Germany's largest solar group SMA Solar proposed a surprise dividend for 2015, the first in three years, after strong demand in foreign markets and cost cuts helped it back to profit faster than expected. "SMA didn't over promise when it did that," a local trader said, adding the planned dividend was an extra bonus.
SMA will recommend a dividend of 0.14 euros per share for 2015, it said, which would be its first since 2012's dividend of 0.60 euros. Analysts had not expected a payout.
The group also swung to earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of 34.3 million euros ($38.8 million) in 2015 from a year-earlier loss of 165 million and beating the 30.7 million Thomson Reuters consensus.
Sales grew by nearly a quarter to about 1 billion euros, also topping the average 981 million euro forecast, boosted by demand in North America, Britain, Japan and Australia, SMA's most important foreign markets. "At the start of the year, nearly no one expected sales of around 1 billion euros, a positive annual net income and even a dividend," Chief Executive Pierre-Pascal Urbon said in a letter to shareholders. Globally, solar installations reached 59 gigawatt (GW) in 2015, up more than a third, and are expected to climb further to 69 GW this year, according to research firm IHS, mainly driven by the United States and China.
Comments
Comments are closed.