(Yicai Global) April 21 -- Shares of Sungrow Power Supply slumped for a second day in a row after the world’s leading maker of photovoltaic inverters reported lower-than-expected annual profit, dragged down by its worst quarter in the final three months of last year since listing in 2011.

Sungrow [SHE: 300274] fell 10.5 percent today to finish at CNY64.48 (USD10), the stock’s lowest closing price in a year, after plunging by the 20 percent exchange-imposed limit yesterday.

Net profit sank 19 percent to CNY1.6 billion (USD247 million) in the year ended Dec. 31, the Hefei-based company said in earnings figures released yesterday. Revenue jumped 25 percent to CNY24.1 billion (USD3.8 billion).

Chairman Cao Renxian said yesterday that Sungrow’s performance was weaker than forecast, mainly because of a number of problems at its power station business, which caused a CNY1 billion profit shortfall.

In the last quarter of the year, profit plunged 90 percent from a year earlier to CNY77.9 million (USD12.2 million), while revenue climbed 19 percent to CNY8.8 billion (USD1.4 billion).

Cao said Sungrow’s project in Vietnam was not connected to the grid on schedule in October due to the coronavirus pandemic; a project in Myanmar was canceled due to political upheaval; and its overseas energy storage business was hit by the pandemic and fines.

Founded in 1997, Sungrow was China’s first solar inverter producer. The company, which also makes wind power converters and energy storage systems, shipped a total of 47 gigawatts of inverters last year, with 29 GW going overseas, picking up a global market share of more than 30 percent.

In the three months ended March 31, net profit rose just 6.3 percent to CNY411 million from a year earlier. Revenue soared 36.5 percent to CNY4.6 billion.

That “unsatisfactory performance,” Cao said, was mainly due to a delay in orders, including of PV products to the United States and energy storage products to Europe, as some of items were out of stock. Revenue from those orders will be included in earnings for April and May, he added.

The combined domestic market share of China’s solar inverter giants Sungrow and Huawei Technologies has increased to 42 percent from 30 percent in the past five years, while that of the next three competitors only rose to 14 percent from 10 percent, according to data crunchers Wood Mackenzie and HIS Markit.

Editor: Futura Costaglione