Listed energy efficiency company Power One reports sales growth

5 February 2010

California-based NASDAQ-listed energy efficiency and power conversion company Power One recorded net sales of $142m in its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2009, representing a nine per cent increase since the fourth quarter 2008.

The company’s net income attributable to common shareholders for the fourth quarter was $5.4m, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared to a profit of $1.7m or $0.02 per diluted share for the same period of the previous year.

Both renewable energy and power products recorded strong sequential revenue gains in the fourth quarter 2009, said Power One, which foresees a positive outlook for 2010.

Richard Thompson, CEO of Power One said, ‘We have focused on improving our cost structure and strengthening power product sales and licensing, including our recent agreement with Ericsson. Further, we are investing in growth opportunities and new product initiatives, such as the launch of our 2.5MW liquid-cooled wind inverter.’

The company said renewable energy products posted another solid quarter and the continued momentum from inverter products resulted in a record $68m in revenue for the fourth quarter 2009, which yielded a year-over-year increase of 279 per cent from $18m in the fourth quarter 2008 and a 119 per cent sequential sales increase from $31m in the third quarter 2009.

Renewable energy generated 48 per cent of the company’s total revenue in the quarter, versus 14 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008. The company said its power products generated revenue of $74m in the fourth quarter 2009 and showed continued signs of stabilisation and modest demand increases.

‘With the increasing demand for our renewable energy and power products, we look forward to a strong year in 2010,’ said Richard Thompson, CEO of Power One.

Power One’s gross margin continued to expand for the third consecutive quarter, improving to 28.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with 22 per cent for the same period last year. As part of Power-One’s strategic initiatives, a favourable product mix, better factory utilisation and cost improvements all contributed to the expansion. Gross margin was negatively affected by $1.7m in charges related to the closure of the Dominican Republic facility. Operating income for the fourth quarter 2009 was $13.2m, which the company said was impacted by $4.1m in total charges related to the closure of the Dominican Republic facility, slated to be completed by the first half of 2010.

The company recorded growth in the 90-day backlog to $121m. It said the renewable energy products 90-day backlog was $59m, while the power products backlog grew to $62m compared to backlog of $69m in the fourth quarter of 2008, with a renewable energy backlog of $6m.

‘We are pleased with the progress we have made with our restructuring in power conversion and the rapid growth and outlook for our inverter sales,’ said Thompson. ‘We have focused on improving our cost structure and strengthening power product sales and licensing, including our recent agreement with Ericsson. Further, we are investing in growth opportunities and new product initiatives, such as the launch of our 2.5MW liquid-cooled wind inverter.’

The company’s cash balance at the end of the fourth quarter was $90m, up from $76m at the end of the third quarter of 2009 and cash flow from operations was $55m versus a use of $22m in 2008.

‘The successful implementation of cost controls and a focus on expanding our markets enabled us to generate greater cash flow on improving margins,’ said Thompson. ‘In the coming year, we will capitalise on cash flow generation and value to our shareholders through better manufacturing efficiencies, new product introductions and growth initiatives.’

Headquartered in Camarillo, California, Power-One designs and manufactures energy-efficient power conversion and power management solutions for alternative and renewable energy routers, data storage and servers, wireless communications, optical networking, semiconductor test equipment, industrial markets and custom applications.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

Tags: energy efficiency

This story was published on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 11:53 am and is filed under North America, companies, energy efficiency. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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