United states

Net sales for the year ended December 31, 2015 increased by $265.2 million or 83% to $585.9 million compared to $320.7 million in the same period in 2014. This was primarily driven by a 91% increase in the number of wind blades delivered in the year ended December 31, 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. Net sales of wind blades were $535.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 as compared to $293.0 million in the same period in 2014. These increases were primarily the result of additional wind blade volume in our plants in Mexico, China and Turkey, partially offset by lower volume in the U.S. Net sales from the manufacturing of precision molding and assembly systems during the year ended December 31, 2015 increased to $47.3 million from $25.8 million in the same period in 2014. This increase was a result of precision molding and assembly systems manufactured in the United States and Asia for use in our U.S., China and Mexico facilities. Total billings for the year ended December 31, 2015 increased by $237.3 million or 65% to $600.1 million compared to total billings of $362.8 million in the same period in 2014. The impact of the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the Euro at our Turkey operation on consolidated net sales and total billings were reductions of 4.8% and 4.1%, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2015, with no material impact in the same period in 2014.

Total cost of goods sold for the year ended December 31, 2015 was $544.1 million and included aggregate costs of $15.9 million related to startup costs in our Mexico and Dafeng, China plants as well as the transition of wind blade models across all of our plants. This compares to total cost of goods sold for the year ended December 31, 2014 of $306.1 million, including aggregate costs of $16.6 million related to the transition of wind blades in our U.S. plant and startup costs in Mexico, Turkey and Dafeng, China. Cost of goods sold as a percentage of net sales of wind blades decreased by 3% in the year ended December 31, 2015 as compared to the same period in 2014 driven by improved operating efficiency in Mexico and Turkey, which was partially offset by higher operating costs in our U.S. and China plants due to the transition to the production of larger wind blade models at our customer’s request. Cost of goods sold as a percentage of net sales from the manufacturing of precision molding and assembly systems decreased by 1% during the year ended December 31, 2015 as compared to the same period in 2014. Similar to the impact to net sales above, the impact of the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the Euro reduced consolidated cost of goods sold at our Turkey operation by 4.7% for year ended December 31, 2015, compared to 1.8% in the same period in 2014.

 

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General and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2015 totaled $14.1 million as compared to $9.2 million for the same period in 2014. As a percentage of net sales, general and administrative expenses were 2.4% for the year ended December 31, 2015, down from 2.9% in the same period in 2014. The increased expenditures for general and administrative expenses were driven by the costs of enhancing our corporate support functions during this period of growth.

Other expense increased to $16.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 from $11.2 million for the same period in 2014. This was driven by higher interest expense from additional borrowings under our credit facilities to fund our growth initiatives, most notably our expansions and ramp-ups in Dafeng, China and Turkey. The increase also related to the amortization of the beneficial conversion feature on our Subordinated Convertible Promissory Notes during 2015.

Income tax provision increased to $4.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 from $0.9 million for the same period in 2014. The increase was primarily due to the operating results in China and Mexico.

Net income for the year ended December 31, 2015 was $7.7 million, as compared to a net loss of $6.6 million in the same period in 2014. The increase was primarily due to the reasons set forth above.

Net income attributable to preferred shareholders decreased to $9.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2015 from $13.9 million during the same period in 2014. This decrease was primarily due to the convertible preferred shares being fully accreted to their respective redemption amounts in 2014, partially offset by the normal period-over-period increase in the ongoing accrual of dividends.

Net loss attributable to common shareholders decreased to $1.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2015 from a loss of $20.6 million in the same period in 2014. This decrease was primarily due to the decrease in the net income attributable to preferred shareholders and net income (loss) discussed above.

