Uniper to Repay More State Aid to Germany — Update

By Christian Moess Laursen

German energy company Uniper increased its provisions to repay the state aid it received during the energy crisis, and reported a solid financial performance in the first half of the year.

The Dusseldorf-based company said Thursday that it had increased its provisions to about 3.4 billion euros ($3.71 billion) from EUR2.2 billion previously, with roughly EUR540 million added from realized claims against Russia's state-owned Gazprom Export.

In 2022, the company avoided insolvency thanks to German state support after it had to incur costs of around EUR13.2 billion to procure new gas for its customers following Russia's decision to throttle deliveries to Europe.

In June, the energy utility formally ended its longstanding agreement with Gazprom Export after a Swedish court ruled in its favor. The ruling was the conclusion of proceedings Uniper had launched in 2022 to claim compensation for gas it hadn't received from the Russian natural-gas exporter under long-term gas supply contracts.

The increased repayment is the latest step toward a return to the stock market. The company is obligated to take measures that allow the German state to sell its stock in the company before it can return to the capital market.

In addition to the Gazprom ruling, the company booked a solid financial first half of the year, further supporting the increased provisions. A week ago, Uniper lifted its full-year guidance, which it reiterated Thursday.

The company is targeting between EUR1.9 billion and EUR2.4 billion in adjusted Ebitda and between EUR1.1 billion and EUR1.5 billion in adjusted net income.

However, due to an expected difficult market environment, the company doesn't anticipate it will likely repeat this level of results in the financial years ahead, its Chief Financial Officer Jutta Donges said.

Net income for the first half fell to EUR880 million from EUR2.69 billion in the same period last year.

Its green generation unit performance was strong, reporting an increase in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and its nuclear business in Sweden benefited from improved prices and higher electricity output, Uniper said.

These offset a 39% drop in adjusted Ebitda in the flexible generation segment due to a decline in fossil-fuel prices.

Uniper confirmed a pre-released net income excluding exceptional and one-off items of EUR1.11 billion, down from EUR2.49 billion, and adjusted Ebitda of EUR1.74 billion, down from EUR4.11 billion.

Write to Christian Moess Laursen at christian.moess@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 08, 2024 03:52 ET (07:52 GMT)

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