After the loss of Russian gas supplies, Uniper will have to make additional purchases in other markets. The company accumulates billions in losses and is nationalized. With the relaxation of gas prices, the additional costs are falling. The loss is apparently only half as high as recently assumed.
Thanks to the recent drop in gas prices, the energy company Uniper has made fewer losses than initially feared. The sum of the losses incurred for the 2022 financial year plus the expected future losses as of December 31, 2022 totaled 19.1 billion euros, as the nationalized group announced. Uniper had previously reported charges totaling around EUR 40 billion in the nine-month figures for the 2022 financial year. Actual losses and expected losses from gas replacement costs in the future would continue to vary significantly with changing gas prices.
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. At the end of the year, the largest German gas company was nationalized on the grounds that it was relevant to security of supply.
“The development of the gas price has a very significant impact on Uniper’s costs for current and future gas replacement procurement,” said CFO Tiina Tuomela. The extraordinarily high gas prices, especially in late summer 2022, led to an unadjusted loss of around 40 billion euros after nine months of the 2022 financial year. Due to the significant decline in the gas price, the losses already realized and those expected in the future would total around EUR 19 billion. Uniper’s earnings will also depend on the level of gas replacement procurement costs in future quarters.
For the 2022 financial year, Uniper now expects a loss before interest and taxes of around EUR 10.4 billion (previous year: profit of EUR 1.2 billion). In terms of adjusted net income, the company expects a loss of around 7 billion euros after plus 906 million euros in the previous year. Uniper intends to present the full report for the 2022 financial year on February 17.
