News

Satcon Reports First Quarter 2009 Results

May 11, 2009 by Jeff Shepard

Satcon Technology Corp. announced its results for the first quarter ended April 4, 2009. The company reported year over year revenue growth of 31% in the first quarter of 2009. Total revenue was $14.9 million, up from $11.4 million in the first quarter of 2008. Revenue performance was driven by international growth and demand for the company’s solutions for large scale renewable energy projects.

"We are pleased that while market conditions stressed the overall solar industry, we were still able to increase our revenue over the same quarter last year," said Steve Rhoades, President and Chief Executive Officer at Satcon. "In conjunction with improving our operational efficiency and expanding our commercial capabilities, we also invested heavily in R&D, as indicated by the recent general availability release of the PowerGate Plus 1 megawatt inverter and the launch of our next generation power conversion platform, Solstice."

The company reported total revenue for the first quarter of 2009 of $14.9 million, an increase from $11.4 million in the first quarter of 2008. Gross margin for the quarter was 10%, compared with 6% in the same period of 2008. Loss from operations for the first quarter was approximately $5.2 million, compared with a loss of $2.8 million for the same period in 2008.

Net loss attributable to common shareholders was $11.9 million, or ($0.23) per share, compared with net loss attributable to common shareholders of $4.3 million, or ($0.09) per share in the same period in 2008. The loss includes $1.1 million of non-cash charges for dividends and accretion related to the company’s Series C preferred stock.

Cash and cash equivalents at April 4, 2009 were $6.8 million, compared with $10.0 million at December 31, 2008.

The company reported an ending backlog on April 4, 2009 of approximately $12.2 million, compared with backlog of $23 million on December 31, 2008. The decrease in backlog for the first quarter was due to the impact of the challenging macroeconomic environment.

"We believe that our firm commitment to technology innovation and product development will enable us to extend our leadership position in the worldwide large scale and utility grade PV market," said Rhoades. "Looking ahead, we anticipate the weak economic environment to continue to impact our financial performance in the second quarter. However, we have a strong pipeline of large scale projects worldwide and anticipate improved sales of our renewable energy solutions in the second half of 2009 which enables us to continue to guide toward operating profitability in the second half of the year."