MAINBOARD-LISTED Sunpower Group, a provider of energy-saving and clean power solutions, on Wednesday reported profit after tax attributable to shareholders of 85.2 million yuan (S$17.6 million) for the first quarter ended March 31, a 60.9 per cent decline on the year.

 

Earnings per share was 10.78 fen, down from 27.62 fen.

 

This is mainly due to fair value changes of the group' s convertible bonds and warrants. Otherwise, attributable profit would have been 59.7 million yuan, a 17 per cent increase year on year (y-o-y).

 

Revenue for the quarter was up 31.2 per cent at 882.9 million yuan, on improved performances from both the manufacturing and services, and green investments businesses.

 

In particular, revenue from the green investments segment grew 61.2 per cent y-o-y to 417.6 million yuan, mainly driven by nine projects in commercial operation, from eight projects in operation and one in trial production previously.

 

Manufacturing and services revenue for Q1 rose 12.5 per cent on the year to 465.2 million yuan.

 

The green investments segment will become Sunpower' s principal business following the group' s divestment of the manufacturing and services business.

 

In its earnings announcement, Sunpower said it is well placed to benefit from China' s support of environmentally sustainable economic growth, noting, for instance, national clean air policies that mandate the closure of coal-fired boilers, unlocking demand for clean steam, heat and electricity supplied by large, centralised plants.

 

The group has invested and committed 1.93 billion yuan in equity to date, to build up its green investment business. Aside from the nine projects in operation, it has two others under construction.

 

Sunpower said it will " intensify efforts to cultivate and enhance the quality" of its existing green investments projects, greenfield and acquired projects alike.

 

It will also seek suitable opportunities to expand the portfolio, either by procuring new projects with exclusive, long-term concessions or embarking on further phases of expansion for certain existing projects.

 

March and April are typically active months for the exercise of employee share options.

 

On April 12, Sunpower Group issued and allotted 1,338,000 ordinary shares, with 1,128,000 ordinary shares at an exercise price of S$0.116 each and 210,000 ordinary shares at an exercise price of S$0.379 each, pursuant to the exercise of options granted under the Sunpower Employee Share Option Scheme 2015.

 

Since the end of 2014, the share price of Sunpower Group has gained from 13.5 cents to an intraday high of S$1.00 on Jan 13, 2021, closing at 90.5 cents on April 15.

 

Executive chairman Guo Hong Xin and executive director Ma Ming founded Sunpower in 1997. On Feb 25, 2021, it reported that its FY20 (ended Dec 31) revenue rose 12.6 per cent year-on-year (yoy) to 4,058.8 million yuan (S$830.5 million), with group Ebitda increasing 13.0 per cent yoy to 798.2 million yuan.

 

The environmental protection specialist is involved in the investment, development and operation of green investment (GI) projects in the anti-smog sector in China.

 

As executive director Mr Guo noted that in FY20, the GI business stood out with its strong performance for the third consecutive year.

 

On Dec 31, 2020, the group proposed the disposal of the entire manufacturing and services (M& S) business at a consideration of 2.29 billion yuan.

 

This is to enable the group to keep its strategic focus on its GI business, and all resolutions were passed at a special general meeting on April 16.

 

As executive director and chairman of the board, Mr Guo is responsible for the overall management as well as the strategic planning & development of the group.

 

The issue and allotment of 1,338,000 ordinary shares which began trading on April 15, reduced Mr Guo' s total interest in Sunpower Group from 19.40 per cent to 19.37 per cent and reduced Mr Ma' s total interest in the group from 17.37 per cent to 17.34 per cent.

 

Mr Ma joined Sunpower in 1997 as the company' s co-founder and served as deputy general manager.

 

Since the strategic expansion of the group into the GI business in 2015, Mr Ma had led the formulation of the strategic plan and business model. In addition, he is responsible for the implementation of its long-term objectives.

 

For FY21, Sunpower Group intends to continue to execute its two-pronged strategy that will firstly, solidify its market position as an environmentally-clean centralised provider of industrial steam, heating and electricity and secondly, tap its proven ability to identify and invest in additional promising GI projects that meet the investment objectives of the company.