Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Q Cells Financials

Q-Cells is the World Leader in solar cells productions. We have seen in one of last posts the strategic point that has made it a good investment for our portfolio. Now it is interesting to dig a little bit and discover what is interesting to see about financial statements.
Analysing the CFO’s speech during last shareholders meeting we can easily appreciate the good financial condition of Q-Cells and the excellent perspectives for a long term durable growth.
Long term growth that has been designed with long term contracts with silicium suppliers and with the 5billion Bond that will be used mainly to finance the new production plants building in Malaysia and Mexico .

Looking at financial year 2007 we see the main figures:
-Production + 54%
-Sales +59%
-Operating Income 146 mill€ +52% on previous year (23% EBIT margin, good result, stable in comparison with previous results)
-Net Income +69% (17% of net income margin, good and increasing by previous years)
These data justify, on my opinion a P/E ratio quite high: 42.

Looking at the Relative cost graphics we appreciate the progressive lowering of the costs that shows the efficient cost cutting policy adopted by management. The relative cost of raw materials has had an extremely high reduction thanks to the management skills in signing long term contracts with the global silicon suppliers.
Looking at balance sheet we appreciate the current liabilities/current assets ration equals to 23% that guarantee strong solvability over short period and an excellent equity ration of 71% that guarantees an high level of stability over long period.
Looking at the expenses (investing) we appreciate the good effort make to enlarge the R&D department, to build an education & training center with the expansion of Q-Cells academy, all these things shows the desire to improve the research and the development of new technologies.

First Quarter 2008 keeps showing excellent performances with a plus 65% on sales and +50% of the production compared to first quarter 2007. It is furthermore interesting to see that Net income margin is stable despite a price reduction (one of the objectives ot Q-Cells is to sell cheap solar material to everyone, so it is normal a price reduction).

The outlook for next years is extremely ambitious with a sales target > 2,000million of Euro in 2009 and with an increasing production target for 2010 of thin film business (the future in this sector) of 400-600 MWp compared to the targeted 1,5GWp of the core business.

Of course, these are just projections and speeches, but there are some other things that should let you understand why Q-Cells is happily in value Finance portfolio (with a weight of 18% of total assets at today): its Investor Relations department has been ranked as 1st in TecDAX and 2nd in germany stock exchange. We like when company management likes to easily share informations with investors, that means they don’t need to cover anything.

One last reason to invest in this company? Stock Option plan for employees.
All Q-Cells employee can obtain stock option according to company results:
1)Q-Cells share has to outperform TecDAX at least 10% p.a. and
2) Achievement of company-specific targets, ie:
Improvement of cell efficiency
Reduction of cell thickness
Securing of raw matrial supply…


When people share the company’s success they work better and they allow the company to grow. I wish more companies will look at Q-Cells as example of how to treat employees.