NIESTETAL (dpa-AFX) – The solar technology manufacturer SMA Solar missed the earnings target for the past year, which had already been lowered twice. The background to this are the problems that have been known for some time with a service contract for photovoltaic power plants that has now been terminated. In addition, SMA Solar disappointed with a meager outlook for the new year. Persistent supply bottlenecks are having a negative impact on business here.
The stock got under the wheels at the start of trading on Wednesday and lost 21 percent, most recently it was still around 15 percent in the red. The adjusted operating result (Ebitda) is almost three quarters below market expectations, wrote analyst Constantin Hesse from the investment house Jefferies. It also fell well short of the company’s most recent forecast. The outlook for 2022 is also a disappointment, both the sales and earnings forecasts are below current market expectations.
In January, SMA Solar further reduced its earnings target, which it had already reduced last September, and reported problems with a service contract. The group subsequently found defects and declared that the additional effort required to guarantee the contractually guaranteed performance of the systems could not be justified. SMA has now terminated the contract and must make provisions for this. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) in 2021 were expected to be nine million euros, well below the most recently targeted 20 to 30 million euros, as the company from the Hessian Niestetal announced on Tuesday evening. Sales ended up at 984 million euros in 2021.
For the new year, SMA is aiming for an increase in the operating result to EUR 10 to 60 million. Analysts expected an average of around 75 million euros. In terms of sales, SMA sees a range of EUR 900 million to EUR 1.05 billion. Here, too, experts had previously had more on their cards. SMA is suffering from the global shortage of chips and other electronic components. This had already affected business in the second half of last year, explained board spokesman Jürgen Reinert.
“The delivery situation remains tense and will continue to present us with challenges in the further course of this year.” SMA will “do everything to serve the currently very good order intake,” says the manager, who, in view of the efforts to focus more on regenerative energies instead of fossil fuels, sees “excellent growth prospects” for the company.
The group intends to present the detailed figures for 2021 on March 31./nas/eas/stk
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