Neo Solar Power Corp (新日光), the nation’s top solar cell maker, on Tuesday said that first-quarter net profit grew 22 percent from the previous quarter as recovering demand pushed up its average selling price and shipments.
Net income reached NT$384 million (US$12.73 million), or earnings per share of NT$0.52, the company said in a statement.
However, its first-quarter operating profit of NT$369 million was 14 percent less than the market consensus, as the company’s operating ratio increased to 5.8 percent from 4.5 percent a quarter earlier, Barclays Capital Securities analyst Jamie Yeh (葉婉屏) said in a client note.
Neo Solar said its gross margin improved to 11 percent last quarter from 9 percent in the prior quarter, with factory utilization reaching 100 percent last quarter.
“Its gross margin improved ... despite rising poly [silicon] and wafer costs, thanks to its continued effort to reduce non-wafer costs,” Yeh said.
In the first quarter, the company’s posted consolidated revenue of NT$7.28 billion, up 3.39 percent from the previous quarter.
After posting a record revenue of NT$2.56 billion last month, the company said it expects sales to further grow in the near term, benefiting from a persistent uptrend in price and shipments as well as strong demand from China, Japan, the US and emerging markets, it said in a separate statement.
Global demand for solar photovoltaic is expected to rise to a record 49 gigawatts this year from 37 gigawatts last year, NPD Solarbuzz said in a report last month.
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