July 18, 2014 - REC Silicon ASA reported second quarter 2014 revenues of USD 126.9 million and EBITDA from continuing operations of USD 31.6 million. Debt has been reduced by USD 125 million to USD 283 million, primarily due to the repayment of the Euro 81 million convertible bond.
REC Silicon Segment reported second quarter revenues of USD 126.8 million, compared to USD 113.3 million in the previous quarter. The corresponding EBITDA during the second quarter was USD 33.1 million compared to USD 19.5 million in the previous quarter. The increased EBITDA can be attributed to higher sales volumes and selling prices partially offset by higher manufacturing costs.
Higher average polysilicon prices reflect continued strong demand for solar grade polysilicon and increasing acceptance of granular polysilicon by the market.
Silicon gas sales volumes continued to be strong. Sales were driven by a combination of improved Photovoltaic, Flat Panel Display, and Semiconductor demand and by competitive capacity being currently offline.
"Strong second quarter EBITDA demonstrates the strengthening demand for granular polysilicon and silicon gases in the market" commented Tore Torvund, CEO of REC Silicon. "During the quarter, we successfully completed the five year inspection program in Silane III. Although these outages resulted in higher cost during the first half of 2014, we have completed the planned outages and will operate at full capacity for the remainder of the year."
Net financial items were an income of USD 21.4 million, mainly reflecting net currency gains, and fair value adjustment of convertible bonds offset by interest expense.
The profit from continuing operations was USD 24.6 million in the second quarter, compared to a loss of USD 49.7 million in the previous quarter. The improved result mainly reflects higher EBITDA and positive net financial items.
Basic and diluted EPS from total operations was USD 0.01 in the second quarter 2014, compared to USD -0.02 in the previous quarter.
