Oldenburg, 26 September 2024 The Oldenburg-based energy and telecommunications service provider EWE has once again increased its investment activity: After investing twice as much as in the previous year in the 2023 financial year, the majority municipal company has now increased its investment activity in the first half of the 2024 financial year by a further 10.8 per cent to EUR 438.5 million (H1 2023: EUR 395.8 million). CEO Stefan Dohler explains: ‘We are working hard to ensure that our region leads the way in building a climate-neutral and more digitalised energy system and benefits early on from the positive effects for the economy, municipalities, and society. The increase in our investments is the necessary and logical consequence. The funds are currently flowing primarily into onshore wind energy projects of our Alterric joint venture, the necessary expansion of the electricity grids at distribution grid level, the initial implementation of our ‘Clean Hydrogen Coastline’ hydrogen programme with electrolysis and large-scale storage facilities at locations that are beneficial to the system and the rapid expansion of the charging infrastructure for electromobility via our subsidiary EWE Go.’
As of 30 June of the current financial year, EWE recorded a 19.4 per cent year-on-year decline in consolidated sales to € 4,495.1 million (2023: € 5,578.5 million). Falling market prices for energy led to a corresponding decline. As expected, operating EBIT, the key figure for the operating business adjusted for special items, halved to EUR 380.6 million in this period (H1 2023: EUR 775.9 million). ‘Overall, we experienced a normalisation in the market in the first half of the year, meaning that one-off effects from the previous year no longer apply. The decline in operating EBIT therefore comes as no surprise, but as we predicted when we presented the balance sheet in April.’ The Group's profit for the period increased year-on-year from EUR -255.0 million to EUR 549.6 million. The increase is partly due to the normalisation of the valuation of derivatives as at the reporting date - in the previous year, unusually high balance sheet losses were posted here in the aftermath of the energy crisis, but these did not affect the cash flow.
EWE invests even more in climate protection and digitalisation
• Energy and telecommunications service provider presents half-year report
• Increases in investments and consolidated net profit for the period
• Sales and operating EBIT down
Studies show how important it is to locate flexible large-scale consumers in a way that benefits the system. These include electrolysers. The increasing number of interventions in the electricity grid (redispatch) necessitated by grid bottlenecks is leading to growing financial burdens for consumers and at the same time reducing acceptance of the energy transition. However, a system-beneficial, i.e. above all grid-relieving, location of flexible demand can reduce the curtailment of renewable electricity and lower overall system costs. One example of this is the electrolyser planned by EWE at a regional energy feed-in hub in Emden. ‘Such system-beneficial projects enable savings that benefit consumers nationwide,’ says Dohler, explaining a key finding of the studies. In contrast, non-system-supporting locations could exacerbate grid bottlenecks and cost burdens. ‘The regulatory framework should be adapted accordingly, and incentives created to promote projects at locations that are beneficial to the system. In our opinion, this includes the permanent extension of the grid fee exemption for such projects, a standardised nationwide regulation on the levying of construction cost subsidies and the consideration of electricity grid relief in the definition of system usefulness, for example in the context of consultations on the Offshore Wind Energy Act (WindSeeG),’ says Dohler.
‘In light of the ongoing stabilisation of the energy markets, we are maintaining our forecast for the Group for the 2024 financial year,’ Dohler confirmed. ‘Overall, we continue to expect operating EBIT to develop at the upper end of the earnings corridor specified in the 2023 Group management report. We will continue to consistently drive forward the implementation of our growth strategy.’
Renewable Energies:
Sales € 173.4 million (first half of 2023: € 200.7 million)
Operating EBIT 29.6 million euros (29.8 million euros)
Infrastructure:
Sales 523.4 million euros (537.1 million euros)
Operating EBIT 210.4 million euros (182.4 million euros)
Market:
Sales 2,789.8 million euros (3,677.3 million euros)
Operating EBIT 62.3 million euros (524.4 million euros)
swb:
Sales 838.6 million euros (893.2 million euros)
Operating EBIT 107.9 million euros (78.7 million euros)
Other:
Sales 169.1 million euros (269.4 million euros)
Operating EBIT 6.2 million euros (-14.5 million euros)
Group Central Division:
This division only generates a small amount of sales revenue. Operating EBIT totalled EUR -35.8 million (EUR -24.9 million). This results from the holding function of EWE AG and the other shareholdings allocated to it.
Further information
The half-year financial report 2024 is available at www.ewe.com/investor-relations/publications
