FRANKFURT (Reuters) -EnBW on Friday said it expected a 1.18 billion euro ($1.21 billion) hit to its core profit in 2022, citing costs related to replacing Russian gas supplies that also led the German utility to cut its outlook.
EnBW’s gas import division VNG in September applied for state aid, having been hit by the costs to offset a complete halt in gas flows from Moscow that has caused Berlin to agree to nationalise larger peer Uniper.
“In the event that the German government provides compensation for the cancelled gas surcharge or if gas prices fall further, there is a significant opportunity that some of the accounting provisions can be reversed again,” EnBW said in its nine-month report.
The company said it now expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to fall by 2%-9% to 2.7 billion euros to 2.9 billion euros ($2.75-$2.95 billion).
It had previously expected a rise of 2%-7%.
The lowered outlook was also due to uncertainty around outstanding details of a planned windfall tax in Germany, EnBW said.
($1 = 0.9759 euros)
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Miranda Murray)
