CBD Energy suspended as it prepares large write-downs

Listed renewable energy company CBD Energy has had its shares suspended from trade after advising that it will need to write down the carrying value of a “number of assets” on its balance sheet.

The company said the outcome of  assessments by management and independent experts “is that the carrying value of some of these assets is now considered impaired”. These impacts would be reflected in the company’s audited results and its annual report.

CBD Energy, which said the assessment had not been completed, would mean that its reported net loss for the 2012 financial year would “vary considerably” from the reported.

The company did say that the impairments would not impede its proposed merger with Westinghouse Solar and its listing on Nasdaq. CBD has numerous businesses, including a role in the proposed $250 million Taralga wind farm, a portfolio of commercial solar PV projects in Italy, and other solar PV projects in Asia.

In early September, CBD Energy revealed a bottom line loss of $21.7 million for the 2011/12 financial year, hit by a sharp slump in revenues from its solar business and writedowns from a failed acquisition, a patent battle over storage technologies, costs of its purchase of Westinghouse Solar, and losses in trades of small scale technology certificates.