China-based solar firm Trina Solar has announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2012.
Trina Solar stated that solar module shipments were approximately 415MW for the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to approximately 380MW during the third quarter, a sequential increase of 9%. The sequential increase in total shipments was primarily due to increased sales to China-based customers and the slight decrease in shipments compared to the fourth quarter 2011 was primarily due to the revision and effective timing of new government subsidies in Europe, said Trina Solar.
Net revenues in the fourth quarter were US$302.7 million, an increase of 1.6% sequentially, while gross profit was US$5.6 million, showing an on-quarter increase of 139.1%. The sequential increase in revenues was caused by increased shipments, offset by a decrease in the ASP of solar modules and the on-year decrease was due largely to the decrease in the ASP of solar modules, according to Trina Solar.
The firm reported gross margin of 1.9% for the fourth quarter, compared to 0.8% in the third quarter. Net loss was US$87.2 million, compared to a net loss of US$57.5 million in the third quarter of 2012.
Solar module shipments in 2012 were approximately 1.59GW, representing an increase of 5.4% from 2011.
Trina Solar reported total 2012 net revenues of US$1.30 billion, an on-year decrease of 36.7%. Gross profit was US$57.2 million, a decrease of 82.8% from 2011, and gross margin was 4.4%, compared to 16.2% in 2011, said the firm. Trina Solar noted that the gross margin decrease was primarily due to decreases in ASP in excess of both lower polysilicon purchase prices and reduction in non-silicon manufacturing cost per watt in 2012. Net loss for the full year was US$266.6 million, compared to US$37.8 million in 2011, according to Trina Solar.
The firm expects its overall gross margin for the first quarter of 2013 to be a low single digit in percentage terms, taking into account wafer and cell requirements outsourced to third party suppliers.
For the first quarter of 2013, Trina Solar expects its shipment volume for solar modules to be between 420-430MW. For the full year of 2013, the firm expects total combined module shipments and system deliveries between 2.0-2.1GW.