Eon has reported a rise in first half profits from its retail arm in the UK following a huge increase in gas sales on the wholesale market.
Adjusted earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 59% to €352 million (£296 million) as its overall sales swelled by 64% to €12.8 billion (£10.7 billion).
The business sold a total of 78.4 billion kWh of gas in the six months to the end of June, compared to 48.6 billion kWh during the same period in 2021.
Eon said the increase was primarily due to higher sales on the wholesale market, which jumped almost five-fold from 8.8 billion kWh to 43.2 billion kWh due to “weather-related reselling and the optimisation of the procurement portfolio.” This was more than the amount sold to all retail customers and partners during the period (35.2 billion kWh).
For comparison, gas sales by the business totalled 111.4 billion kWh over the whole of 2021, comprising 70.4 billion kWh of sales to retail customers and partners and 41 billion kWh of sales on the wholesale market.
Eon said cost savings from the ongoing restructuring of its retail division in the UK also contributed to its strong performance.
Despite seeing a 60% jump in sales to €52.8 billion, adjusted EBITDA across the entire Eon group dropped by 15% to around €4.1 billion. The company took a €700 million write down on the value of its 15.5% stake in the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.
Commenting on the results, Eon chief executive Leonhard Birnbaum said: “Eon is living up it to its responsibilities. We’re helping Germany and our European markets respond to the extraordinary crisis in the short term and also working to establish long-term energy security by accelerating the energy transition.
“Our crisis management has enabled us to deliver solid half-year results. We again reaffirm our forecast for full year 2022.”
He added: “Our business model puts us in the right position, particularly in the current tense situation.
“This has enabled us to systematically pursue our course even in recent months, as our first-half results confirm.
“Despite the ongoing crisis, we’re keeping our promises, from both an operating and financial perspective.”
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