Solar cell maker Gintech Energy Corp (昱晶能源) has signed a NT$1.95 billion (US$60 million) supply contract with Canadian Solar Inc for next year, a deal that is estimated to boost the company's earnings by NT$300 million, a company official said yesterday.
Beginning in January, Gintech will ship between 17 megawatts and 22 megawatts of solar-cell products to Canadian Solar, a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed yesterday.
"The shipment will account for 10 percent of our output capacity next year," Gintech spokesman and chief financial officer Martin Kuo (郭彥辰) said by telephone yesterday.
The company expects a capacity of 220 megawatts crystalline solar cells in annual output next year, following the completion of its new Hsinchu Science Park plant in Chunan Township (
Gintech, whose headquarters are in Taipei's Neihu Technology Park, is targeting NT$2.27 billion net income, or NT$14.47 earnings per share, next year, Kuo said, citing increased demand in solar-cell products amid higher global energy prices.
The company had earlier reported NT$125 million net income in the third quarter and NT$190 million net income for the first nine months of this year.
Canadian Solar, based in Jiangsu Province, China, said in a separate statement that shipments from Gintech were set at a fixed pricing and delivery schedule.
The NASDAQ-listed company has been collaborating with Gintech since 2004, it said.
"The continuation of our collaboration with Gintech is in line with our long-term supply strategy, which includes direct purchasing from a selected number of long-term strategic cell suppliers in addition to our internal solar-cell production," Shawn Qu (瞿曉華), chairman and chief executive officer of Canadian Solar, said in a statement.
News of the contract did not boost Gintech shares yesterday, as the market was clouded by the uncertainties over the state of the US economy.
Shares of Gintech dropped NT$9.5, or 3.47 percent, to close at NT$264.50.
Its shares have declined 33.4 percent since its trading debut on Nov. 3, when it closed at NT$397.
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