SMA 2025 Annual Results: 19.9 GW Sold as BESS EPC Business Expands

SMA Solar Technology’s 2025 annual report covers a year of flat revenue and widening losses, offset by a recovery in operating cash flow and the expansion of its battery energy storage system (BESS) engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) business through subsidiary Altenso. The report does not break out energy storage revenue — SMA’s two segments, Large Scale & Project Solutions (LS) and Home & Business Solutions (HBS), each include storage alongside solar.

1. Headline numbers

SMA’s revenue was €1,516 million in 2025, down 1 % from €1,530 million. The net loss widened to €181.1 million from €117.7 million. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were −€65.4 million, against −€16.0 million in 2024. Excluding one-time items of €242.5 million, EBITDA was €106.6 million, down 28 % from €147.5 million.

Gross margin fell 8.4 percentage points to 8.1 %, as cost of sales rose 9 % while revenue declined. Research and development spending including capitalised development was €123 million, 8.1 % of revenue. Earnings per share were −€5.22.

Operating cash flow swung to €143 million from −€124.8 million in 2024. Net cash doubled to €176.4 million. The improvement came alongside a 37 % reduction in inventories and a 55 % drop in net working capital.

2. Large Scale and Home & Business

SMA reports in two segments. The Large Scale & Project Solutions division — which includes utility-scale solar, storage and the Altenso BESS EPC business — generated €1,268.8 million in external sales, up 8 %. It made up 84 % of group revenue, against 77 % in 2024. LS earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were €210.8 million, an EBIT margin of 16.6 %.

Home & Business Solutions — covering residential and commercial solar and storage — fell 30 % to €247.2 million. HBS posted an EBIT loss of €375.6 million, a margin of −152 %. HBS was formed on May 1, 2025 by merging the former Home Solutions and Commercial & Industrial Solutions divisions.

The report attributes LS revenue growth to “the expansion of the grid stabilization business at SMA Altenso GmbH.” The report does not give a single cause for the HBS decline.

Revenue by segment

3. Energy storage activity

SMA does not report energy storage revenue separately. Both segments include storage products: LS covers utility-scale battery inverters and Altenso’s BESS EPC projects, while HBS includes residential and commercial storage inverters and battery systems.

The subsidiary SMA Altenso GmbH co-develops large BESS projects and delivers turnkey BESS systems as an EPC contractor. Altenso holds 50 % stakes in two joint ventures for solar and battery storage projects: AE Development Holding 2023 Trust in Australia and Altenso & Infinergies Holding Oy in Finland.

A milestone for the storage business was the 21 megavolt-ampere (MVA) / 55 megawatt-hour (MWh) grid-forming storage project in Föhren, Germany, described in the report as “mainland Europe’s first large-scale storage system with grid-forming technology.” SMA supplied seven medium-voltage power stations with its Sunny Central Storage UP-S battery inverter plus the SMA Power Plant Manager. The project is part of the SUREVIVE demonstrator.

The SMA Commercial Storage battery system was discontinued in December 2025. A replacement called the “Storage XL Package” is planned for 2026.

4. New products

SMA launched several products relevant to energy storage in 2025:

• Sunny Central Storage UP-S — a silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) battery inverter with efficiency above 99 %, winner of the pv magazine Award 2025 in the Inverters category

• Sunny Central FLEX — a modular conversion system combining alternating current to direct current (AC–DC) and DC–DC conversion with a medium-voltage transformer in a single 40-foot container, for solar, storage, hybrid and power-to-gas applications; series production began in the fourth quarter of 2025
• Sunny Island X — a battery inverter for off-grid and grid-connected use
• Medium Voltage Power Station 9200 — a new-generation medium-voltage station

5. GIGAWATT FACTORY and restructuring

The new GIGAWATT FACTORY in Niestetal was handed over at the beginning of 2025 and went into operation in the second half of the year. No production capacity figure is given. The factory accounted for €50 million of leasing investment in 2025.

