Yingli’s Fourth Quarter Net Loss of US$599.4 Million U.S. PV Production Capacity Increase of 750MW

Polysilicon's FineSilicon's asset write-downs and other pre-announced impairments resulted in a net loss of US$599.4 million in the fourth-quarter results of domestic photovoltaic giant Yingli Green Energy. The company said that shipments of photovoltaic modules in the fourth quarter were approximately 351MW, with sales of US$408 million, a quarter-on-year decline of 29.8%. The total amount of revenue for the whole year of 2011 was US$2.332 billion, up 17.4% year-on-year. The annual shipment of photovoltaic modules was 1603.8MW, up 51.1% from 1061.6MW in 2010. The company also announced that its 2011 annual net loss was 509.8 million U.S. dollars.



Yingli announced that gross profit for photovoltaics in the fourth quarter of 2011 was US$12.3 million (approximately RMB77.41 million), and this figure was RMB458.5 million and RMB1.3377 billion respectively in the third quarter of 2011 and the fourth quarter of 2010. .

In the fourth quarter, the company's gross profit margin for photovoltaics was 3%. In the fourth quarter and the fourth quarter of the previous year, its gross profit margins for photovoltaics were 10.8% and 32.9%, respectively. The gross profit for the year in 2011 was RMB2.4497 billion (approximately US$389.2 million), while the gross profit for 2010 was RMB4.1528 billion. The annual gross profit margin in 2011 was 16.7%, while in 2010 it was 33.2%.

“Because of the potential adjustment of the subsidy policy in the European PV market and the ongoing anti-dumping investigations in the United States, 2012 will be full of challenges. However, as the threshold for the use of solar photovoltaic power becomes lower and lower, the trend of photovoltaic applications in the world is increasing substantially. These potential risks will be mitigated.” Mr. Miao Liansheng, chairman and chief executive of Yingli, said, “We believe that the company can continue to expand its market share through efficient use of branding, cutting-edge technology and competitive cost structure.”

In 2011, sales in the Chinese market accounted for about 22% of the company's total revenue, compared with only 6% in the previous year. The management of the company expects its business in the Chinese PV market will continue to grow in 2012.

In 2011, the European market’s PV business accounted for 60% of Yingli’s total revenue, but compared with the previous year, its share of the major market in Europe—the German market’s share of revenue—has dropped from 59% to 47%. %.

Capacity Update Yingli Company stated that it has completed the expansion of its photovoltaic capacity in 2011. In the third quarter, it increased the total capacity of polysilicon ingots and wafers, photovoltaic cells and photovoltaic modules by 600MW.

Mr. Miao said: “We plan to add 750MW of production capacity in Haikou, Tianjin, Hengshui and Baoding this year. It is expected that this move will greatly promote the company's 2012-2.5GW annual shipment target.”

Yingli’s 2012 earnings forecast indicates that its PV module shipment target in FY2012 is 2400-2500MW, up 49.6-55.9% year-on-year in FY2011