SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SunPower
Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA; SPWRB) today announced a reorganization to
align its businesses and cost structure with expected market
conditions in 2012 and beyond. Several of our longest-tenured
executives will adjust their areas of responsibility, including
Howard Wenger, who will assume the
title of President, Regions and Jack
Peurach, who will assume the title Executive Vice President,
Products, and Marty Neese, who will
remain Chief Operating Officer with expanded responsibilities.
These changes will be effective immediately. In
addition, the company announced today on its earnings call that its
Chief Financial Officer, Dennis
Arriola, will be leaving the company in March of 2012 and
that Jim Pape, its President,
Residential and Commercial, will be leaving the company later this
month.
"SunPower's differentiated technology and vertically integrated,
diversified channel strategy has established our company as a
leader in the industry and positioned us well to address the
challenges of the current solar market environment," said
Tom Werner, SunPower CEO. "As
we look to 2012, we plan to align our business structure to
accelerate our product and technology innovation, increase the
efficiency of our processes and reduce our costs. We are
reorganizing the company to a regional business focus, a products
group with product line profit and loss responsibility, and we will
extend the responsibility of our upstream group to incorporate the
research and development of our world-leading efficiency solar cell
and panels.
"I thank Howard, Jack and Marty for stepping up to new or
expanded roles at SunPower," continued Werner. "Over the last
three years, Dennis has established a culture of strong controls,
continual process improvements and high quality standards in the
finance and accounting teams, and built up a strong set of leaders
around him. After the recent successful series of financings
and credit facilities that he and his team have completed, I
accepted his request to transition out of the company to pursue new
opportunities and thank him for his leadership and contributions
during tremendous growth at SunPower. Similarly, Jim Pape has grown the residential and
commercial business in scale, footprint and efficiency during his
tenure and we thank him for his contributions and leadership."
SunPower expects to implement a company-wide restructuring
program in the fourth quarter to accelerate operating cost
reduction and improve overall operating efficiency. The
company currently expects this program to reduce operating expenses
by as much as 10 percent in 2012, while growing the company.
As a result of the expected restructuring program under
consideration, the company believes it may incur a one-time,
pre-tax charge of approximately $10
million which is not included in current 2011 GAAP
guidance.
About SunPower
SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA, SPWRB) designs, manufactures and
delivers the highest efficiency, highest reliability solar panels
and systems available today. Residential, business, government and
utility customers rely on the company's quarter century of
experience and guaranteed performance to provide maximum return on
investment throughout the life of the solar system. Headquartered
in San Jose, Calif., SunPower has
offices in North America,
Europe, Australia and Asia. For more information, visit
www.SunPowercorp.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that do not
represent historical facts and may be based on underlying
assumptions. The company uses words and phrases such as
"expected," "will," "plan," "expects," "accelerate,"
"improve," and "growing" and similar expressions to identify
forward-looking statements in this press release, including
forward-looking statements regarding: (a) market conditions
in 2012; (b) accelerating product and technology innovation; (c)
increasing efficiencies and reducing costs; (d) expected operating
expense savings from the expected restructuring program while
growing the company; and (e) expected impact of the restructuring
program on financial statements. Such forward-looking
statements are based on information available to the company as of
the date of this release and involve a number of risks and
uncertainties, some beyond the company's control, that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these
forward-looking statements, including risks and uncertainties such
as: (i) increasing competition in the industry and
lower average selling prices, impact on gross margins, and any
revaluation of inventory as a result of decreasing ASP or reduced
demand; (ii) the impact of regulatory changes and the
continuation of governmental and related economic incentives
promoting the use of solar power, and the impact of such changes on
our revenues, financial results, and any potential impairments to
our intangible assets, project assets, and goodwill; (iii) the
company's ability to meet its cost reduction plans and reduce its
operating expenses; (iv) the company's ability to obtain and
maintain an adequate supply of raw materials, components, and solar
panels, as well as the price it pays for such items and third
parties' willingness to renegotiate or cancel above market
contracts; (v) general business and economic conditions, including
seasonality of the solar industry and growth trends in the solar
industry; (vi) the company's ability to revise its portfolio
allocation geographically and across downstream channels to respond
to regulatory changes; (vii) the company's ability to increase or
sustain its growth rate; (viii) construction difficulties or
potential delays, including obtaining land use rights, permits,
license, other governmental approvals, and transmission access and
upgrades, and any litigation relating thereto; (ix) timeline for
revenue recognition and impact on the company's operating results;
(x) the significant investment required to construct power plants
and the company's ability to sell or otherwise monetize power
plants, including the company's success in completing the design,
construction and maintenance of CVSR; (xi) fluctuations in the
company's operating results and its unpredictability, especially
revenues from the UPP segment or in response to regulatory changes;
(xii) the availability of financing arrangements for the company's
utilities projects and the company's customers; (xiii) potential
difficulties associated with operating the joint venture with AUO
and the company's ability to achieve the anticipated synergies and
manufacturing benefits, including ramping Fab 3 according to plan;
(xiv) the company's ability to remain competitive in its product
offering, obtain premium pricing while continuing to reduce costs
and achieve lower targeted cost per watt; (xv) the company's
liquidity, substantial indebtedness, and its ability to obtain
additional financing; (xvi) manufacturing difficulties that could
arise;( xvii) the company's ability to achieve the expected
benefits from its relationship with Total; (xviii) the
success of the company's ongoing research and development efforts
and the acceptance of the company's new products and services;
(xix) the company's ability to protect its intellectual property;
(xx) the company's exposure to foreign exchange, credit and
interest rate risk; (xxi) possible impairment of goodwill.
intangible assets, and project assets; (xxii) possible
consolidation of the joint venture AUO SunPower; and (xxiii) other
risks described in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended January 2, 2011, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the
quarters ended April 3, 2011 and July 3, 2011 and other filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These
forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as
representing the company's views as of any subsequent date, and the
company is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any
responsibility to, update or alter its forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
SOURCE SunPower Corp.