JA Solar Holdings (JASO)

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'JASO' News -- DJ JA Solar Profit Drops as Cell Shipments Plunge
News for 'JASO' - (DJ JA Solar Profit Drops as Cell Shipments Plunge)

By Lisa Beilfuss
JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. said Monday that its first-quarter profit more than halved, as cell shipments plunged and shipments in China and the Americas declined.
"Our first quarter shipments were in line with our expectations during a seasonally slow period," said Chief Executive Baofang Jin.
The Chinese solar company's profit drop came as China added more than 5 gigawatts of solar capacity in the first quarter, or 18%----more than in the first two quarters of last year combined, according to China's National Energy Administration. Under a deal China reached with the U.S. last year, China will peak its carbon emissions no later than 2030 and increase the nonfossil-fuel share of its energy consumption to 20%, up from around 10% in recent years.
Solar power, in addition to wind, hydro and nuclear, will play a role in stemming China's carbon emissions, which contribute to global climate change. Meanwhile, the industry may benefit as China's government turns to infrastructure building to help boost economic growth, which has been decelerating.
"Moving forward, we expect to see stronger demand in the second half, particularly in China and North America," said Mr. Jin. The company is working to establish a new cell manufacturing facility in Malaysia, he added, calling it a "an advantageous location for our additional capacity as we continue to evaluate new opportunities in emerging markets."
For the current quarter, JA Solar expects total shipments of 680 megawatts to 720 megawatts. Full-year shipments are still expected to be 3.6 megawatts to 4 gigawatts, the company said.
In all for the period ended March 31, JA Solar reported a profit of 35 million yuan (about $5.6 million), down from a year-earlier profit of about 85 million yuan.
On a per-American-depositary-share basis, profit totaled about 13 cents, down from 32 cents in the quarter the year before.
Excluding certain items, such as changes in the value of certain warrants, earnings were about 10 cents a share, down from 23 cents a year earlier.
Revenue was $387.7 million.
Analysts polled by FactSet were looking for 11 cents in profit per ADS on $407 million in sales.
Total cell and module shipments rose 6.8% from a year earlier to 681.5 megawatts, at the low-end of the company's forecast of 680 megawatts to 750 megawatts. Shipments of modules jumped 50.5% to 584.1 megawatts while shipments of cells slid 61.1% to 97.4 megawatts.
Shipments fell 4.6% in China and 3.1% in the Americas, while rising 7.8% in Europe and 1.1% in Asia excluding China.
Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss @wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 18, 2015 08:04 ET (12:04 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 08 04 AM EDT 05-18-15


Source: DJ Broad Tape

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