German profits further bolster Vattenfall Group nine-month results
While Swedish energy group Vattenfall results for the nine-month period to the end of September 2004 showed a 1% drop in sales to SEK 80.96 billion (EUR 8.97billion) on the same quarter of 2003, net profit after tax increased a massive 50% on the year to SEK 8.56 billion (EUR 949 million) for the period.
The the energy group’s total turnover was buoyed by Vattenfall’s German operation Vattenfall Europe, which saw sales rise 2.3% in the nine-month period to SEK 47.40 billion, with profit increasing 11.2% to SEK 5.15 billion. The company’s Polish business more than doubled its operating profits in the first three quarters of 2004 to SEK 438 million, net sales for Poland were down 7.9% year-on-year to SEK 5.30 billion.
Operating profit for the group also increased in the nine-month period, up 28% on the previous year to SEK 14.17 billion, despite lower electricity prices in the Nordic countries leading to a decrease in net sales during the first quarter. During the second and third quarters, however, sales increased again as volumes rose due to higher availability in generation, Vattenfall said in a statement.
The company attributed a strong cash flow to the 11.9% reduction in debt to SEK 57.85 billion up to 30th September, although the company also commented that cash flow had been negatively affected by tax payments of SEK 2 billion paid to the German government.
Power sales across Europe total 151.7 TWh, an increase of 2.1 TWh on the corresponding period in 2003. Sweden accounted for 32.7 TWh of the total, while the German market accounted for 60.3 TWh and Poland 8.8 TWh. Vattenfall also pointed to an increase in the percentage of electricity generated by nuclear power in 2004 to 37.5% from 35.8%, while hydropower accounted for 19.9% of generation. Accordingly, power generated by carbon emitting fossil fuels was reduced by 3.5 percentage points to 42.6% by the end of September 2004.
In its outlook for the coming years Vattenfall repeated its goal to become one of Europe’s leading energy companies promising: “work will be focused on five strategic ambitions…namely continued profitable growth, being the benchmark of the energy industry, becoming number one for the customer and environment and being the employer of choice,” said Lars Josefsson, company c.e.o. FF
Other Related Stories
