Due to the lack of gas deliveries from Russia, several gas companies in Germany are in financial difficulties. However, the struggling gas subsidiary VNG escapes nationalization. The losses from the replacement procurement are to be compensated.
The energy group EnBW says it is about to reach an agreement with the federal government on partial compensation for the subsidiary VNG, which was badly hit by the Russian gas supply freeze. "I would hope that it would be days rather than weeks," CFO Thomas Kusterer said in a conference call with journalists. The Karlsruhe group does not assume that VNG will be nationalized. He doesn't expect the state to participate in the Leipzig gas company at all. It's about compensation, he later added to analysts.
"The talks are still ongoing. We are not taking part in speculation," said a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics. The EnBW subsidiary is making high losses because it has to procure expensive replacements for the missing gas deliveries from Russia. Kusterer put the resulting burdens at 1.2 billion euros for the whole of 2022. VNG, in which EnBW holds around 74 percent, is one of the largest German gas importers alongside the Uniper group, which is about to be nationalized.
However, Uniper's losses are much greater: the Düsseldorf-based company made a deficit of around 40 billion euros in the first nine months. In September, VNG applied to the state for stabilization assistance. The Leipzig company was originally supposed to be helped by the planned gas levy, which was withdrawn by the federal government.
EnBW has made progress with the partial sale of the electricity grid subsidiary TransnetBW. "The process is going well. We are very satisfied with the interest shown in this minority interest," said Kusterer. He expects the sales process to be completed early next year.
In August, EnBW announced that it would offer two separate minority interests of 24.95 percent each via an intermediate company that was yet to be established. It was agreed with the state-owned KfW that it would not take part directly in the bidding process. You should get a right of first refusal on one of the two minority shares. For 2022, the supplier had to trim its targets. EnBW now expects an operating profit (Adjusted Ebitda) of 2.7 to 2.9 billion euros instead of the previously expected 3.03 to 3.18 billion euros.
In the fourth quarter, EnBW expects significantly higher expenses for grid stability when using reserve power plants. Added to this would be the losses of VNG. In the first nine months, the utility was able to keep the operating result roughly stable at around 1.97 billion euros. The consolidated surplus shrank to 163 million euros after 363 million in the same period of the previous year.
