FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Germany’s Uniper, which secured a 15 billion euro bailout last month, reported a net loss of more than 12 billion euros ($12.2 billion) for the first half, partly blaming lower Russian gas supplies that forced it to buy at much higher prices elsewhere.
Uniper, in which Finland’s Fortum owns 78%, said the loss included 2.7 billion euros in impairments related to the cancelled Nord Stream 2 pipeline and goodwills of its Russian business Unipro.
“Uniper has, for months, been playing a crucial role in stabilizing Germany’s gas supply – at the cost of billions in losses resulting from the sharp drop in gas deliveries from Russia,” CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach said.
As part of the bailout, the government will take a 30% stake in Uniper, Germany’s largest importer of Russian gas, which was pushed to the brink of collapse since Russia started to cut gas flows via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in June.
“This will prevent a chain reaction that would do much more damage. Our top priority now is to swiftly implement the stabilization package,” Maubach said. Uniper expects the package to be approved at an extraordinary general meeting in autumn.
Uniper also said it was currently unable to give an outlook for 2022, only saying it expects a loss. Profits are forecast to improve next year and the aim is to leave the “loss zone” in early 2024, Chief Financial Officer Tiina Tuomela said.
($1=0.9821 euros)
Source:reuters