Xinyi Solar 2021 Annual Net Profit Reaches Record High of HK$4,924.3 Million Full Year Dividend Increases by 5.9% to 27.0 HK cents per share
Revenue from Solar Glass Business AchievesSignificant Growth of 30.3%
Competitiveness Strengthened through CapacityExpansion, Product Portfolio Enhancement and Efficiency Improvement
Highlights
(Hong Kong, 28 February2022) — Xinyi Solar Holdings Limited ("XinyiSolar" or the "Group"; stock code: 00968), the world'slargest solar glass manufacturer, today announced its annual results for the year ended 31December 2021 ("FY2021" orthe "Year"). The Group continuedto strengthen its leading position in the industry by expanding the productioncapacities, enriching the product portfolio and strengthening the cost controlmeasures. All these efforts enabled the Group to continue to achieve revenueand profit growth during the Year, despite the challenges brought on by surgingfuel and material costs, supply chain issues and the COVID-19 pandemic.
DuringFY2021, the Group's consolidated revenue recorded a remarkable increase of 30.4%to HK$16,064.7 million, as its two core businesses - solar glass and solarfarms - continued to grow. Gross profit was up 14.7% to HK$7,548.5 million witha gross profit margin of 47.0%, mainly due to a lower average selling price ("ASP")of the solar glass segment and soaring procurement costs for certain rawmaterials and energy that were partially offset by higher productionefficiencies from new capacity ramp-up and higher revenue and profit contributionsfrom thin glass products (2.0mm). Net profit rose 8.0% to another record highof HK$4,924.3 million with a net profit margin of 30.7%. Basic earnings pershare were 55.65 HK cents (FY2020: 55.40 HK cents).
Asof 31 December 2021, the Group maintained a healthy financial position, withcash and cash equivalents at HK$7,458.3 million (31 December 2020: HK$9,291.2million). The Board of Directors proposed the payment of a final dividend of 10.0HK cents per share (FY2020: 17.0 HK cents). The dividend payout ratio for theYear was 48.7% (FY2020: 48.1%).
Business Review
Solar Glass Business –
Recorded RemarkableSales Growth Despite Challenging Operating Environment
Continuous CapacityExpansion to Achieve Economies of Scale and Boost Market Share
InFY2021, solar glass sales revenue increased significantly by 30.3% to HK$13,019.4million. The increase was primarily due to a higher sales volume, more thinglass sales and appreciation of the Renminbi and Malaysian Ringgit against the HongKong Dollar.
Theincrease in both production capacity and sales of new products, including thinglass and large-format glass, contributed to the high sales growth. Driven bygrowing domestic and overseas market demand, the Group's total solar glass salesvolume (in terms of tonnage) grew by 30.9% year-on-year in 2021.
Solarglass manufacturers faced more challenging operating conditions and recordedlower profits in 2021 due to the drop in the ASP of solar glass products andincreased material and energy costs. Rising module prices – fueled by inflatedpolysilicon and other component costs – have suppressed the growth momentum ofdownstream demand. The rising module prices coupled with the release of the newindustrial supply of solar glass triggered a substantial drop in solar glassprices during the second quarter of the year. As a result, solar glass priceswere relatively lower than those of the previous year for most of 2021 with theexception of the first quarter.
Inresponse to the more challenging operating environment, the Group has enhancedits product portfolios to promote value-added products (thin glass andlarge-format glass), tightened cost control measures to improve productionefficiency and released additional production capacity in an orderly manner, thuseffectively mitigating the margin pressure caused by product price reductionsand rising input costs.
Duringthe Year,the Group added four new solar glass production lines with a daily meltingcapacity of 1,000 tonnes each in Wuhu, Anhui Province, thereby increasing itstotal daily melting capacity to 13,800 tonnes. Expanding capacity continuouslynot only reinforces the Group's leading position in the industry, but alsoenables the Group to achieve economies of scale andboost market share, resulting in the Group's higher-than-industrysolar glass sales volume growth rate during the Year.
Newbusiness opportunities have been created by the emergence of large-format,bifacial and high-power modules. Toensure that its new production lines are capable of producing glass productsthat fit the designated size and thickness, the Group has takenthe new product specification requirements into account when designing andbuilding its new solar glass production facilities. In addition, the Group hasupgraded some of its existing production lines in order to better suit the new demandsof its customers.
