Solar company SunPower flags issues with 2022 financial reporting

By Sourasis Bose

(Reuters) -SunPower has identified misstatements in its results for fiscal year 2022, the U.S. solar power storage and energy service provider said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

It expects a $15 million to $25 million decrease in income from continuing operations before income taxes and some other adjustments for the year ended Jan. 1, 2023.

The misstatements relate to capitalization of certain deferred costs and wrongly classified sales commissions as cost of revenue, among other things.

The company's stock was up 6%, tracking peers, after falling more than 20% earlier following the news.

Raymond James Pavel Molchanov said accounting re-statements routinely encompass more than one year, so shareholders are more keen on clarity around the company's revenue and core profit expectations for 2024.

SunPower said in February it expected to generate positive quarterly operating cash in the second half of 2024, but did not provide core profit figures.

The company had raised doubts over its ability to continue as a going concern in December, saying a breach of a key credit agreement could prompt lenders to recall certain loans.

The breach was due to a delay in filing quarterly results stemming from inventory-related issues.

SunPower said on Tuesday it had not completed the review of its fiscal 2022 results and could not assure that the evaluation will not throw up more errors.

(Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shinjini Ganguli)