Relativa a la protección de los derechos políticos de las mujeres

THE TREND OF BUSINESS 2012

In the 2012 fiscal year, the SMA Group performed in line with expectations. Sales amounted to €1.5 billion, at the upper end of the forecast for the fiscal year. The EBIT of

€102.0 million (7.0% EBIT margin) was also within the range forecast by the SMA Managing Board. SMA closed the 2012 fiscal year with positive free cash flow before dividend payment, highlighting the unique advantages of the busi-ness model. With net liquidity of almost half a billion euros and an equity ratio of more than 60%, SMA has a solid financial basis.

The development of business was once again marked by high dynamism in the various photovoltaics markets and subsegments. Particularly in Europe, the drastic cuts to remuneration for solar power led to a decline in demand starting in the third quarter and accelerating in the fourth. In contrast, demand for system technology in North America, Australia and Thailand developed positively on the basis of SMA’s local presence. However, the growth of inverter output sold in these regions did not fully offset the sudden decline in demand in the European markets. In 2012, SMA therefore sold approximately 5% less inverter output than in the previous year (2011: 7.6 GW). The inverter output sold by us can generate enough solar power for around 1.9 million households.

2 To Our Shareholders 65 24 The SMA Group:

Business, Objectives and Strategies 67 Supplementary Report 69 Risks and Opportunities Report 82 Forecast Report

94 Notes 142 Other Information

Consolidated 86 Financial Statements Consolidated

20 Management report

The regional shift of demand is also reflected in the product mix. While in established European photovoltaics markets SMA products for small and medium-sized solar applications (residential and commercial) are in higher demand, demand in the growth regions is determined more by large-scale solar projects and industrial applications (industrial and commercial). SMA profited from this trend and sold more inverter output for large-scale solar projects. The inverter output sold in the Sunny Boy and Sunny Tripower product groups, which are used mainly in small and medium-sized PV systems, decreased slightly.

SMA’s numerous unique selling points allow us to achieve fair prices for products and services on the market. Never-theless, SMA is not able to distance itself entirely from the competitive situation. Specific sales prices per watt fell to 19.1 eurocents per watt in 2012 (2011: 20.9 eurocents per watt). Due to the regional shift in demand and the pressure on prices, SMA’s sales fell 13% in 2012 to €1.5 billion (2011: €1.7 billion).

In such a short space of time, SMA was not able to com-pensate for the sudden change in demand with ongoing measures for increasing productivity or new products and services. In addition, one-time items such as risk provisioning because of additional work to purchased components used in various product families and the write-down of inventories had a negative impact on the earnings situation of SMA.

However, with operating earnings of €102 million, SMA met its challenging targets for the 2012 fiscal year.

In the 2012 fiscal year, we presented numerous product innovations to our customers at leading trade fairs in Ger-many and the USA. The solutions we presented offer high customer value, especially in view of the changing market environment, with particular regard to the economical use of photovoltaics and system operators’ increasing

indepen-dence from rising electricity prices. For example, at Intersolar in Munich we presented our integrated system concept SMA Smart Home. Our problem-solving approach is based on the Sunny Home Manager and integrates batteries and other system components. With the SMA Smart Home, households can automatically attune power consumption to solar power generation without compromising on convenience and thus significantly increase their self-consumption. This solution for optimizing self-consumption will be of enormous relevance in future, particularly in view of falling payments for solar power in European markets. Likewise at Intersolar in Munich, we also presented a three-phase inverter from the Sunny Tripower product family in the 5 kW to 9 kW power class for the growing market of small commercial PV plants. The product features state-of-the-art grid-integration functions, high efficiency and simple connection to our Sunny Portal without installing additional components. In future, we will be able to satisfy demand for central inverters for large-scale solar projects with the first megawatt inverters from SMA.

The Sunny Central 900CP XT, presented at Intersolar, has unique technology allowing its output to be increased to almost 1 MW at an ambient temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. The device also features durable housing, which allows it to be installed in regions with challenging climates.

We have also achieved crucial development success with the certification of the Sunny Boy 3500TL-JP and Sunny Boy 4500TL-JP. SMA is thus the first international PV inverter manufacturer to fulfill the demanding requirements for certification by JET (Japan Electrical Safety & Environment Technology Laboratories). In 2012, we developed the Sunny Central 500CP-JP for the fast-growing market segment of large-scale solar projects in Japan.

66 SMA Solar Technology AG Annual Report 2012

To tap into the promising solar diesel hybrid system market segment, SMA designed the Fuel Save Controller in 2012.

This innovation allows need-based control of photovoltaic feed-in depending on load and generation profiles. The product was presented to the expert audience at the In-tersolar trade fair and was deployed in a megawatt-class power plant in South Africa at the end of the year.

In 2012, we intensified our sales activities. For example, SMA founded new sales and service companies in the young photovoltaics markets South Africa and Chile. In addition, SMA Railway Technology founded a foreign com-pany in Brazil. We also secured entry to the rapidly growing Chinese market with a 72.5% interest in Zeversolar. SMA is represented by its own foreign companies in 21 countries, and in comparison with its competitors it has the largest international infrastructure and will therefore be able to benefit from the regional shift in demand.

We continued to hone our unique selling points in 2012 by expanding our service activities. Alongside comprehensive after-sales services at home and abroad, SMA Service presents itself as a universal service provider for the 50.2 Hz conversion of PV plants in Germany. SMA supports elec-tric utility companies in data collection and deals with the entire conversion process – from first contact with the plant operator to quality assurance and documentation. In future, SMA together with strong partners will also increasingly offer complete plant service (operation and maintenance) for large-scale PV plants in selected markets, e.g. North America, in addition to the primary services for inverters and medium-voltage components already provided. By taking on all services for the whole plant, the plant’s performance will be optimized.

With an international network of 90 service hubs, SMA guarantees a rapid reaction time for the SMA inverters installed throughout the world.

SMA is not able to escape the sudden change in conditions.

The SMA Managing Board has therefore focused strategy on the new market and competitive situation. The strategy centers on continuing to extend our innovation leadership, taking consistent steps to reduce costs and accelerating internationalization. In addition, SMA’s personnel structure must be adapted to the changed level of sales. The SMA Managing Board therefore decided to downsize by at least 500 temporary and permanent employees in fall 2012.

Further fast-acting personnel measures were also presented to the employees. The structural changes will make SMA more compact, and it will be able to respond more flexibly to changes in conditions in future.

Overall, SMA performed well under difficult market and competitive conditions in 2012. We also laid the foundations for maintaining or even improving upon our high market share of nearly 25% in future. We also introduced the re-quired organizational changes at an early stage in 2012.

The technological innovations we have presented make us an important driver of the energy revolution and set trends in the solar industry. We will continue on our path of technology orientation and concentration on system technol-ogy. In times of perpetual change in individual markets, our internationalization strategy, which we introduced early on, is paying off. In 2012, we already generated more than 56.3% of our sales abroad.

67 2 To Our Shareholders

24 The SMA Group:

Business, Objectives and Strategies 67 Supplementary Report 69 Risks and Opportunities Report 82 Forecast Report

94 Notes 142 Other Information

Consolidated 86 Financial Statements Consolidated

20 Management report