DJ HUGIN NEWS/Q-Cells SE confirms figures for fiscal year 2008 and publishes its Annual Report

Bitterfeld-Wolfen, 19 March 2009 - Today, Thursday, 19 March 2009, Q-Cells SE (QCE; ISIN DE0005558662) presents its Annual Report for 2008 at the press conference in Frankfurt/Main. The company therewith confirms its preliminary figures of 24 February 2009. With a production volume of 570.4 MWp in its core business, Q-Cells SE was again the world's largest manufacturer of solar cells last year. Sales rose by 46 % to EUR 1,251.3 million (previous year: EUR 858.9 million). EBIT, which was depressed to a much greater degree in the previous fiscal year by the start-up costs of new technologies and the new production facility in Malaysia, grew by 4 % to EUR 205.1 million (2007: EUR 197.0 million). Net income for the year totalled EUR 190.6 million, which is an increase of 28 % on the figure for the previous year of EUR 148.3 million. Excluding the contribution from the investment in Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC) net income for the year stood at EUR 140.3 million (EUR 127.2 million). Q-Cells has therefore successfully continued its expansionary course in the past year. In addition to commissioning the final section of Line V in the first half of the year, the sixth production line was commissioned at the Bitterfeld-Wolfen site in the fourth quarter of 2008 allowing total cell capacity to be increased to 760 MWp. The new fab in Malaysia, on which construction started in the second quarter of 2008, will launch the making of its first solar cells in Q2 this year. In addition to expansions in the core business, two of the thin-film subsidiaries or investments started mass-production last year. Both Sontor GmbH and Solibro GmbH continued their ramp-up successfully in the fourth quarter of 2008. Work also began on expanding capacity at Solibro to a total of 135 MWp (currently 30 MWp) in the fourth quarter. Across the Group, Q-Cells created a total of 861 new jobs through its expansion, which means that the company employed 2,568 individuals in total at the end of last year. The Annual Report 2008 and an up-to-date presentation of the Company are available for downloading in the Investor Relations section of Q-Cells SE's website (www.q-cells.com). Contact information: Q-Cells SE OT Thalheim Sonnenallee 17 - 21 06766 Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany www.q-cells.com Investor Relations: Stefan Lissner Phone: +49-(0)3494-6699 10101 [email protected] Public Relations: Stefan Dietrich Phone: +49-(0)3494-6699 10111 [email protected] This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. http://hugin.info/136506/R/1298799/296060.pdf http://hugin.info/136506/R/1298799/296061.pdf http://www.q-cells.com Copyright © Hugin AS 2009. All rights reserved.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 19, 2009 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)