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Premier Power Renewable Energy Reports 165 Percent Year-Over-Year Revenue Growth in Fiscal 2008 While Maintaining Profitability

Posted on: Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 15:12 CDT

EL DORADO HILLS, Calif., March 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Premier Power Renewable Energy, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: PPRW), a global leader in design, engineering and development of solar projects for the commercial, government and residential markets in the U.S. and Europe, today announced financial results for the fiscal year and fourth quarter, which ended December 31, 2008.

Company Highlights:

• Premier Power's total revenues for fiscal 2008 were $44.2 million, a 165 percent increase from $16.7 million in fiscal 2007.
• Net income margins were substantially positive during a year that featured significant business growth and additional expenses associated with becoming a publicly traded company.
• Premier Power projects in fiscal 2008 included West County Wastewater District, Otis Elevator Company, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Sutter Home and Teichert Aggregate, among others.
• Premier Power remains on schedule to be listed on the Nasdaq stock market in the first half of 2009.
• Notable events for Premier Power in 2008 were numerous including two industrial scale 1MW installations completed in less than 45 days; continued expansion in Spain through a second office in Madrid; continued expansion in the U.S. with a new residential sales office in Southern California.
• The Company reported net income in accordance with generally accepted in the United States (GAAP) of $569,068, or $.03 per share, for fiscal 2008, compared to net income of $843,865, or $.04 per share, for fiscal 2007.

"Premier Power achieved excellent levels of growth, profitability and customer satisfaction in 2008 -trends we fully expect to continue in 2009," said Dean R. Marks, chief executive officer, Premier Power. "We performed extremely well in both of our geographic markets in 2008. We expanded our European operations with a new office in Madrid, supplementing our first office in Pamplona and grew that business 650 percent. Our U.S. operations, with offices in California and New Jersey, continue to perform strongly, driven primarily by commercial installations such as the recently completed largest bidirectional tracker deployment in the U.S. at the West County Wastewater District in Richmond, CA. While we logged extraordinary growth in 2008, we also maintained operational discipline, significantly decreasing operating expenses as a percentage of revenue."

Revenue for the full 12 months of 2008 came in at $44.2 million, a 165 percent increase over 2007, while gross profit margins were 12.5 percent, compared with 25.4 percent in the previous year. Sales in Europe grew by 650 percent, while sales in the U.S. grew more than 100 percent. Growth in Europe was due largely to increased commercial rooftop sales, while U.S. sales grew in several markets, most notably in the government sector. Growth in the company's U.S. residential business was spurred by the opening of a Southern California residential sales office.

During 2008, operating expense as a percent of sales decreased to 11 percent from 20 percent in 2007. The company maintained this efficiency even as it incurred additional costs associated with becoming a publicly traded company. Total operating expenses for 2008 were $4,729,542, consisting of sales and marketing costs of $2,224,362 and administrative costs of $2,505,180. Those figures contrast with total operating expenses for the 2007 fiscal year of $3,371,778, consisting of sales and marketing costs of $1,493,890 and administrative costs of $1,877,888, representing an increase of approximately 40 percent.

Net income for 2008 was $569,068, and $793,383 on a pro forma basis including the minority interest in Spain acquired by Premier Power in 2008, compared with $843,865 in 2007. Net income in 2008 was impacted by the costs associated with substantial growth, including two new office openings and those related to becoming a publicly traded company.

Premier Power maintains a strong balance sheet ending the year with $5.8 million in cash, inventory of $1.4 million, accounts receivable of $4.7 million and accounts payable of $3.7 million, all significantly below one-month levels. As a result of profitability, the balance sheet improved throughout the year. The company maintains a financial leverage ratio of less than one.

"From expanded Federal and state level support in the U.S. and continued feed-in tariff support in Europe, we are excited by the prospects of the solar energy industry in 2009," said Marks. "Our technology-agnostic approach provides an unsurpassed solar energy solution for each individual customer, whether it's a system using mono crystalline, poly crystalline, cylindrical CIGS or thin film modules or a design with dual axis trackers, single axis trackers or fixed-mount systems."

Notwithstanding the global economic downturn, the pipeline of potential sales that Premier Power expects continues to expand. The state of the economy has caused large commercial and agricultural enterprises and smaller residential customers to shift more resources to cleaner, more cost-effective solar power, enabling Premier Power to convert this heightened interest into revenue-generating opportunities.

