Earnings Call Excerpt
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (STP)
Q1 2006 Earnings Conference Call
May 18 2006, 8:00 am EST
Executives
Cindy Shao - Investor Relations Coordinator
Dr. Zhengrong Shi - Chief Executive Officer
Amy Zhang - Chief Financial Officer
Dr. Stuart Wenham - Chief Technical Officer
Yunsheng Jiang - Investment Controller
Analysts
Rob Stone - Cowen & Co.
Ming Yang - Piper Jaffray
David Edwards - ThinkEquity
Tienyu Sieh - Merrill Lynch
Paul Leming - Soleil Securities
Sunil Gupta - Morgan Stanley
Dennis Lim - Horizon Capital
Jesse Pichel - Piper Jaffray
Johan [Kendihar] - Tisbury Capital
Presentation
Operator
Good day ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Suntech 2006 first quarter earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) I will now turn the call over to Ms. Cindy Shao, Suntech Investor Relations coordinator. Ma'am, please proceed.
Cindy Shao
Hello everyone and welcome to Suntech’s first quarter 2006 earnings conference call. My name is Cindy Shao, Suntech’s Investor Relations Coordinator. From Suntech on the call today will be Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Suntech Chairman and CEO who will review some of the Company's business highlights; Amy Zhang, our Chief Financial Officer; Stuart Wenham, Chief Technology Officer. Also, Yunsheng Jiang our Investment Controller, will be participating in the Q&A following Dr. Shi's opening remarks.
Before we continue, allow me to take you through the Safe Harbor policy. During this conference call, we will make certain forward-looking statements in an effort to assist you in understanding the Company and its results. The forward-looking statements will be made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainty. As such, Suntech’s future results maybe materially different from the views expressed today. A number of potential risks and uncertainties are outlined in Suntech’s public filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Suntech does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable law.
As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded and a webcast of the management's prepared remarks will be available on the Investor Relations section of Suntech’s website after this call.
Also, please make note that all figures mentioned during this conference call are in US dollars. I will now turn the call over to Suntech’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Zhengrong Shi.
Zhengrong Shi
Thank you, Cindy. Hello and thank you for joining us today. We are encouraged by our first quarter results. We exceeded our net revenue guidance by over $10 million, an increase of more than 130% from the same period in 2005, as worldwide demand for our PV products continue to grow, and our production capacity increased significantly.
- The higher conversion efficiency rates of our PV products and the use of thinner wafers helped to offset higher silicon costs.
- We are making progress developing the domestic supply chain. We believe we have strong advantages in this regard over our competitors, including financial stability, brand recognition and local knowledge, and established relationships.
- Our OEM arrangement under which companies bring their silicon supplies directly to Suntech to turn into PV cells and modules continues to be a success.
- We have been able to successfully pass along silicone price increases. This allows us to continue to grow profitability in an environment of constrained silicon supply.
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