By Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff
FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF (Reuters) -Soon-to-be-nationalised gas importer Uniper reported a record 40 billion euro ($39.3 billion) net loss, among the biggest in German corporate history, reflecting expected future losses in the wake of Russia’s move to stop its supplies.
The nine-month loss further highlights how Russia’s decision to sever a decade-long supply relationship with Europe, most notably Germany, is impacting the continent’s energy sector, with Uniper becoming the crisis’ biggest corporate casualty so far.
Since the beginning of the year, shares in Uniper have lost 93% of their value, giving it a current market value of 1.14 billion euros, down from 15.2 billion euros at the beginning of the year.
“Our half-year numbers already indicated that this has left massive scars in our financial results,” Chief Financial Officer Tiina Tuomela said, adding that an agreed stabilisation package that will see Germany take over Uniper was currently being finalised.
Uniper said the net loss factored in 10 billion euros of realised losses the company incurred by replacing Russian gas volumes on the spot market at much higher prices as well as 31 billion euros of future losses related to this problem.
Shares in Uniper were down 3%.
Tuomela said talks were now focused how to replace a gas levy, which was cancelled at the last minute, with an instrument that will effectively pass on the massive losses to Uniper’s future owner: the German government.
At the same time, Uniper has threatened legal action against its former main supplier Gazprom and is weighing proceedings before a Swedish arbitration court to claim billions of euros in compensation.
“We are also working intensively to restructure our gas portfolio in order to minimise risks and to end by 2024 the losses resulting from suspended Russian gas deliveries,” Tuomela said.
Among the group’s top priorities remains the planned exit from the Russian market, where it owns a 83.7% stake in Unipro, it said, adding the Russian division’s recent performance had increased interest among possible buyers.
Under the agreement with Berlin, Uniper has received 18 billion euros worth of credit lines from state lender KfW, 14 billion of which have been drawn down as of the end of October, it said.
($1 = 1.0187 euros)
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Tom Kaeckenhoff; Additional reporting by Vera Eckert; editing by Maria Sheahan, Paul Carrel and Tomasz Janowski)
