MVV Energie meets its own targets

Following a strong 3^rd quarter (April - June 2010), the Mannheim-based energy company MVV Energie AG, which is listed in the SDAX (ISIN: DE000A0H52F5, WKN: A0H52F), has met its targets and matched the previous year's figures at the end of the first nine months of its current 2009/10 financial year (1 October 2009 - 30 June 2010). As announced by Dr. Georg Müller, CEO of MVV Energie AG, upon publication of the ninemonth results in Mannheim, the company managed to increase its sales to Euro 2.6 billion, equivalent to slight year-on-year growth of 3 percent, thanks to ongoing success in its energy trading and nationwide electricity and gas sales business with industrial and commercial customers. At Euro 251 million the company's adjusted operating earnings (Adjusted EBIT) were also marginally ahead of the previous year's figure of Euro 250 million.

These developments also benefited from cooler weather conditions in April and May 2010. Commented Dr. Müller: "By boosting our electricity, district heating and gas turnover, we successfully made up for the sharp reduction in gas prices at the beginning of 2009 and the decline in earnings in our environmental energy segment". With a view to the end of the financial year at the end of September 2010, the company has therefore also affirmed its forecast of more or less matching the previous year's figures in terms of external sales and Adjusted EBIT.

In these volatile economic times, MVV Energie can thus point to a stable earnings performance. Within the hotly contested German energy market, MVV Energie was able to increase both its nationwide electricity turnover by 8 percent to 10.2 billion kilowatt hours and its gas turnover by 10 percent to 9.1 billion kilowatt hours in the past nine months. "The fact that we managed this in the difficult macroeconomic climate shows that our strategic focus on nationwide electricity and gas sales is exactly right", added Dr. Müller.

The same also applies to the company¿s further focus on expanding renewable energies. With the recent acquisition of its first wind farm, in Plauerhagen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Mannheim energy company has taken its first major step into the high-growth wind power market. "We intend to maintain this course", commented Dr. Müller. "We aim to channel around half of the investment programme of Euro 3 billion we have announced for the period up to 2020 into generating further growth momentum." Overall, MVV Energie thus plans to raise its share of renewable energies in its own electricity generation from 19 percent currently to 30 percent by 2020.

The company also sees the further expansion of environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient district heating as making an important contribution towards improving energy efficiency. District heating expansion projects are currently underway at all of the Group's locations - from Mannheim to Kiel, Offenbach and Ingolstadt. Examples here are the construction of a new 21-kilometre district heating pipeline from Mannheim to Speyer or the feeding of surplus heat from local refineries into the district heating grid in Ingolstadt - the largest district heating project in Bavaria.

The improved performance of its electricity and district heating businesses also enabled MVV Energie to compensate for the price-driven downturns in operating earnings in its gas and environmental energy segments. Adjusted EBIT in the electricity segment thus rose year-on-year by 16 percent from Euro 38 million to Euro 44 million in the first nine months, while Adjusted EBIT in the district heating segment grew by 11 percent from Euro 62 million to Euro 69 million. Due to substantial price cuts at all of the Group's locations in early 2009, however, Adjusted EBIT in the gas business declined by 11 percent from Euro 74 million to Euro 66 million. Falling waste prices in conjunction with reduced energy revenues also led Adjusted EBIT in the environmental energy segment to drop by 9 percent from Euro 54 million to Euro 49 million.

The Group's free cash flow developed very positively in the past nine months. Driven in particular by the successful reduction in receivables, the free cash flow reached Euro +112 million in the first nine months of 2009/10, a substantial improvement on the previous year's negative figure of Euro -110 million. The number of employees at the Group has also increased. While the company had 5,926 employees at the end of June 2009, the firsttime full consolidation and complete integration of companies led to a 1 percent increase in the overall workforce to 5,997 employees by the end of June 2010.

Note: the complete financial report for the 1st half of the 2009/10 financial year can be found on the internet in the download section of our investor relations site at

www.mvv-investor.de

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