Major PV inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology has reported preliminary financial figures for 2017, highlighting a second year of declining revenue but an increase in inverter shipments.

SMA Solar said that inverter shipments were a record 8.5GW in 2017, compared to shipments of 8.2GW in 2016. However, shipments through the first nine months of 2017 had been well below the prior year period. The record shipments were achieved by a significant increase in shipments in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Revenue for 2017 was said to have been more than €890 million, down from €946.7 million in 2016.  The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) are expected to be more than €95 million, down significantly from €141.5 million in the previous year and inline with the top end of guidance. 

Net income is expected to amount to approximately €30 million, compared to €29.6 million in 2016.

Pierre-Pascal Urbon SMA Solar’s CEO said, “We set a new sales record, in particular due to the strong business in Europe and Asia. All segments were profitable, and we increased net cash to around €450 million thanks to our positive earnings and the low capital intensity of our business model. We will use our many years of experience with photovoltaic inverters, battery-storage systems and energy management to expand into the rapidly growing energy services business.”

The company is guiding sales to increase to between €900 million and €1.0 billion in 2018, driven mainly by expected strength in the Asian and European markets as well as rising demand for system technology for energy storage applications.

The increase in revenue guidance is expected to support a small increase in EBITDA, which was guided to be in the range of €90 million to €110 million.