Uniper sinks to $12.5bn loss in H1 22
Uniper revealed August 17 it had churned a €12.4bn ($12.6bn) net loss in a first-half period that saw it forced to seek a bail-out anchored by the German government.
The result, which towers over the €20mn net loss Uniper suffered last year, reflects €6.5bn in write-downs booked in "anticipation" of gas curtailments, largely on Gazprom's downscaled Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline throughput from Russia to Germany. Berlin and Uniper's Finnish majority shareholder Fortum on July 22 finally agreed €15bn of equity funding, convertibles and credit, in the largest corporate bailout in German history.
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Klaus Dieter Maubach, CEO of Uniper, said: "Uniper has for months been playing a crucial role in stabilising Germany’s gas supply – at the cost of billions in losses resulting from the sharp drop in gas deliveries from Russia. The German federal government recognised this and took decisive action.
"On July 22, the federal government, Uniper, and Fortum agreed to a package of measures to stabilise Uniper. This will prevent a chain reaction that would do much more damage. Our top priority now is to swiftly implement the stabilisation package.”
Aside from the ongoing Russian gas predicament, Uniper saw adjusted EBITDA fall only slightly, from €580mn in the year ago period to €564mn in H1 2022. However net debt soared from €327mn to €2bn due to negative cash flow and reduced Russian gas deliveries. The net results also reflect €2.7bn written off on loans to Gazprom's Nord Stream 2 project, which has stalled in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
Uniper's global commodities, European energy generation and Russian power generation segments all saw revenues decline, as high commodity prices on spot markets, including natural gas, and exceptional conditions at key assets, cut deep into the Finnish-German utility's margins.