Segment Discussion

The following table summarizes our net sales and income (loss) from operations by our four geographic operating segments:

 

		Year Ended December 31,
		2015				2014
		(in thousands)
Net Sales:
U.S.		$	149,614			$	145,691
Asia			206,779				79,325
Mexico			97,912				28,725
EMEA			131,547				67,006
Total net sales		$	585,852			$	320,747
		Year Ended December 31,
		2015				2014
		(in thousands)
Income (Loss) from Operations:
U.S.		$	(13,405	)		$	(1,199	)
Asia			34,998				14,771
Mexico			7,531				(6,567	)
EMEA			(1,505	)			(1,528	)
Income from operations		$	27,619			$	5,477

 

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U.S. Segment

Net sales in the year ended December 31, 2015 were $149.6 million, up from $145.7 million in the same period in 2014. Net sales of wind blades were $122.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2015 as compared to $128.5 million in the same period of 2014. The decrease was driven by a reduction in the number of wind blades delivered in the year ended December 31, 2015 compared to the same period in 2014 due to the transition to the production of larger wind blade models at our customer’s request. Net sales from the manufacturing of precision molding and assembly systems during the year ended December 31, 2015 were $23.9 million compared to $15.3 million during the same period in 2014. This increase was primarily the result of model-specific tooling equipment manufactured in our Rhode Island facility as required by our customers due to the transition to larger wind blade models for use in the U.S. and Mexico facilities.

The loss from operations for the year ended December 31, 2015 was $13.4 million as compared to the loss from operations of $1.2 million in the same period in 2014, primarily driven by reduced wind blade volume discussed above as well as higher general and administrative expenses in the U.S., including at our headquarters, required to facilitate our growth worldwide.

Asia Segment

Net sales in the year ended December 31, 2015 were $206.8 million, up from $79.3 million in the same period in 2014. Net sales of wind blades were $183.4 million in the year ended December 31, 2015 as compared to $68.8 million in the same period in 2014. The increase was the result of a 160% increase in the number of wind blades delivered during the year ended December 31, 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, along with a change in the mix of wind blade models sold. This was primarily the result of the start of production for a new customer in our Dafeng facility during 2015 as well as the addition of one manufacturing line for an existing customer for a portion of the year. Net sales from the manufacturing of precision molding and assembly systems were $23.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2015 compared to $10.5 million in the same period in 2014. These sales were driven by demand from our customers for precision molding and assembly systems in the United States, China and Turkey that we manufactured in our Taicang City facility.

Income from operations in the Asia segment for the year ended December 31, 2015 was $35.0 million as compared to $14.8 million in the same period in 2014. In addition to the factors noted above, this increase reflected continued increasing operational efficiencies and other improvements in our Taicang Port and Dafeng facilities relative to the prior period and the start of production for a new customer in our Dafeng facility.

Mexico Segment

The Mexico segment had net sales of $97.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2015 as compared to $28.7 million in the same period in 2014. This increase reflects the ramp-up of production in Mexico. Net sales of wind blades represents the entirety of net sales in the Mexico segment in 2015 and 2014.

Income from operations in the Mexico segment for the year ended December 31, 2015 was $7.5 million as compared to a loss of $6.6 million in the same period in 2014. The improvement was due to the increased production levels during the year ended December 31, 2015 approaching a normalized capacity, compared to the ramp up of production in the same period in 2014.

EMEA Segment

Net sales during the year ended December 31, 2015 were $131.5 million, up from $67.0 million in the same period in 2014. The increase was driven by a 105% increase in wind blade volume and changes in our wind blade mix, which resulted in a higher average sale price. Net sales of wind blades represents the entirety of net sales in the EMEA segment in 2015 and 2014.