Investor Conference Call Information

Premier Power will host a conference call to discuss the results tomorrow, Wednesday, April 1, 2009, at 2:00 pm EDT. Investors are invited to listen to the call by dialing 719-325-4763 for calls within the U.S. and 877-874-1588 for calls from international locations. Upon reaching the operator, verbally transmit the participant code 4800932. Conference Call Title is "PREMIER POWER RENEWABLE ENERGY RELEASE OF FOURTH QUARTER/YEAR END FY2008 FINANCIAL RESULTS."

The replay will also be available on the Company's website for five days.

About PREMIER POWER

Premier Power Renewable Energy, Inc. is a leading global provider of large and small scale solar power systems, delivering unmatched experience to commercial, governmental and residential customers throughout North America and Europe. Premier Power designs, engineers and integrates the solar industries leading products. Premier Power's technologies and services have enabled its customers to maximize clean energy output along with project savings. Today, Premier Power designs and deploys the most innovative solar electric systems through market-leading innovation and exceptional customer service. Premier Power is headquartered in El Dorado Hills, CA and trades on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol PPRW.OB. Additional information is available at the Company's website at www.premierpower.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement our financial results presented on a GAAP basis, we use the non-GAAP measures indicated in the attached table, which exclude certain expenses including stock-based compensation, that we believe are helpful in understanding our past financial performance and our future results. Our non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP measures, and should be read only in conjunction with our condensed consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. Our management regularly uses our supplemental non-GAAP financial measures internally to understand, manage and evaluate our business and make operating decisions. These non-GAAP measures are among the primary factors management uses in planning for and forecasting future periods. Compensation of our executives is based in part on the performance of our business based on these non-GAAP measures.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release contains certain "forward-looking statements" relating to the business of Premier Power Renewable Energy, Inc. ("Premier"), which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including all business uncertainties relating to reliance on a limited number of customers, market demand, cyclical nature of our markets, reliance on key personnel, future capital requirements, competition in general and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are or will be described in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on Premier's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on the company. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting Premier will be those anticipated by Premier. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond the control of the Company) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Premier undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

PREMIER POWER RENEWABLE ENERGY, INC CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS For the years ended December 31, 2008 and 2007 2008 2007 Cash flows from operating activities: Net income $569,068 $843,865 Minority interest 224,315 (16,547) Net income before minority interest 793,383 827,318 Adjustments to reconcile net income Provided by (used in) operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 196,676 76,435 Loss on sale of property and equipment 4,559 - Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Accounts receivable (2,352,548) (1,212,554) Other receivable (93,775) - Inventory (14,881) (920,884) Prepaid expenses and other assets (104,746) 86,272 Costs and estimated earnings in excess of (198,684) 115,842 billings on uncompleted contracts Accounts payable 1,096,909 1,435,966 Accrued liabilities 856,568 188,320 Billings in excess of costs and estimated (218,074) 228,511 earnings on uncompleted contracts Deferred tax assets (272,876) 19,472 Income tax payable 191,720 - Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities (115,769) 844,698 Cash flows from investing activities: Acquisition of property and equipment (163,039) (6,692) Proceeds from sale of property and 12,171 10,432 equipment Net cash (used in) provided by investing (150,868) 3,740 activities Cash flows from financing activities: Net principal payments on borrowings (283,527) (48,051) Net repayments from shareholders 23,458 (23,458) Proceeds from borrowings 15,292 - Issuance of preferred stock and warrants 5,511,895 - Distributions (452,000) (436,766) Net cash provided by (used in) financing 4,815,118 (508,275) activities Effect of foreign currency on cash and cash equivalents (56,596) 3,635 Increase in cash and cash equivalents 4,491,885 343,798 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of 1,278,651 934,853 period Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $5,770,536 $1,278,651 Supplemental cash flow information: Interest paid $82,088 $24,760 Taxes paid $75,800 $24,238 Non-cash investing and financing activities: Issuance of notes to acquire equipment $156,804 $185,846 Common stock issued for services $91,501 Common stock issued to acquire minority $1,489,234 interest

SOURCE Premier Power Renewable Energy, Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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