Solar News - First Solar sees $449m Q1 loss, appoints new CEO and CTO

First Solar sees $449m Q1 loss, appoints new CEO and CTO

4 May 2012

Restructuring costs and an ‘aggressive competitive environment’ caused First Solar to record a first quarter loss of $449m, the company said as it brought on a new CEO and chief technology officer (CTO).

The company’s losses increased from $115.97m in the first quarter of 2011 and James Hughes has been brought in as CEO, succeeding Mike Ahearn, First Solar’s founder and chairman.

Meanwhile, Dave Eaglesham has retired as CTO with Raffi Garabedian being appointed as his successor.

Mike Ahearn, chairman of the board, said, ‘First Solar’s performance in the quarter was impacted by an aggressive competitive environment resulting from persistent supply-demand imbalances in the market, as well as restructuring costs that will improve our operating efficiency and help position us for the future.

He added, ‘Looking forward, we are confident we have the right long-term strategy and the right platform to enable long-term growth and value creation. We believe that by executing our strategic roadmaps and completing our restructuring program we can achieve our targets of 2.6GW to 3GW of sales in sustainable markets, earning a return on invested capital of 13 to 17 per cent by 2016.’

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