By Renewable Energy Focus staff

The loss came as sales almost halved to €22.2m on weaker than expected demand.

Chairman of the Management Board of Sunways, Michael Wilhelm, says: “In the context of our planning for 2011 we had – against the background of the feed-in tariff in Germany as of 1 January 2011 – already expected a weak start to the year and a negative operating result for the first three months.

“However, as a result of the unexpectedly high inventory levels of dealers and hesitant demand, the operating result generated in the first quarter was below our expectations.”

Outlook

Sunways says it now does not expect to reach the sales growth in the double-digit percentage range previously targeted for 2011, but that it will adhere to its earnings target and still anticipates to generate an EBIT margin in the lower single-digit percentage range.