SolarFarm Business –
SteadyGrowth of Solar Power Electricity Generation
As for the solarfarm business, in light of the surging solar module prices, the Group has slowedits development and construction work. A number of factors such as landavailability and grid connection resulted in extra costs and time for new PVprojects. The Group has, therefore, connected only seven new self-developed PV projects in 2021, totaling 440MW of an aggregate approvedcapacity.
Thetotal electricity generated from the Group's solar farm portfolio grew steadilyduring the Year, primarily due to the new capacity completed or acquired.Revenue and gross profit increased by 28.0% and 29.1% year-on-year,respectively, in 2021.
Asat 31 December 2021, the accumulated approved grid-connected capacity of theGroup's solar farm projects was 4,073MW, of which 3,844MW was for utility-scaleground-mounted projects and 229MW was for rooftop distributed generationprojects. In terms of ownership, solar farm projects with a capacity of 2,494MWwere held through Xinyi Energy Group; solar farm projects with a capacity of 1,479MWwere held through the Group’s wholly-owned subsidiaries; and a solar farmproject with a capacity of 100MW was held by a joint venture in which the Grouphas 50.0% ownership.
NewBusiness Venture –
Formationof Xinyi Silicon for Expansion into Polysilicon Production
Inmid-December 2021, the Group announced the formation ofa new joint venture, Xinyi Silicon Holdings Limited ("Xinyi Silicon") with Xinyi Glass Holdings Limited ("Xinyi Glass") (Stock code: 00868)to construct polysilicon production facilities with an annual capacity of 60,000tonnes in Qujing, Yunnan Province. This new joint venture is owned as to 52.0%by the Group and 48.0% by Xinyi Glass. Through the investment in Xinyi Silicon,the Group aims to expand its business scope in the solar value chain and capturethe emerging opportunities arising from the global transition to green energy. Extendingits business to the silicon segment would enrich its supply chain and createmore value for its customers, as well as create synergy with the Group'sexisting sales network. With its extensive experience in establishing newproduction plants and its expertise in the manufacturing business, the Group isconfident that the polysilicon production project can become a new milestone inthe Group's development history.
Prospects
As countries around the world begin to integrate morerenewable energy into their energy mix to reduce carbon emissions, solarinstallations are expected to show more rapid growth in the coming years.
The global decarbonisation trend will continue todrive the use of solar energy and create additional demand for solar glass. Tocapture the market opportunities, the Group will add eight new solar glassproduction lines with a daily melting capacity of 1,000 tonnes each in 2022,four of which will be located in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province, and the otherfour in Wuhu, Anhui Province. Of these eight new lines, three and five lines are expected to commence operation in the first and second halfof the year, respectively. The two production lines with a daily meltingcapacity of 900 tonnes each, which are currently undergoing cold repair, areexpected to resume operation in the second quarter of 2022. Furthermore, theGroup has in its pipeline the construction of ten new solar glass productionlines, of which eight lines (with a daily melting capacity of 1,000 tonneseach) are to be located in Wuhu, Anhui Province and two lines (with a dailymelting capacity of 1,200 tonnes each) are to be located in Qujing, YunnanProvince.
While the total solar glass capacity is expected togrow further in 2022, the Group will strive to improve its productionprocesses, overall cost control and product differentiation and innovation tostay ahead of the competition. With the increasing use of bifacial solarmodules and larger panels, the Group will continue to develop the thin glassand large-format glass so as to maintain its industry leadership and focus onthe niche areas in which it enjoys high competitive advantages.
As for the solar farm business, the Group willcontinue to explore opportunities in different regions of China to strengthenits project pipeline and establish a more diversified solar farm portfolio. TheGroup's annual installation target is set at 720MW for 2022. Following the gridparity, grid consumption will play an increasingly important role in the scaleof PV development. The Group will closely monitor the development ofsolar-plus-storage hybrid projects and determine their feasibility and the value-addedpotential.
Dr. LEE Yin Yee, B.B.S., Chairman ofXinyi Solar, concluded, "PVinstallations worldwide are expected to achieve fastergrowth in 2022. New business opportunities will arise as downstream demandcontinues to grow. Despite the challenges brought on by the increasing supplyof solar glass and inflated input costs, we remain optimistic about the futureprospects of the Group's business given its competitive edges in cost control,production efficiency and product portfolio. The Group will continue toactively explore expansion opportunities to facilitate the parallel developmentof its solar glass and solar farm businesses, aiming to achieve sustainablegrowth."