DGAP-News: E.ON SE / Key word(s): Preliminary Results/Forecast
E.ON SE: E.ON meets expectations for 2012 and adjusts 2013 forecast to
reflect altered business environment
30.01.2013 / 12:00
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E.ON meets expectations for 2012 and adjusts 2013 forecast to reflect
altered business environment
*2012 EBITDA expected to be EUR10.8 billion, in line with forecast
*Dividend of EUR1.10 per share for 2012 financial year confirmed
*2013 forecast: EBITDA expected to be EUR9.2 - EUR9.8 billion,
underlying net income EUR2.2 - EUR2.6 billion
E.ON SE, Düsseldorf, today presented information about its main 2012
earnings figures and its revised 2013 forecast. CEO Dr. Johannes Teyssen
and CFO Dr. Marcus Schenck also explains what consequences the radical
changes in Europe's power generation business will have on E.ON's strategy.
In addition, Teyssen announced that the company would focus its investments
even more strictly on its growth businesses: distributed energy,
renewables, and markets outside Europe.
On the basis of preliminary, unaudited numbers, E.ON expects its 2012
EBITDA to be EUR10.8 billion, a 16-percent increase from the prior-year
figure of EUR9.3 billion. In part, the increase reflects non-recurring
effects, such as the successful renegotiation of gas procurement contracts
with producers and the absence of the adverse impact of Germany's amended
Nuclear Energy Act recorded in 2011. Preliminary earnings are therefore in
line with the forecast of EUR10.4 to EUR11 billion.
E.ON's underlying net income is also higher, rising from EUR2.5 billion in
2011 to an expected level of about EUR4.3 billion in 2012. This increase is
slightly more than with EBITDA mainly because of lower amortization charges
and lower interest expenses. This earnings figure is also expected to be in
line with E.ON's 2012 forecast of EUR4.1 to EUR4.5 billion.
This yields underlying earnings per share of about EUR2.2. As planned, E.ON
will therefore recommend to its Annual Shareholders Meeting in May that the
company pay out a dividend of EUR1.10 per share.
Owing to the significant deterioration of the business environment of
Europe's energy industry, E.ON announced last November that it was revising
its 2013 earnings forecast. E.ON now expects its 2013 EBITDA to be between
EUR9.2 and EUR9.8 billion. This forecast is already adjusted for the
substantial earnings streams that E.ON will lose through its ongoing
divestment program. The other main earnings factors will be the midstream
gas business's return to a normal earnings level and the generation
business's reduced profitability.
E.ON expects its 2013 underlying net income to be between EUR2.2 and EUR2.6
billion. This is due to the above-mentioned EBITDA factors along with a
normalization of the economic interest result and an expected higher tax
rate.
As announced in November, going forward E.ON will no longer have an
absolute dividend target but instead return to a target payout ratio, which
will again be 50 to 60 percent of underlying net income.
E.ON also explained that because of the radical changes in Europe's energy
industry the company will implement its strategy even more swiftly and
decisively and adjust parts of it. The unmanaged growth of renewables and
the resulting collapse of the EU emissions trading scheme are making in
particular gas-fired power plants in Europe-which had already been hit by
the recession-driven decline in power demand-largely uneconomic to operate.
There must be adequate compensation for maintaining this capacity, which
ensures the reliability of the power supply. E.ON will restructure its
conventional generation business in ways that will swiftly improve the
competitiveness of its generation fleet. Along with further cost reductions
and efficiency improvements, E.ON is studying whether to close power plants
in Europe.
In addition, E.ON announced that during its transformation phase it will
focus its investments, which on balance will decline going forward, even
more strictly on its growth businesses. These include, in particular,
distributed generation (a business E.ON intends to expand rapidly),
renewables, and markets outside Europe, such as Russia and Turkey. Teyssen
made clear that he intends to make E.ON's transformation to be even faster
and more decisive and to rapidly increase growth businesses' share of the
company's earnings.
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This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current
assumptions and forecasts made by E.ON Group management and other
information currently available to E.ON. Various known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between
the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance
of the company and the estimates given here. E.ON SE does not intend, and
does not assume any liability whatsoever, to update these forward-looking
statements or to conform them to future events or developments.
End of Corporate News
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Language: English
Company: E.ON SE
E.ON-Platz 1
40479 Düsseldorf
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)211 4579-0
Fax: +49 (0)211 45 79-5 01
E-mail: investorrelations@eon.com
Internet: www.eon.com
ISIN: DE000ENAG999
WKN: ENAG99
Indices: DAX, EURO STOXX 50
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt (Prime
Standard), Hamburg, Hannover, München, Stuttgart;
Terminbörse EUREX; Mailand
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DGAP-News: E.ON SE: E.ON meets expectations for 2012 and adjusts 2013 forecast to reflect altered business environment
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