Earnings for the first quarter were reported 5 per cent ahead of consensus expectations at €2.8 billion, with investors suggesting that full year earnings for 2015 might come in at the top end of Eon’s guidance of between €7-7.6 billion.
The earnings are around 9 per cent lower than for the same quarter last year and chief executive Johannes Teyssen said he does not expect the coming year to be easy.
Although the company’s thermal generation and renewables business units were hit by lower wholesale prices it said that the sales and network business of Eon’s Germany and other EU countries segments were “stable to higher”.
The company is poised to siphon off its beleaguered generation business by the beginning of next year to allow a greater focus on networks, innovation and consumers.
“We already know that 2015 won’t be easy. But the commissioning of four large new generation assets now and in the months ahead will enhance our business performance.
“The hard-coal-fired generating unit at Maasvlakte power station in Rotterdam is already producing electricity, as are Humber Gateway and Amrumbank West offshore windfarms in the UK and German North Sea. And we’re looking forward to a new, technologically advanced 800 megawatt generating unit becoming operational this summer near Krasnoyarsk, Russia,” Teyssen said.
Chief financial officer Klaus Schäfer said the company expects its full-year 2015 EBITDA to be between €7 and €7.6 billion supported by an underlying net income of between €1.4 and €1.8 billion.
“The negative trend in oil prices and exchange rates slowed in the first quarter, but we continue to anticipate adverse factors as the year moves forward. By contrast, we expect our business in Germany to improve for the year as a whole,” Schäfer said.
Late last month Eon said the spin-off company created to focus on Eon’s upstream interests will be named Uniper. Schäfer will take up the position of chief executive of Uniper and will be replaced at Eon by the chief financial officer of Siemens healthcare Michael Sen from 1 June 2015.