BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Satcon Technology Corporation® (NASDAQ CM:SATC), a leading provider of utility scale power conversion solutions for the renewable energy market, today announced its results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2011.
Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2011 was $36.0 million, compared with revenue of $45.0 million in the third quarter of 2011. During the quarter, the company shipped 147 MWs of its industry-leading PowerGate® Plus, Prism® Platform, and Equinox® solutions. For the year ended 2011, sales reached $188.6 million, a 9% increase over 2010 sales, and total megawatts shipped equaled 800, a 16% increased over total megawatts shipped in 2010. North America continued to be the company’s strongest performing region in Q4, representing 94% of total revenue and megawatts shipped.
Gross margin for the quarter was -64%, compared with 12% in the third quarter of 2011. The incremental reduction in gross margin was a direct result of $27 million in inventory-related charges associated with the company’s strategic plan to reduce costs by focusing product development, marketing, and sales on solutions for its fastest growing markets in North America and Asia. Excluding these charges, gross margin for the quarter was 11%.
“Despite significant pricing pressure and uncertainties around program subsidies in the solar market, 2011 was a growth year for Satcon,” said Steve Rhoades, Satcon’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Shipments into North America nearly doubled as we continued to strengthen our relationships with some of the region’s leading solar integrators and EPC’s.”
Recent Highlights:
- Introduced its Equinox LC line of inverters for the light commercial solar market. The new LC product line will include four UL certified power ratings at 12kW, 16kW, 20kW and 24kW, and five CE certified power ratings at 8kW, 10kW, 13kW, 17kW and 20kW. The design provides a bi-polar, transformerless architecture incorporating the same system intelligence and advanced command and control capabilities that have made Satcon’s inverters the leader in the utility solar PV market. Satcon has installed over two gigawatts of its utility-scale inverter solutions worldwide in the last four years.
- Entered into a strategic sales and manufacturing partnership with Great Wall Computer Company, a majority-owned subsidiary of state-owned China Electronic Corporation. The non-exclusive five-year agreement positions Satcon to capitalize on the country’s estimated 14GW of utility-scale projects that are under development. An initial purchase of 60MWs of Satcon inventory is expected to be delivered by April, and will help to reduce the company’s current inventory levels.
- Announced cost reduction initiatives as part of a strategic plan to improve the company’s financial performance and align its global workforce and operations infrastructure. The company expects annual cost savings of approximately $15-$17 million once all actions are implemented by Q2 2012.
“The cost reduction initiatives we have adopted and the organizational changes we’ve made position us to successfully and profitably capitalize on the market opportunities ahead,” continued Rhoades. “We continue to expect the long term growth of our business to come from North America with increasing opportunity coming from Asia. For Q1, we expect revenue to be between $22 million and $28 million. While the first quarter of 2012 will be subject to normal seasonality, we are confident about our future prospects.”
Conference Call Reminder
The company will hold a conference call to review its financial results and business highlights today, March 1, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. ET. During the conference call, the company may answer questions concerning business and financial developments and trends, and other business and financial matters. The company’s responses to these questions, as well as other matters discussed during the conference call, may contain or constitute information that has not been previously disclosed.
The conference call will be webcast live over the Internet and can be accessed on the Investor Relations section of the company’s website at http://investor.satcon.com. The conference call also can be accessed by dialing (877) 407-8289 (U.S. and Canada) or (201) 689-8341 (International). Interested parties that are unable to listen to the live call may access an archived version of the webcast on Satcon’s website.
About Satcon
Satcon Technology Corporation is a leading provider of utility-grade power conversion solutions for the renewable energy market, enabling the industry's most advanced, reliable and proven clean energy alternatives. For more than ten years, Satcon has designed and delivered advanced power conversion products that enable large-scale producers of renewable energy to convert the clean energy they produce into grid-connected efficient and reliable power. To learn more about Satcon, please visit http://www.Satcon.com.
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