Hanwha Solutions on Thursday announced its first year-over-year results after its launch on Jan. 2, 2020 through the merger of Hanwha Chemical and Hanwha Q Cells & Advanced Materials.

According to its regulatory filing, the company’s revenue shrank 2.8 percent to 9.19 trillion won ($8.3 billion) on-year, but its operating profit surged 29 percent to 594.2 billion won, improving its profitability despite economic downturn from the COVID-19 crisis. Meanwhile, net profit saw a whopping 221 percent growth to 301.7 billion won in the same period.

“Faced with a transitional period in the energy industry to combat climate change, we will strengthen our status as a comprehensive energy solution provider with aggressive investments,” Hanwha Q Cells CEO Kim Hee-cheul said during a conference call.

Hanwha Solutions’ chemical division propelled the stellar performance. Though the division’s revenue dipped 4.4 percent to 3.32 trillion won on-year, its operating profit jumped 47.5 percent to 381.2 billion won, buoyed by cheap oil prices amid the pandemic.

Q Cells, a solar power unit of Hanwha Solutions, saw modest growth despite strong sales in the US, Europe and other major markets, due to unfavorable market conditions in the fourth quarter. Last year, the division’s revenue and operating profit increased 4.1 percent and 5.2 percent to 3.7 trillion won and 190.4 billion won, respectively.

“The division posted an operating loss of 2.4 billion won in the fourth quarter due to rising raw materials prices, such as those of wafer, glass and EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate) sheet. An increase in logistic costs and one-off expenditure also contributed to the quarterly outcome,” a company official said.

Hanwha Solutions is currently making aggressive investments into solar power technology worth 400 billion won. With the investments, Hanwha Q Cells is expected to commercialize advanced N-type solar cells within two to three years. Then, it will take another two to three years to develop tandem cells, which are a hybrid of conventional solar cells and perovskite solar cells

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)