Trina Solar Limited (NYSE: TSL) ("Trina Solar" or the "Company"), a leading integrated manufacturer of solar photovoltaic products, announced the following updates to its previous guidance for the quarter ended September 30, 2012.
The Company estimates its solar module shipments in the third quarter of 2012 to be between 375 MW and 385 MW, compared to the Company's previous guidance of between 450 MW and 480 MW. Additionally, for the third quarter of 2012, the Company estimates that overall gross margin, including the impact of a provision for a non-cash inventory write-down and a reversal of prior provisions for anti-dumping and countervailing duties (ADCVD) in the United States, to be between 0% and 1.5%, compared to the Company's previous guidance of middle-single digits in percentage terms.
The Company will confirm or revise its previous shipment guidance of between 1.75 to 1.8 GW for the full year 2012 during its third quarter 2012 earnings conference call.
As these selected estimated results are subject to the finalization of the Company's financial closing procedures, the Company's actual results may differ from its current estimates.
"Our third quarter sales were adversely impacted by a continued supply-demand imbalance in the global PV industry, high inventory levels and irrational pricing practices by some competitors in the market," said Mr. Jifan Gao, Chairman and CEO of Trina Solar.
"As recently announced, we have successfully completed two major initiatives, which include the restructuring of our global business into distinct modules and systems business units, and a top-down review of our operations to reallocate and reduce our headcount and other operating expenses. Such initiatives address current industry conditions as well as the shift in regional demand and changes to our customers' business models as a result of the increasingly attractive economics of solar energy for utility scale applications."