Eesti Energia's third-quarter profit up 55 percent
Eesti Energia Group's third quarter sales amounted to €408 million, of which 66 percent was generated outside Estonia. The Group's normalized net profit for the third quarter was €39 million, up 55 percent year-on-year.
In the third quarter, electricity prices in the Baltic Sea region fell by 50–80 percent year-on-year, which affected the company's sales revenue which fell by 38 percent year-on-year, Eesti Energia reported.
Marlen Tamm, Eesti Energia's CFO, said that despite the decline in sales, the Group's companies operating under the Enefit brand in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are gaining significant market share and that foreign sales already account for two-thirds of its total sales.
"Our renewable energy solutions have proved particularly popular in Poland, where sales grew by 42 percent in the third quarter. Poland's share of the Group's total revenue has also grown strongly over the year, accounting for almost a quarter of the total revenue in the third quarter," Tamm explained.
"In Latvia, the number of our customers grew by more than 100,000 in the third quarter, making Enefit the second largest player in both the Latvian and Lithuanian markets after the local state-owned companies."
The Group's investments in the third quarter increased by 61 percent year-on-year to €200 euros. "Almost half of the group's investments, €82 million, were in wind and solar park investments by Enefit Green," Tamm said.
In the third quarter the Group invested €26 million in the development of the chemical industry in Ida-Viru County and €46 million through Elektrilevi in the reliability of the electricity network and the development of micro-generators.
"In the course of this year, the group has invested more than half a billion euros," Tamm said.
Due to low electricity market prices, the group's electricity production decreased by 62 percent to 569 gigawatt hours in the third quarter.
Although the output of Enefit Green's wind farms increased by almost a third, supported by the new wind farms, the Group's total renewable energy production remained at the same level as in the previous year due to a decrease in electricity production from biomass. As a result, the share of renewable energy in total electricity production increased to 52 percent.
Liquid fuel production in the third quarter decreased by 15 percent to 93,000 metric tons compared to the same period last year, due to scheduled maintenance, but sales volumes increased by 16 percent to 114,000 metric tons.
Liquid fuel sales revenue increased 23 percent to €37 million compared to the third quarter of last year.
Normalized EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, was €104 million in the third quarter, up 13 percent year-on-year. The Group's normalized net income was €39 million in the third quarter, up 55 percent year-on-year.
Eesti Energia paid a total of almost €71 million euros in taxes and environmental levies to the state in the third quarter. Of this amount, €23 million was for various direct taxes and €48 million for CO2 emission costs at market prices.
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Editor: Kristina Kersa