German energy utility Uniper posted a net income of 9.77 billion euros (10.36 billion U.S. dollars) in the first nine months of 2023, the company said on Tuesday.
The result was « strongly influenced » by significantly lower commodity prices and the release of provisions, Uniper said. In the same period in 2022, the company, which was nationalized last year in the wake of the energy crisis, recorded a massive loss of more than 40 billion euros as a result of discontinued gas supplies from Russia.
For the current and the coming year, Germany’s largest gas importer does not expect any further financial losses, due to replacement purchases of more expensive gas from the market. Further capital increases by the government will not be necessary, Uniper stressed.
Last week, the company raised its guidance for the fiscal year of 2023. It now expects « exceptionally high » adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of up to 7 billion euros, and adjusted net income of between 4 and 5 billion euros.
Meanwhile, Germany is continuing the diversification of its gas supply sources, which was initiated in 2022. Having already discussed the possibility of gas imports with countries such as Senegal last year, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Nigeria on Sunday for talks on the matter.
« German companies are interested in gas deliveries from Nigeria and look forward to cooperation with Nigerian gas companies, » Scholz told Nigerian newspaper The Punch on Sunday, underlining that the country has the « biggest gas supply in Africa. » (1 euro = 1.06 U.S. dollar)
