Trina Solar increases net revenues, gross profit and net income in Q3 2014
Changzhou, China - Trina Solar Limited announced its unaudited financial results for the third quarter of 2014.
Gross profit in the third quarter of 2014 was $102.8 million, compared to $80.2 million in the second quarter of 2014 and $83.4 million in the third quarter of 2013. Consequently, net income was $10.6 million in the third quarter of 2014, compared to $10.3 million in the second quarter of 2014 and $9.9 million in the third quarter of 2013. Net income would be $26.9 million if the unrealized loss in foreign exchange of $16.3 million were excluded in the third quarter of 2014, compared to $8.5 million if unrealized gain in foreign exchange of $1.8 million were excluded in the second quarter of 2014.
Net margin was 1.7% in the third quarter of 2014, compared to 2.0% in the second quarter of 2014 and 1.8% in the third quarter of 2013. Net margin would be 4.4% in the third quarter of 2014 if the unrealized loss in foreign exchange were excluded.
Earnings per fully diluted ADS were $0.14 in the third quarter of 2014, the same as the second quarter of 2014 and the third quarter of 2013. Earnings per fully diluted ADS would be $0.34 in the third quarter of 2014 if the unrealized loss in foreign exchange were excluded.
"Both our module and downstream project businesses delivered good results in the third quarter of 2014, demonstrating our commitment to consistent revenue and profit growth for our core businesses," said Mr. Jifan Gao, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Trina Solar. "Despite foreign exchange fluctuations and weaker demand in Europe, we continue to meet or exceed our financial and performance targets. Particularly, gross margin significantly exceeded management guidance. In the third quarter, we strengthened the competitive advantages of our module business with our efforts to reduce module manufacturing costs and our emphasis on technology breakthroughs generating positive results. We continue to leverage the synergies between our module and downstream business units and expect the resulting positive momentum to continue through the rest of this year and into next year."
As of September 30, 2014, the Company had annualized in-house ingot and wafer production capacity of 2.0 GW and 1.6 GW respectively, and PV cell and module capacity of approximately 2.9 GW and 3.6 GW, respectively.
The Company expects that by December 31, 2014, it will have an annualized in-house ingot production capacity of 2.2 GW, wafer capacity of 1.7 GW, PV cell capacity of approximately 3.0 GW, and module capacity of approximately 3.8 GW.
In the fourth quarter of 2014 the Company expects to ship between 1, 045 MW and 1, 095 MW of PV modules, of which 40 MW to 60 MW will be shipped to its downstream PV projects. Revenues will not be recognized for modules shipped to the Company's own developed projects as the revenue recognition criteria set forth in U.S. GAAP will not be met. The Company expects its blended gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2014 to be between 14.5% to 15.5%.
The Company changes its 2014 guidance of total PV module shipments to between 3.61 GW and 3.66 GW, of which 340 MW to 360 MW of PV modules will be shipped to the Company's own downstream projects from the original guidance of total 3.6 GW to 3.8 GW including 400 MW to 500 MW of shipment to its own downstream projects. Revenues will not be recognized for the modules shipped to the Company's own projects as required by U.S. GAAP.
The company expects to complete between 330 MW and 360 MW of downstream solar projects by the end of 2014, as compared to the original guidance of 400 MW to 500 MW projects be completed by the end of 2014. This change is mainly due to the cancellation of a 130 MW solar farm project in Inner Mongolia after the Company conducted a thorough analysis on the project's return. The Chinese government's policy change will impact the development of the Company's pipeline to a certain extent. Trina Solar is flexible in developing projects and believes the change will ultimately benefit the sustainable and strong growth momentum in China.
Source: IWR Online, 24 Nov 2014
