection with the Solar Company's decision to close its Devens manufacturing facility. Operating loss for the third quarter of 2010 included a $6.4 million charge relating to the write-off of a receivable associated with a Korean customer and a decrease in royalty revenue, offset by a decrease in manufacturing costs.

Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $411.0 million compared to $27.2 million in the third quarter of 2010. Net loss for the fourth quarter includes the aforementioned write-down and impairment charges of $377.5 million. Net loss for the third quarter of 2010 included the previously disclosed charge to accounts receivable and foreign exchange gains of $6.3 million.

Cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2010 was $68.4 million, including restricted cash of $6.8 million.

Michael El-Hillow, President and Chief Executive Officer commented, "The decision to close the Devens facility was the direct result of rapid and dramatic changes in the underlying market that have taken place since the facility first began operations. We believe we are now better positioned to facilitate a rapid transition to a strategic supplier of low cost multi-crystalline silicon wafers by virtue of our proprietary wafer technology." He added, "Our Devens employees exceeded many of management's expectations and for this, they have our deepest appreciation."

Mr. El-Hillow concluded by sharing his views about the opportunities in Evergreen Solar's future. "Today, we are focusing all of our energies and resources in delivering an industry standard size and high performance low cost wafer. We believe this is the best strategic direction for the Company as we leverage our proprietary manufacturing and product technology to produce String Ribbon(TM) wafers at a total silicon and non-silicon cost of about $0.25 per watt in 2013. We are encouraged by the early feedback received from companies that have been sampling our industry standard size wafers. Pilot line production up to 25 megawatts should be on-line in China toward the end of this year. In-depth negotiations to obtain significant financing for expansion and customer support for our industry standard wafer are attracting very strong interest and we are expecting to have more details to share on our progress by early summer."

Solar Energy Basics

No comments:

Post a Comment