Sunpower posts 53% rise in H1 underlying net profit to 111m yuan

MAINBOARD-LISTED Sunpower Group reported underlying net profit of 111 million yuan (S$22 million) for the first-half ended June 30, up 53.2 per cent from the year-ago period, the environmental solutions firm announced on Wednesday night.

Underlying net profit refers to net profit attributable to shareholders - including effects of convertible bonds - adjusted for amortised interest expenses and fair-value gains or losses, as well as foreign exchange gains or losses associated with convertible bonds and warrants.

Revenue for the half-year rose 20.6 per cent to 1.47 billion yuan.

Sunpower noted that revenue from its anti-pollution investment projects more than doubled to 531.7 million yuan. This "green investments" business segment accounted for 36.2 per cent of group revenue in H1 2019, compared to 17.3 per cent in H1 2018. Sunpower said it intends to build up its green investments segment as its main growth driver.

For its manufacturing and services segment, capacity "remains nearly full" and Sunpower's order book remains sustained at about 2.5 billion yuan as at July 2019.

Underlying earnings per share for the first-half was 14.7 fen, compared with 9.8 fen in the year-ago period.

Sunpower shares closed up three Singapore cents or 7.14 per cent at 45 Singapore cents on Wednesday before the results release.