SMA Group Reports Extraordinarily Strong 2023

• Group sales grew by 79% to €1,904.1 million
• EBITDA increased to €311.0 million; EBITDA margin significantly widened to 16%
• Extraordinary operating performance in all segments
• Guidance for fiscal year 2024 confirmed: Sales of between €1,950 million and €2,200 million and EBITDA of between €220 million and €290 million

SMA Solar Technology AG has confirmed the provisional figures for 2023 as a whole and the guidance for 2024 published on February 29, 2024. In the2023 fiscal year, consolidated sales increased by 78.6% to €1,904.1 million (2022: €1,065.9 million). The gross margin was up significantly year on year at 29.4% (2022: 21.0%), driven in particular by increased profitability in the Home Solutions segment.

EBITDA increased significantly from €70.0 million in the 2022 fiscal year to €311.0 million. This corresponds to an EBITDA margin of 16.3% (2022: 6.6%). This positive performance was driven both by persistently high demand for SMA products and by an improvement in production capacity utilization and the associated fixed cost degression as a result of the increased sales volume. EBIT climbed from €31.9 million in the 2022 fiscal year to €269.5 million (EBIT margin 2023: 14.2%; 2022: 3.0%).

Net income more than quadrupled to €225.7 million (2022: €55.8 million), driven by the positive operating performance. Inverter output sold in 2023 as a whole was 20.5 GW (2022: 12.2 GW).

At €283.3 million, net cash was significantly above the previous year‘s level (December 31, 2022: €220.1 million). The equity ratio rose to 42.3% (December 31, 2022: 41.8%).

Extraordinary sales and earnings in all segments

Sales in the Home Solutions segment rose by 73.2% to €580.2 million (2022: €335.0 million). The share of total sales thus amounted to 30.5% (2022: 31.4%). The EMEA region continued to account for the highest share of sales at 96.9% (2022: 86.7%). A share of 2.0% was attributable to the Americas region (2022: 8.3%) and 1.1% to the APAC region (2022: 5.0%). EBIT increased to €148.0 million (2022: €53.8 million) due to the sales growth, the associated fixed cost degression and a high-margin product mix. This corresponds to an EBIT margin of 25.5% (2022: 16.1%).

The Commercial & Industrial (C&I) Solutions segment also posted a significant sales increase of 65.0% to €478.9 million (2022: €290.3 million). Its share of the SMA Group’s total sales was 25.1% (2022: 27.2%). Regionally, the EMEA region accounted for 80.8% of segment sales, the Americas region for 11.7% and the APAC region for 7.5% (2022: 79.4% EMEA, 11.5% Americas, 9.1% APAC). EBIT improved to €22.7 million (2022: –€26.0 million) with an EBIT margin of 4.7% (2022: –9.0%).

The Large Scale & Project Solutions segment posted the largest sales growth of 91.8% to €845.0 million (2022: €440.6 million). Sales again increased considerably in the fourth quarter of 2023 in particular. The segment’s share of total sales was 44.4% (2022: 41.4%). 48.6% of segment sales were attributable to the Americas region (2022: 45.3%), 10.5% to the APAC region (2022: 21.5%) and 40.9% to the EMEA region (2022: 33.2%). EBIT increased significantly to €103.8 million (2022: –€13.5 million) as a result of the sales increases and thus improved production capacity utilization with associated fixed cost degression. The EBIT margin was 12.3% (2022: –3.1%).

Order backlog remains at a high level

At €1,705.0 million, the SMA Group’s order backlog as of December 31, 2023, remained at a high level and was much higher than the pre-pandemic level, but, as expected, lower than the order backlog at the end of the previous year (December 31, 2022: €2,077.4 million). Incoming orders declined as anticipated in the second half of the year compared with the first two quarters of 2023, as the majority of orders for 2023 in the Home Solutions and C&I Solutions segments had already been placed by the end of the first quarter. Thanks to improved delivery capacity and good production capacity utilization, the order backlog was also continuously reduced. €1,329.8 million (December 31, 2022: €1,700.7 million) was attributable to product business.

Persistently strong demand was seen in the Large Scale & Project Solutions segment, with the order backlog rising to €914 million (December 31, 2022: €603 million), followed by C&I with €238 million and the Home Solutions segment with €177 million (December 31, 2022: C&I: €508 million; Home €589 million).

The Managing Board has confirmed the full-year guidance from February 29, 2024, with sales of between €1,950 million and €2,220 million and EBITDA of between €220 million and €290 million.