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Invetsting.com -- SMA Solar reported a sharp decline in its fourth-quarter earnings, with sales falling 17% year-over-year to €470 million, sending its shares down over 10% on Thursday.
The company’s profitability took a hit, as EBITDA swung to a loss of €99.5 million, compared to a profit of €79.8 million in the same quarter last year.
EBIT also turned negative at €139.1 million, a stark contrast from the €67.9 million recorded in Q4 2023.
The revenue decline was largely driven by a steep drop in the Commercial & Industrial (C&I) segment, which plummeted 76% to €35.1 million.
The Home segment also struggled, falling 75% to €23.3 million. These losses were partially offset by growth in the Large Scale segment, which saw a 26% increase to €411.8 million.
Average selling prices declined by 7% year-over-year and 5.7% quarter-over-quarter to €67.1k per megawatt.
Q4 profitability was impacted by inventory write-downs, provisions related to restructuring, and weaker sales in the Home and C&I segments.
The EBIT margin for Q4 stood at -29.6%, a significant decline from the 12% margin recorded a year earlier.
Losses in the Home segment amounted to €104 million, while the C&I segment recorded losses of €87 million. These declines were somewhat mitigated by a €72.6 million profit in the Large Scale segment.
Despite weak profitability, the company reported strong order intake, with Q4 product orders rising 64% to €371 million, driven by Large Scale orders of €377 million. The product backlog stood at €1.03 billion at the end of the quarter.
SMA Solar issued full-year 2025 guidance, forecasting sales in the range of €1.5 billion to €1.65 billion, slightly above the consensus estimate of €1.52 billion.
The company expects EBITDA to range between €70 million and €110 million, below the consensus of €111.2 million. EBIT is projected between €0 and €50 million, compared to the market’s expectation of €57 million.