CORRECTED - UPDATE 2-Solar star Q-Cells warns on sales, sector shares hit
(Corrects year-earlier sales figure in paragraph 12 to 310 million euros from 580 million and year-earlier profit before interest and tax figure in paragraph 13 to 60 million euros from 119 million)
* Q2 sales of 142 mln eur vs 225 mln in Q1
* Q2 EBIT loss of 62 mln eur; says market still difficult
* Sees tough H2 2009, pricing pressure to continue -CFO
* Shares down 11.4 pct, other German solar stocks fall (Recasts, adds CFO comments, analyst quotes)
FRANKFURT, July 14 (Reuters) - Q-Cells SE (QCEG.DE), the world's biggest maker of solar cells, withdrew its full-year sales outlook and said it saw no signs of an upturn in its market outlook, sending shares across the sector lower.
Along with peers in the once-booming industry, Q-Cells has been hit by a steep decline in prices for solar cells, mainly caused by an oversupply that built up during the boom years of 2007 and 2008.
The funding-hungry sector has also been hurt by the global credit squeeze, making refinancing difficult.
"The prolonged weak development of the global photovoltaic markets has continued to negatively impact the business development of Q-Cells SE in the second quarter," the company said as it released second-quarter results.
Q-Cells, which in May slashed its 2009 sales outlook for the third time since September, said it no longer expects sales to reach 1.3-1.6 billion euros ($1.81-2.23 billion), adding that it is was not possible to make a reliable forecast now.
Shares in German solar stocks fell on the news, with Q-Cells leading the pack, down 11.4 percent, while peers SolarWorld SVWG.DE, Solon (SOOG.DE), and Phoenix Solar (PS4G.DE) were all down 2.2 to 4.1 percent.
Shares in Norwegian peer Renewable Energy Corp (REC) -- in which Q-Cells sold its 17.2 percent stake in May -- also fell, shedding 2.6 percent after it said a recent rights issue was 60 percent oversubscribed. [ID:nLD713419]
"The (Q-Cells) numbers are a huge disappointment. After the departure of CFO Schuening a few weeks ago, the company strongly denied that this had something to do with weak Q2 results," DZ Bank analyst Sven Kuerten wrote in a note.
