On January 30th, 2012 Advanced Energy Inc. (Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.) released its fourth quarter 2011 financial results, reporting a 12% quarter-to-quarter increase in Solar Energy Business Unit revenues to USD 58.1 million. The company notes that its strongest growth continues to be in the utility-scale market, citing the sale of its Solaron inverters for large solar photovoltaic (PV) projects.

Overall, Advanced Energy reported a 12% decrease in revenues to USD 112 million in fourth quarter of 2011, as well as a net loss of USD 2.6 million, partially due to costs from its restructuring efforts. The company also released its guidance for the first quarter of 2012, predicting sales between USD 95 and 105 million.

"During the fourth quarter we made great strides executing on our strategic plan by consolidating facilities, redesigning incentive plans and repurchasing stock and we are well on our way to achieving our initial goals and exceeding our cost savings targets," said Advanced Energy CEO Garry Rogerson.

"While market conditions remain uncertain in the near-term, our focus is centered on accomplishing the objectives we laid out at our analyst day to realign our cost structure, accelerate revenue growth and effectively utilize our cash."


Restructuring costs total USD 4.2 million in 4Q 2011

Advanced Energy announced a restructuring plan on September 28th, 2011. The company states that under the first phase of this plan, it has consolidated facilities and began localizing research and development activities with the goal of aligning engineering resources to the locations of its customer base.

During the fourth quarter of 2011, the company also began to transfer the manufacture of certain PV inverter subcomponents to its factory in Shenzhen, China.

Advanced Energy reported a USD 4.2 million restructuring charge during the quarter, and states that these and other efforts from first phase of the restructuring will result in savings of roughly USD 12 million annually.

The company will implement the second phase of its restructuring over the next 9 to 15 months, which will involve reducing costs, closing facilities, and relocating other functions to different regions.

2012-02-01| Courtesy: Advanced Energy | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

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