(Yicai) Aug. 8 -- Sungrow Power Supply’s shares rose after the Chinese maker of photovoltaic inverters said first-half profit may have surpassed last year’s total due to a jump in sales of its main product.

Sungrow [SHE: 300274] closed up 1.8 percent at CNY111 (USD15.40) a share today. The broader Shenzhen market fell 0.4 percent.

Net profit is expected to have soared by 344 percent to 400 percent from a year earlier to between CNY4 billion (USD554.6 million) and CNY4.5 billion in the six months ended June 30, the Hefei-based company said late yesterday. It had a net profit of CNY3.6 billion last year.

First-half revenue likely climbed 112 percent to 144 percent to between CNY26 billion (USD3.6 billion) and 30 billion, it said.

In addition, based on a first-quarter profit of CNY1.5 billion, Sungrow’s second-quarter earnings are expected to have been in the region of CNY2.5 billion to CNY3 billion, a record quarter.

The company attributed the strong growth to a sharp year-on-year increase in revenue from its core products of solar inverters and energy storage systems. Sungrow did not provide its latest sales data. Lower ocean costs and currency exchange gains also contributed to the sharp rise.

A solar inverter converts direct current electricity generated by photovoltaic panels into an alternating electrical current for supply to the national grid. It is one of the core components used in power generation through new energy sources such as solar power.

Solar inverters and energy storage systems are two of Sungrow’s three major business segments, with the solar inverter business contributing 39 percent of its total revenue last year and the energy storage systems business making up 25 percent. Last year’s revenue jumped 67 percent and net profit surged 127 percent.

Sungrow shipped 77GW of solar inverters, ranking first globally in 2022, according to S&P Global. The company’s total installed capacity of inverters globally exceeded 340 gigawatts at the end of 2022.

Global solar inverter shipments rose to 284 GW in 2022 from 119.2 GW in 2017 and may increase to 579.3 GW in 2026, according to a report by Zhongtai Securities.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Tom Litting