Germany’s largest gas wholesaler Uniper expects significantly lower losses than recently assumed. According to preliminary figures, losses from gas replacement procurement costs for the 2022 financial year amounted to 13.2 billion euros, the company announced in Düsseldorf.
In addition, there would be expected future losses due to ongoing gas replacement procurement costs of around 5.9 billion euros, making a total of around 19.1 billion euros. At the beginning of November, the recently nationalized group put this value at around 40 billion euros.
The costs arose after Russia initially delivered less and then no more pipeline gas to Germany last year. Since then, Uniper has been buying natural gas on other markets at significantly higher prices so that it can continue to supply industrial companies and more than 500 municipal utilities with gas.
Uniper stressed that actual losses and expected losses from gas replacement procurement costs would continue to fluctuate significantly in the future with changing gas prices.
Earnings dependent on the amount of replacement gas procurement costs
“The level of losses expected in the future is essentially based on the gas prices at the time of the assessment,” explained Uniper CFO Tiina Tuomela. Due to the significant drop in the gas price at the end of 2022, the expected losses for future gas replacement procurement costs could have been reduced from around 30 billion euros to around 5.9 billion euros. “Uniper’s earnings will also depend on the level of gas replacement procurement costs in future quarters.” These costs in turn depended to a large extent on the price of gas.
For the 2022 financial year, a loss before interest and taxes of around 10.4 billion euros is now expected (2021: plus 1.2 billion euros). In terms of adjusted net income, the company expects a loss of around EUR 7 billion after a profit of EUR 906 million in the previous year. Uniper intends to publish exact figures on February 17.
