Flat Glass Group aims to shine for investors

Flat Glass Group, a Zhejiang-based photovoltaic glass manufacturer, plans to set up production facilities in Vietnam.

It has filed an application to list in Hong Kong and intends to use the bulk of its IPO proceeds to finance its Vietnam expansion and other new projects.

Set up in 1998, the firm is the world's largest PV glass maker with an 18.9 percent share of the global market last year in terms of revenue, according to a report by consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

Sales of PV glass made up 73.3 percent of total revenue last year, while the rest was contributed by sales of float glass, household glass and architectural glass.

Flat Glass Group sells PV glass to PV module makers across the world and it makes a 37 percent gross profit margin, the highest among its four major products.

The PV glass products it produces had been used in several iconic architectures, including the China Pavilion in the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai and the National Stadium, also known as the "Bird's Nest" in Beijing.

While it focuses on the China market, where it generates more than 50 percent of its revenue, the company also sells glass products to Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. Revenue growth has been strong in past three years, due mainly to surging demand for PV glass in Asia.

Its annual maximum PV glass production capacity reached 835,850 tons in 2014, up 46.47 percent from a year earlier.

Last year, expenditures on research and development doubled from a ye

ar earlier, reaching 129 million yuan as the company is keen to develop Low-E glass coating technology and to pursue a modification of PV glass.

Gearing ratio, or net debt to equity ratio, continued to shrink in the past three years to 54.3 percent last year, due mainly to a decrease in bank borrowings.

The solar glass industry is regarded as a sustainable business in the long run to the greater role clean energy will play worldwide due to global warming, according to Frost & Sullivan.

However, several anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations have been initiated in recent years by the European Commission, the United States and Canada against Chinese PV products makers.

Their actions have made it more difficult for Chinese firms to sell PV glass overseas.