REC Silicon's EBITDA rises in Q1

Ken Teegardin/CC BY-SA 2.0

Norway-based polysilicon and silicon gas supplier REC Silicon ASA (STO:RECO) on Thursday reported USD 14.6 million (EUR 12m) of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first quarter of 2018, its highest in three years.

The figure is up from USD 10.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, with the improvement attributed to increased cost efficiencies due to high production volumes and higher average prices for polysilicon sales. Polysilicon production was 3,523 tonnes, above the company's guidance at the previous quarter.

Revenues, however, declined quarter-on-quarter to USD 69.6 million from USD 78 million as polysilicon sales volumes decreased by 26.3% to 2,904 tonnes, which was offset in part by an 18.2% increase in average polysilicon price realisations.

Silicon gas sales volumes were slightly ahead of expectations at 897 tonnes, the company said.

In March, REC Silicon issued a USD-110-million bond with 2023 maturity, enabling it to meet debt maturity obligations in 2018. "We have been able to reduce our debt from over USD 300 million in 2013, when the company split to create REC Solar, to USD 110 million today," said chief executive Tore Torvund.

The company also said that the Yulin joint venture (JV) is currently operating at reduced capacity and is expected to reach full capacity utilisation in the second half of 2018.