CAMBRIDGE, Ont. – ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. (TSX:ATA) says its troubled solar-energy subsidiary Photowatt France will take a C$24-million accounting hit in the current quarter as the result of terminating contracts with some of its suppliers.
The company, based in Cambridge, Ont., said Wednesday its Photowatt France unit will incur an estimated euro17.5 million in the fiscal second quarter ending Oct. 2.
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Photowatt has been part of ATS’s efforts to establish itself as a supplier of photovoltaic cells, which convert energy from the sun into electricity.
ATS said Wednesday that current prices for silicon and wafers have fallen below what Photowatt France would have paid over the next six years under the contracts with its suppliers.
Most of the accounting charge represents previously paid deposits.
Photowatt has been a chronic financial drag on ATS, which makes machinery and equipment for industrial and automotive markets.
ATS has said previously that it was working on spinning off Photowatt as a separate company and that it was simultaneously trying to sell Photowatt France. It didn’t provide an update on those plans Wednesday.
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