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DGAP-News: VERBUND AG / Key word(s): Half Year Results/Change in Forecast Developments in the energy market continued to be favourable for VERBUND in the first half of 2019. In particular, a sharp increase in the cost of CO2 certificates raised wholesale prices for electricity, compensating for declining prices for the primary energy sources of coal and gas. Our short-term hedging strategy has enabled us to benefit from the significant price increases in the market for wholesale electricity over the past months. The reduced cost base achieved in recent years thanks to numerous programmes to increase efficiency coupled with the further successful downsizing of the Group's debt underpins VERBUND's favourable business performance and increases the Group's strategic flexibility to take advantage of any opportunities for growth that arise. By consistently focusing on generating energy from renewable resources, especially hydropower, and on implementing line construction projects in the regulated, stable high-voltage grid, the Group has created a good, solid basis for the new future of energy. Higher prices on the futures and spot markets for wholesale electricity than in the prior-year period considerably pushed up average sales prices, making a substantial contribution to the very encouraging earnings trend. Earnings for quarters 1-2/2019 were also characterised by generation of higher volumes of electricity from hydropower and wind power, with a corresponding decrease in generation from thermal power plants. Water supply from rivers, which led to a hydro coefficient of 1.11, was 11 percent above the long-term average and 3 percentage points above the level for quarters 1-2/2018. By contrast, generation from annual storage power plants decreased by 8.6%. Generation from hydropower consequently increased by 231 GWh. A higher earnings contribution from the Grid segment thanks to higher revenue from auctioning off cross-border capacity and additional temporary revenue as well as the good results achieved through the programmes VERBUND has implemented in recent years to reduce costs and increase efficiency also had a positive impact on earnings. Revenue from flexibility products was down year-on-year, however, mainly due to reduced use of thermal power plants for congestion management. Outlook for 2019
Contact: Andreas WolleinHead of Group Finance, M&A and Investor Relations T.: +43 (0)5 03 13 - 52604 F.: +43 (0)5 03 13 - 52694 mailto:
01.08.2019 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. |
| Language: | English |
| Company: | VERBUND AG |
| Am Hof 6A | |
| 1010 Wien | |
| Austria | |
| Phone: | 0043-1-53113-52604 |
| Fax: | 0043-1-53113-52694 |
| E-mail: | |
| Internet: | |
| ISIN: | AT0000746409 |
| WKN: | 877738 |
| Indices: | ATX |
| Listed: | Foreign Exchange(s) Vienna Stock Exchange (Official Market) |
| EQS News ID: | 850119 |
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| End of News | DGAP News Service |
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850119Â Â 01.08.2019Â
