Meanwhile, it was the Large Scale & Project Solutions business that drove the group sales for SMA last year as it reported over 39% YoY growth with sales of €1.17 billion, thanks to increased sales, reduction in fixed costs and the sale of a battery storage project. This segment also recognized positive EBIT of €227 million, up from €103.8 million in 2023 (see SMA Solar Technology Exits 2023 ‘Extremely Successfully’).
SMA sold 19.5 GW of inverter output in FY2024, down from 20.5 GW in FY2023. Its order backlog too decreased by more than 20% YoY as a result of the above stated factors in the Home Solutions and C&I segments to €1.35 billion.
Restructuring decisions
Following its restructuring and transformation program launched in September 2024, SMA has decided to merge the 2 business units, Home Solutions and C&I, into Home & Business Solutions (HBS), from H1 2025. This, along with the Large Scale & Project Solutions business division, will be responsible for the group’s profit and loss.
Additionally, under its Chief Transformation Officer (CTrO) Olaf Heyden, the company is implementing job cuts after discussion with the Works Council.
In a strategic move, SMA will also exit countries showing low growth potential, but did not name any specific markets. It expects these measures to save €150 million to €200 million from 2026.
Going forward, SMA forecasts annual sales of between €1.5 billion and €1.165 billion and EBITDA of €70 million to €110 million in FY2025. The newly created HBS division is expected to maintain a stable sales level this year, but it may not reach break-even, added SMA CFO Barbara Gregor.
She added, “We expect a slight sales growth in the Large Scale & Project Solutions division. Earnings will be slightly below the previous year due to higher costs and a changed product and regional mix.”
Meanwhile Jeff Osborne of TD Cowen pointed out, “SMA's new factory focused on large scale in Germany (sale and leaseback structure) is expected to start production in 2H25, which will double SMA's capacity to 40GW. Management is targeting a slow ramp of the new large-scale platform. We could see the factory ramping over several years given the demand slowdown and current utility backlog (utility segment roughly 60% sold out for 2025).”
