Energy industry
Uniper makes the first repayment: 530 million euros
Many billions of euros were necessary in 2022 so that the energy giant Uniper does not collapse. Now the company has started repayment. Further payments are planned for the spring.
The energy company Uniper, which was saved in the energy crisis with billions in aid, has made its first repayment to the German state. Uniper announced in Düsseldorf when it presented its quarterly figures that 530 million euros had been paid at the end of September. Uniper withheld the money in August 2022 as part of the gas dispute with the Russian gas company Gazprom, when it stopped supplying gas.
Uniper got into trouble in 2022 because Russia first reduced and then stopped its gas deliveries after the attack on Ukraine. The replacement purchases cost billions. To ensure that Uniper did not collapse, Germany paid aid of around 13.5 billion euros and became the majority owner with over 99 percent. The federal government is obliged to reduce its stake to a maximum of 25 percent plus one share by 2028 at the latest.
2.5 billion euros for repayment to Germany in spring 2025
The aid was approved by the EU Commission subject to numerous conditions. Uniper is obliged to pay back the excess amount to the federal government once it reaches a certain level of equity capital. The company had already set aside reserves for this at the end of 2023. They were valued at just under 2.5 billion euros at the end of September 2024, it was said. Uniper wants to determine the exact amount of the payment obligation once the annual figures are available. “The funds are expected to flow to the Federal Republic of Germany at the beginning of 2025,” the energy company confirmed earlier information.
“Both payments are to be viewed as repayments to the German taxpayer,” the company said. It is to be expected that Germany will generate further proceeds primarily from the sale of its Uniper shares. The Federal Ministry of Finance declared in September that Uniper should come back into private hands, primarily through share sales on the capital market.
Uniper is one of the largest energy companies in the country. The company is Germany’s largest gas trader: it supplies more than 1,000 municipal utilities and large industrial companies. In Germany and other European countries, the company also operates many power plants that generate electricity from gas, coal, hydropower, nuclear power and oil. Investments in further renewable energies and hydrogen-capable gas power plants are planned.
Uniper is also Germany’s largest natural gas storage operator. Uniper also wants to invest in hydrogen storage. Uniper does not supply private customers with the exception of district heating. At the end of September, the group employed almost 7,400 people.
Uniper confirms its profit target for 2024: 1.1 to 1.5 billion euros
Uniper earned just under 1.3 billion euros from electricity generation and gas trading in the first nine months. As expected, the adjusted net result was significantly below the previous year’s figure of 3.7 billion euros, it said.
The reasons for the high profit in 2023 were, among other things, high trading profits and low prices for gas procurement. The company confirmed its full-year outlook. Accordingly, Uniper expects a bottom line profit of between 1.1 billion and 1.5 billion euros for 2024.
The company’s operational development was stable in an increasingly normalized market environment, said CFO Jutta Dönges. The outlook for 2024 was therefore confirmed. “Overall, this is a positive development – even if this level of results will not be repeatable in the coming years.”
She emphasized that Uniper is making progress in becoming a “greener” company. “Almost 50 percent of the amount of electricity we have produced so far in 2024 is CO2-free, and we are consistently implementing the coal phase-out.” Uniper wants to be completely CO2 neutral by 2040.
dpa
Source: Stern
