Dusseldorf The Düsseldorf-based energy group Uniper closes the 2022 financial year with a loss of 19.1 billion euros. The company announced this on Friday. Uniper had already presented preliminary figures at the beginning of February.
The loss is so high because Uniper has not received any natural gas from Russia since September. The company supplies several hundred municipal utilities and industrial companies in Germany with gas and now has to buy it expensively on the market.
Recently, however, gas prices have been comparatively low. On Friday, for example, the gas price on the Dutch exchange TTF was around 50 euros for one megawatt hour. Last August, it had meanwhile risen to well over 300 euros.
Therefore, Uniper’s loss is not around 40 billion euros, as originally expected, but “only” 19.1 billion. The year before – i.e. before the gas crisis – Uniper had made a profit of 1.2 billion euros.
Uniper’s operating result (adjusted EBIT) in 2022 was minus 10.9 billion euros. After all, for the 2023 financial year, Uniper expects adjusted EBIT to be above the 2022 level. Uniper still has gas supply contracts with public utilities and companies that run until 2024, which will increase the loss-making business.
Uniper meets the first EU requirements
In order to prevent Uniper from going bankrupt, the state took over 99.1 percent of the company at the turn of the year and intends to invest up to 34.5 billion euros in state aid.
In return for the massive state support, Uniper has to meet the requirements of the European Commission to compensate for competitive advantages. For example, Uniper has to sell its most modern German coal-fired power plant, Datteln 4.
Uniper has now implemented another requirement, as the company announced on Thursday. The crude oil processing and marine fuel trading business in the United Arab Emirates will be sold to a consortium of companies from the Arabian Peninsula.
A member of the ruling family of Dubai and the Montfort Group have joined forces for the purchase. A month ago, Uniper had already reached agreements to sell its stake in a gas pipeline between the UK and the Netherlands.
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