ersol presents strong first quarter and confirms overall forecast for the year

Revenues double year-on-year to € 52.4 million
- Operating result (EBIT) rises 79.5 percent to € 7.7 million
- Outlook for 2008 confirmed

ersol Solar Energy AG (ersol) generated consolidated revenue of € 52.4 million in the first quarter of 2008, thus almost doubling its revenue compared with last year’s period (Q1 2007: € 26.1 million). ersol achieved this impressive growth through the successful start-up of the newly created production capacities and through a number of long-term supply agreements for solar cells, which are bearing their first fruits in 2008. There has been a further shift in the distribution of sales to foreign countries. The export ratio was 79.9 percent, corresponding to an increase of 25.6 percentage points compared with the previous year (Q1 2007: 54.3 percent).

ersol’s operating result (EBIT) increased significantly compared with the first quarter of 2007. In total, ersol generated € 7.7 million in the reporting period, corresponding to an increase of 79.5 percent year-on-year (Q1 2007: € 4.3 million). The EBIT margin declined slightly compared with Q1 2007 (16.5 percent) to 14.8 percent, and was curbed by the negative operating result of the Modules segment. Thin film production began here, as planned, in the first quarter, and generated its first revenues. The ersol Group assumes, however, that the EBIT margin will improve in the coming quarters: firstly, due to an increase in material supplies, which will lead to greater capacity utilisation in the Wafers and Solar Cells segments, and, secondly, due to the increased revenues in thin film activities. Earnings after tax amounted to € 3.2 million in the first three months and were thus up by 115.9 percent compared to last year’s period (Q1 2007: € 1.5 million).

The massive, but planned expansion of ersol’s business activities was also evident from the earnings per share, which amounted to € 0.30 per share. Compared with earnings per share in the first quarter of 2007 (€ 0.15), this corresponds to an increase of 100.0 percent.

“Based on revenue, the operating result and earnings after tax, ersol thus achieved one of the best quarterly results in the Company’s history,” said a delighted Ekhard von Dewitz, CFO of ersol Solar Energy AG, speaking about the business figures for the first three months of this year.

Outlook
In the second quarter, and over the remaining course of the current financial year, capacities in the Wafers and Solar Cells segments will be expanded further. ersol Wafers is aiming to achieve a nominal capacity of 180 MWp by the end of 2008; a capacity of 220 MWp is planned for crystalline solar cell production.

There has been no change in the overall forecast for the year since the end of the first quarter. “Even more than in previous years, the first three months of 2008 also give no indication of development to come in the quarters thereafter. Revenue and earnings will gradually increase over the course of the year due to increasing material supplies,” said ersol’s CFO of further business development. “We are anticipating significantly better profitability in the third and fourth quarters and are expecting to reach our target EBIT margin of over 20 percent for the first time,” von Dewitz concluded. Currently, the Company is still forecasting revenue of between € 300 and € 320 million and an operating profit of between € 70 and € 80 million for 2008. This planning certainty is provided by the fact that ersol is completely sold out for this financial year.

For further information on our business figures for the first three months of 2008, please see our Interim Report as of 31 March 2008, published today, on the ersol website at: http://www.ersol.de/en/investorrelations/reportspresentations/.

ersol Solar Energy AG
Wilhelm-Wolff-Str. 23
99099 Erfurt

Further information:
Sonja Teurezbacher
Tel: +49 361 2195-1130
Fax: +49 361 2195-1133
ir@ersol.de
www.ersol.de

About ersol
ersol Solar Energy AG produces and markets high-quality silicon-based photovoltaic products. The Group comprises the segments Silicon, Wafers, Solar Cells and Modules. With sales of € 160 million in financial year 2007, the Thuringia-based company is one of the leading players in the solar industry. Listed since 30 September 2005 on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the young ersol share had already been added to the TecDAX on 19 December 2005. Currently the ersol Group has more than 900 employees.

The Company’s main goal is to establish itself even more strongly as a manufacturer of high quality silicon solar cells and to account for a disproportionate slice of the anticipated growth in the photovoltaic industry. To achieve this, ersol currently focuses on technologically demanding stages of the value chain for photovoltaic plants, and in particular on the production of wafers and solar cells. There are a number of pillars to the Company’s supply of the raw material it needs, silicon. It is primarily secured by long-term delivery agreements with leading polysilicon manufacturers. In addition to this, the Company’s internal recycling capacities in the silicon area also make an important contribution. Silicon is processed in the Wafers segment. The monocrystalline wafers manufactured there are preliminary products for the manufacturing of highly-efficient silicon solar cells in the Solar Cells segment. Since early 2006 the company has been delivering a part of its solar cells for the production of solar modules to the joint venture Shanghai Electric Solar Energy Co. Ltd. (SESE) in which the ersol Group has a 35% holding. The sales of these and other photovoltaic modules are handled in part by the Modules business segment. In the future, this segment is expected to include the Company’s own module production, planned for 2009. ersol also develops silicon-saving thin-film technology in the Modules segment. For this purpose ersol has a production facility for silicon thin-film modules.

This release was published on openPR.