(Yicai) April 26 -- Shares of Trina Solar advanced after the Chinese photovoltaic giant said its net profit widened over 50 percent last year.

Trina Solar [SHA: 688599] was trading up 2.5 percent to CNY20.43 (USD2.82) as of lunch break in Shanghai today.

Net profit was CNY5.5 billion (USD760 million) in the year ended Dec. 31, the Changzhou-based company said in its annual earnings report released yesterday. Revenue soared 33 percent to CNY113.4 billion (USD15.7 billion).

Trina Solar shipped a total of 65.21 gigawatts of PV modules last year, an increase of over 51 percent from the year before, continuing to rank third in the industry.

Trina Solar also announced its first-quarter financial results yesterday. In the three months ended March 31, the firm’s net profit shrank 71 percent to CNY516 million (USD71.2 million) from a year earlier, mainly because of the decline in PV module prices. Revenue fell 14 percent to CNY18.3 billion (USD2.5 billion).

In the earnings reports, Trina Solar mentioned the challenges brought about by the fierce competition in China’s PV sector. Moreover, solar firms have expanded their production capacity overseas and hiked investment abroad, leading to more intensified competition also in the international market.

Prices across the PV industry supply chain, from industrial silicon to PV modules, have fallen below production costs, so the industry is expected to enter a short irrational competition period, the Silicon Branch of the China Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Association said yesterday. 

However, the overall decline in PV prices is still below downstream expectations, the Silicon Branch of the China Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Association noted.

Leading integrated companies in the PV industry will depend on the PV module sale capability to guarantee their capacity utilization rates, generate more prominent cost-relevant advantages, and rapidly increase their market share, Trina Solar said. 

Editor: Futura Costaglione