Sky Solar Holdings Suffer Smaller Loss In Q1 Than Expected

Sky Solar Holdings Ltd SKYS reported a loss of $823 thousand or a low of $0.002 per share in the first quarter compared to a net income of $2.6 million or $0.01 per share in the year-ago quarter. Street estimated a loss of $0.06 a share. As a result, the stock traded more than 7 percent up in the pre-market trading on Friday.

Sky Solar said total revenue grew 14 percent to $11.7 million in the three-month period from $10.3 million in the comparable period. Of this, electricity revenue accounted for $9.9 million representing 94 percent jump over the previous year quarter. However, revenue fell short of the Street predictions of $13.45 million.

The company's chairman and CEO, Weili Su, Founder, Chairman, said, "While our overall installation during the quarter was modest as expected, this performance was generally due to our our ongoing strategic initiatives to unlock shareholder value. In addition, in early May, we announced the execution of a definitive agreement to acquire operating assets in the US, marking our first US transaction, a strategic market for Sky Solar in which we look forward to building a larger presence."

Similarly, CIO Sanjay Shrestha commented, "Our strategic evaluation of Japan is underway. Furthermore, our recently signed definitive agreement to acquire operating assets in the US include 22 MW of solar parks with an average remaining PPA of 15 years, which can generate a highly attractive cash on-cash-return."

The stock traded 7.4 percent higher in the pre-market on Friday.