SMA is also adding final assembly capacity in Kraków, Poland, and has opened a Global Competence Center in India for software and HBS research and development. A Letter of Intent with Create Energy covers local United States production of the Sunny Highpower PEAK3 and the Power Skid solution, and contract manufacturing is being set up in the US.

The restructuring programme launched in September 2024 and expanded in September 2025 achieved €124 million in cost savings in 2025. The target is about €150 million in annual savings by end-2027, with further annual savings of more than €100 million beyond that. The headcount fell 14 % to 3,674 employees.

6. Where SMA sells

The Americas accounted for 42 % of external sales in 2025, up from 40 % in 2024. Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) contributed 46 %, and the Asia-Pacific region (APAC) 12 %. Main markets were Germany, the US, Australia and the UK.

Within LS, the Americas represented 48 % of gross sales. Within HBS, EMEA made up 80 %.

Revenue by region

The report gives percentage shares only, not revenue in euros. Approximate revenue is calculated by BESSmanufacturers from the shares and total group revenue of €1,516 million.

7. 2026 guidance

SMA guides for 2026 revenue of €1,475–1,675 million and inverter output of 19–22 GW. EBITDA is expected at €50–180 million and EBIT at €0–130 million. Net cash is expected at about €175 million. HBS sales are guided “up significantly” (at least +6 %), while LS sales are guided “constant” (between −3 % and +3 %).

8. Risks listed

The filing lists 20 risk categories. Storage-related risks include:

• competition from Chinese oversupply of inverters and systems, and battery storage manufacturers moving into system integration
• US tariffs on photovoltaic (PV) components from the EU and China, and changes to Inflation Reduction Act tax credits under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
• excess purchase commitments and possible compensation payments in 2026
• financial covenants not met at December 31, 2025 — lenders waived the requirement and terms were restructured in January 2026
• investigations into fire incidents involving PV arrays

The report does not give energy storage shipments in GWh, ESS-specific margins, battery cell supplier names, GIGAWATT FACTORY capacity, or a storage-specific order backlog.

9. Key data

Group results

Balance sheet

10. Data notes

• Segment structure. HBS was formed on May 1, 2025 by merging Home Solutions and Commercial & Industrial Solutions. Prior-year figures in the report are restated on the new basis.
• Gross margin. The report gives cost of sales (€1,393.4M) but not gross profit. BESSmanufacturers calculated gross profit as €122.6M (sales minus cost of sales) and gross margin as 8.1 %.
• One-time items. Total one-time items were €242.5M, of which €70.5M affected EBIT only. The data pack treats the EBITDA figure (−€65.4M) and the EBITDA excl. one-time items (€106.6M) as reported.
• Stock exchange. The filing refers to SMA as “a listed technology company” but does not state the exchange or ticker in the pages available. SMA trades on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (XETRA: S92).
• PDF truncation. The file available for this analysis runs to PDF page 137 (printed page 136). The Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes (printed pp.171–227), the auditor’s report, the remuneration report and the financial glossary are absent.
• Employee count discrepancy. The foreword states “approximately 3,500 employees in 19 countries.” The KPI table gives 3,674. This article uses the KPI table.
• Our calculations. BESSmanufacturers calculated: gross profit and margin; approximate revenue per region from percentage shares and total revenue; year-on-year changes for EBITDA, EBIT, net income, EPS, cost of sales, selling expenses, administrative expenses, R&D, operating cash flow, capital expenditure, net cash, inventories, net working capital, equity, employees, order backlog, warranty provisions, and inventory impairment; total assets change. All other figures are from the filing.
• Page numbers are PDF page numbers:
  • headline numbers: pp.2, 33–34, 37, 40
  • segments: pp.17–20, 34–36
  • storage activity: pp.17, 20, 31
  • products: pp.19, 20, 31
  • GIGAWATT FACTORY and restructuring: pp.5, 26, 29, 49, 62, 71–72, 79
  • geography: pp.19, 34–36
  • 2026 guidance: pp.78–80
  • risks: pp.61–73

Sources