Germany's Solarworld Cuts Jobs, Production as Loss Widens
Solarworld said on Friday it would cut 12 percent of its workforce after reporting a bigger operating loss for last year.
The company, hit by price pressures across the solar industry, said it would phase out production of some components at its factories to reduce overlap, which would result in about 400 job cuts by 2019.
"These measures will decrease costs and increase efficiency significantly," Chief Executive Officer Frank Asbeck said in a statement. "Our aim is to come out of the difficult phase for the solar market stronger than before and to raise module shipments to about 2 gigawatts (GW) by 2019."
Solarworld is one of the few German solar companies that survived a severe downturn at the turn of the decade caused by a glut in module production that led prices to fall rapidly within a short period of time.
Solarworld raised shipments by nearly a fifth to 1.38 GW last year, but impairment charges and pricing pressures contributed to a widening in its loss before interest and tax to 99 million euros ($105 million), compared with a loss of 4 million in 2015.
Revenues were up 5 percent at 803 million euros and are expected to remain stable this year, the group said, adding its operating loss would narrow in 2017.
Solarworld's shares were nearly 6 percent lower by 1434 GMT.
(Reporting by Daria Kowalewska)
