After being rescued by the state
Uniper makes a profit of almost ten billion euros
October 31, 2023, 11:10 a.m
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There is no longer any sign of a crisis at the energy company Uniper. The lower gas prices have brought the company record profits just over a year after nationalization.
Almost a year after being rescued by the state, the energy company Uniper is making record profits. The company announced that in the first nine months, consolidated earnings rose to 9.8 billion euros. In the same period last year, the group had to accept a loss of 40.3 billion euros. The reason for this was that Uniper had to purchase expensive replacement quantities after the Russian gas supply stoppage. This brought the entire company to the brink of bankruptcy.
But Uniper is now benefiting from significantly lower prices for securing delivery obligations and can release provisions. Uniper had already published preliminary figures last week and raised its forecast. The group is targeting adjusted EBIT in a range of six to seven billion euros and an annual net profit of between four and five billion euros for the full year. “This result and the outlook are literally extraordinary and I do not expect that we will see earnings figures of this level again in the next few years, although we are optimistic about the future,” said CFO Jutta Dönges.
The state should withdraw again
The state saved the utility from bankruptcy last year with aid worth 20 billion euros and now holds 99 percent of the shares in the Düsseldorf-based company. According to an agreement with the EU Commission, the state should reduce its shareholding to less than 25 percent by 2028.
The federal government must present an exit plan to the Brussels competition authorities by the end of the year, said Dönges. On December 8th, an extraordinary general meeting is scheduled to approve a capital cut that will pave the way for an exit. Uniper has also committed to a number of stake sales, including the Datteln 4 coal-fired power plant in North Rhine-Westphalia, which has been controversial for years.