The energy company Uniper is on its knees because of the gas crisis and calls for help from the state. The utility withdrew its earnings forecast for the 2022 financial year on Wednesday evening. Business development has deteriorated noticeably as a result of the war in Ukraine and the resulting sharp reduction in gas supplies from Russia, said CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach. “That’s why we are now talking to the federal government again about stabilization measures, for which a number of instruments are possible, such as guarantees and security payments, an increase in the current credit facility and equity investments.”
Uniper was created by spinning off conventional power generation from coal and gas and global energy trading from the energy group Eon. Since March 2020, Uniper has been majority owned by the Finnish energy group Fortum. The company employs around 11,800 people in over 40 countries. About a third of the employees work in Germany.
Uniper is the largest foreign customer of the Russian gas giant Gazprom. With their gas storage facilities, the Düsseldorfers also play an important role in securing Germany’s supply in winter and in the efforts of the federal government to make Germany independent of Russian gas supplies.
“Since June 14, Uniper has only received 40 percent of its contractually guaranteed gas volumes from Gazprom,” explained CFO Tiina Tuomela. As of today, it must be assumed that adjusted EBIT and adjusted net income for the first half of 2022 will be significantly below the previous year. “This is clearly a consequence of Gazprom’s gas supply restrictions, the extent and duration of which cannot currently be foreseen. Uniper is therefore withdrawing its earnings forecast for the full year and will not be providing a new outlook for the time being. The company assumes that if it is determined and Announcement of the gas shortage by the Federal Network Agency, some of the current burdens can be passed on to customers.
Uniper already had a significantly higher liquidity requirement at the end of 2021 due to the increased prices, said Maubach. “In order to counteract this, we had already expanded our credit lines and, among other things, received a facility from the state KfW in the amount of two billion euros, which we have not used to date.” Uniper is examining how liquidity can be further secured. After hours on the Tradegate trading platform, the Uniper share lost more than five percent compared to the Xetra closing price.