Photovoltaics group Meyer Burger faces the final end

The days of the ailing solar company Meyer Burger appear to be numbered. With the termination of its largest customer, the targeted financial restructuring and thus the continued existence of the company is acutely jeopardized.

Meyer Burger has once again received bad news. The largest customer Desri has terminated the framework agreement with Meyer Burger with immediate effect, as the company announced on Friday.

The termination means that Meyer Burger is now practically at the end of the line. "The company currently assumes that, irrespective of the validity of such a termination, the well-advanced efforts towards a financial restructuring are likely to be impaired", according to the statement.

And if this financial restructuring fails, the business would probably no longer be able to continue. Meyer Burger intends to analyze the situation before publishing any further information.

Long ordeal

The end of a long ordeal is now in sight, as Meyer Burger has been fighting for survival for some time. The solar technology company urgently needs money to press ahead with the planned relocation of its activities to the USA in order to survive at all. In the first half of 2024, the Group was once again in the red.

"We have a financing gap in the high double-digit million range and need to close it," said Franz Richter, who recently became CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors at the same time, around two weeks ago. Negotiations with creditors have been initiated in order to raise the necessary funds. Meanwhile, Richter ruled out a capital increase.

Analysts, however, assumed an even greater capital requirement in the range of 100 to 120 million Swiss francs.

Meyer Burger has been struggling for some time with low-cost competition from China and overcapacity in the European solar market. In the first half of the year, the sale of solar modules from stock at dumping prices caused losses. This was compounded by write-downs and costs associated with the stalled expansion of US production.

Construction of new production halted due to lack of funds

Meyer Burger had to stop the construction of a solar cell production facility in Colorado Springs in September due to a lack of funds. The cells were to continue to be produced in Thalheim, Germany, and assembled into solar modules in Goodyear, Arizona. Whether this will be the case for much longer is now more than doubtful.

The half-year report at the end of October showed just how badly the company is doing. Turnover almost halved to 49 million Swiss francs. This resulted in an operating loss that was more than twice as high and a net loss of over 300 million francs.

Precarious financial situation

Meyer Burger's financial situation is correspondingly precarious: at the end of September, the company had just over 80 million Swiss francs in cash. The sale of assets from the now closed module production facility in Freiberg, Germany, and further sales of products from stock should give the Group some breathing space.

The company was founded in 1953 by Hans Meyer and Willy Burger, after whom the company is still named today. Initially, the company focused on watch jewel manufacturing machines. In 1970, the company entered the business of cutting machines for silicon wafers for the semiconductor industry.

The company entered the photovoltaic industry in the early 1980s, and in 2020 the company announced one of many changes in strategy and focused entirely on the business as an equipment supplier to the manufacturer of solar cells and modules. To this end, it also acquired factories from insolvent solar manufacturers in Germany. However, the business never really took off.

SDA