Evergreen Solar (ESLR) posts stellar 3rd Quarter

Marlboro, MA, USA: Evergreen Solar Reports Third-Quarter 2005 Results

Evergreen Solar has released financial results for the quarter ended October 1, 2005. For the quarter, product revenues were $11.1 million, nearly double the $5.6 million reported for the third quarter of 2004 and an increase of 4 percent from the $10.7 million reported in the second quarter of 2005.

For the third quarter of 2005, Evergreen Solar achieved positive product gross margin of 10.4 percent. This compares with negative 29.0 percent for the third quarter of 2004 and positive 6.2 percent in the second quarter of 2005. Net loss attributable to common stockholders for the third quarter of 2005 was $4.6 million, or $0.07 per share, compared with a net loss of $4.6 million, or $0.10 per share, for the third quarter of 2004.

"The third quarter was another period of significant accomplishment for Evergreen Solar as we pursue our vision of becoming the low-cost provider in the solar industry," said Richard M. Feldt, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We achieved record product revenue at our Marlboro facility of $11.1 million, with gross margins of 10.4 percent. We made good progress on our research and development programs, and plan to begin converting our Marlboro factory to our thin wafer manufacturing process by year end. We also ordered five Quad ribbon production prototype furnaces to further the development of that platform."

"The state-of-the-art 30-megawatt manufacturing plant we are constructing in Thalheim, Germany through our EverQ venture remains firmly on schedule," Feldt continued. "The construction phase moved rapidly in the third quarter as we broke ground in July and celebrated the plant's roof closing in October. Hiring and training for this facility are progressing extremely well. In order to accelerate the start up of the Thalheim plant, we are shipping 10 furnaces to an offsite location in Thalheim this month. These will be used to train our EverQ employees and provide wafers for use in the startup of our cell and module lines."

"Demand for solar energy continues to strengthen worldwide and is expected to exceed supply for the foreseeable future," Feldt said. "Evergreen Solar is capitalizing on this growth while investing in ongoing technology initiatives. In Marlboro, we will continue to advance toward full production implementation of our promising thin wafer technology."

"In Thalheim, we remain on track with our aggressive construction schedule. We anticipate installing our first pieces of manufacturing equipment in the facility by the end of 2005. We expect to begin manufacturing our first wafers in the Thalheim plant in the first quarter of 2006, with full-scale production slated to commence during the summer of 2006."


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