 

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The loss from operations in the EMEA segment for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 were each $1.5 million. The higher wind blade volume and improved operating performance was more than offset by the impact of the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the Euro and Turkish Lira in 2015. The impact of the strengthening U.S. dollar reduced net sales by 21.4% and cost of goods sold by 19.7%. The impact of the U.S. dollar against the Euro and Turkish Lira reduced net sales and cost of goods sold by 2.2% and 8.2%, respectively, in the comparable year ended December 31, 2014.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

Our primary needs for liquidity have been, and in the future will continue to be, capital expenditures, new facility startup costs, working capital and debt service costs. Our capital expenditures have been primarily related to machinery and equipment for new facilities or facility expansions. Historically, we have funded our working capital needs through cash flows from operations, the proceeds received from our credit facilities and from proceeds received from the issuance of stock. As discussed below, during 2016 we completed an initial public offering of common stock for which we received net proceeds of $67.2 million and in 2014 we received $6.8 million of net proceeds from preferred stock offerings (no common or preferred shares were offered during 2015 or the three months ended March 31, 2017). We had net repayments on financing arrangements of $2.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017 as compared to net borrowings of $2.7 million in the comparable period of 2016. We received net proceeds from financing arrangements and customer advances of $1.6 million and $81.7 million during the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2016, we had net repayments of financing arrangements and customer advances of $15.4 million. As of March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, we had $122.6 million and $125.4 million in outstanding indebtedness, respectively, excluding debt issuance costs. As of March 31, 2017, we had an aggregate of $73.9 million of remaining capacity and $33.8 million of availability under our various credit facilities. Working capital requirements have increased as a result of our overall growth and the need to fund higher accounts receivable and inventory levels as our business volumes have increased. Based upon current and anticipated levels of operations, we believe that cash on hand, available credit facilities and cash flow from operations will be adequate to fund our working capital and capital expenditure requirements and to make required payments of principal and interest on our indebtedness over the next twelve months.

In July 2016, we completed an IPO of 7,187,500 shares of our common stock at a public offering price of $11.00 per share, which included 937,500 shares issued pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise of their option to purchase additional shares. We received $67.2 million in proceeds, net of underwriting discounts and offering expenses and intend to use the net proceeds from the public offering for our working capital and other general corporate purposes, including financing existing manufacturing operations, expansion in existing and new geographies and repayment of a customer advance. Immediately prior to the closing of the IPO, all shares of the then-outstanding redeemable preferred shares converted into an aggregate of 21,110,204 shares of common stock and the redeemable preferred share warrants were converted on a net issuance basis into 120,923 shares of common stock. In addition, concurrent with the closing of the IPO, the Subordinated Convertible Promissory Notes in the aggregate principal and interest amount of $11.9 million were converted into an aggregate of 1,079,749 shares of common stock at the public offering price of $11.00 per share. Prior to the IPO, in July 2016 we also consummated a 360-for-1 forward stock split of our common stock.

We anticipate that any new facilities and future facility expansions will be funded through cash flows from operations, the proceeds of our IPO, the incurrence of other indebtedness and other potential sources of liquidity.

At March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, we had unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaling $115.5 million and $119.1 million, respectively. The March 31, 2017 balance includes $17.7 million of cash located outside of the United States, including $14.8 million in China, $1.9 million in Turkey and $1.0 million in Mexico. The December 31, 2016 balance includes $15.7 million of cash located outside of the United States, including $12.3 million in China, $2.5 million in Turkey and $0.9 million in Mexico. Our ability

 

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to repatriate funds from China to the United States is subject to a number of restrictions imposed by the Chinese government. We repatriate funds through several technology license and corporate/administrative service agreements. We are compensated quarterly based on agreed upon royalty rates for such intellectual property licenses and quarterly fees for those services. Certain of our subsidiaries are limited in their ability to declare dividends without first meeting statutory restrictions of the People’s Republic of China, including retained earnings as determined under Chinese-statutory accounting requirements. Until 50% ($5.2 million) of registered capital is contributed to a surplus reserve, our Chinese operations can only pay dividends equal to 90% of after-tax profits (10% must be contributed to the surplus reserve). Once the surplus reserve fund requirement is met, our Chinese operations can pay dividends equal to 100% of after-tax profit assuming other conditions are met. At December 31, 2016, the amount of the surplus reserve fund was $4.4 million.