Status: 03.11.2022 10:17 a.m
The tumbling energy group Uniper has made a record loss of around 40 billion euros – one of the largest net losses ever reported by a listed company worldwide.
The gas supplier Uniper, which is about to be nationalized, reported a consolidated loss of around 40 billion for the first nine months of the current financial year. This amount includes around ten billion euros in realized costs for the procurement of gas replacement quantities, as Germany’s largest gas importer announced today.
In addition, expected future losses from valuation effects on derivatives and the formation of provisions in connection with the Russian gas cuts amounting to 31 billion euros have been taken into account.
Net debt increased massively
The economic net debt increased significantly compared to the same period of the previous year from 324 million euros to 10.906 billion euros. Uniper had already presented some preliminary figures last week and warned of further burdens in the tens of billions. In addition, the company has already consumed more than half of its share capital.
The company does not dare to make a concrete earnings forecast for the current financial year given the great uncertainty regarding the gas volumes actually received in the future and the costs for any replacement purchases. The group was extremely vague, expecting adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and adjusted net income “which are clearly negative and well below the previous year”.
Central role for natural gas supply
The gas wholesaler is a supplier to over 100 municipal utilities and large companies and thus plays a central role in Germany’s natural gas supply. Uniper has been hit hard by Russia’s delivery failures. The group has to buy the missing quantities on the expensive spot market with high losses in order to meet its own delivery obligations, and therefore got into financial difficulties.
“In order to ensure security of supply for customers, Uniper has been buying gas quantities at significantly higher prices for some time and, as is well known, has accumulated considerable losses as a result, because the gas replacement procurement costs are not passed on to consumers,” explained CFO Tiina Tuomela today when the nine-month report was presented -Counting.
Coordination with the federal government in the final phase
According to the company, coordination with the federal government for the stabilization package is now in the final phase. More than a month ago, the federal government, Uniper and its previous majority shareholder Fortum from Finland agreed on the extensive nationalization of Uniper.
Among other things, a capital increase and the acquisition of the Uniper shares from Fortum are planned. The federal government should then own around 98.5 percent of the shares in Uniper. Shareholders are expected to vote at an extraordinary general meeting in the second half of December. The EU Commission still has to approve the nationalization.
Uniper share down by numbers
In response to the numbers in early trading, Uniper shares fell by up to 3.9 percent to EUR 3.03, making it one of the big losers in the SDAX index of small stocks. In the year to date, the share has already lost more than 90 percent of its value. It hit its record low of EUR 2.55 in September.