Uniper upgrades outlook and considers state aid repayments after bailout
Bailed-out Uniper expects billions of euros in profits in 2023 as a result of more favourable than expected gas price developments and is weighing repaying part of the state aid it received from Berlin to stave off the utility’s collapse.
Shares in the company, which became the biggest casualty in Europe’s energy crisis last year, soared 20 per cent on Wednesday following the news, on hopes that Berlin could pare back its 99 per cent stake in the wake of the positive performance.
As a result of positive hedging transactions in coal- and gas-fired power generation as well as gas trading, Uniper now expects both adjusted EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) and adjusted net profit to reach a mid-single-digit billion euro sum in 2023, it said late on Tuesday.
It previously expected positive earnings, without specifying.
Uniper, in preliminary results for the first six months, also said it expects adjusted first-half EBIT of €3.7bn euros ($4.1bn) compared with its previous loss of €757m.
“These very good figures are the result of a strong operational performance in a favourable market environment,” finance chief Jutta Doenges said, adding the results gave Uniper a tailwind for the implementation of its strategy.
The company, which has so far received around €20bn in government equity and loans, said it would review its obligation to repay excess amounts under EU regulation, adding it was in talks with the German government over the matter.
In May, Uniper, which is due to report first-half results on Aug. 1, reported a first quarter net profit of €6.7bn following the release of significant provisions it made after Moscow’s move to stop gas supplies.
Its main supplier, Russia’s Gazprom last year suspended gas deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline, which was later damaged in an act of sabotage.
Reuters – Christoph Steitz