MVV: Turning climate protection into business success

“25 years ago, on 2 March 1999, MVV’s shares celebrated their debut on the stock markets in Frankfurt and Stuttgart. With distributions totalling Euro 1.34 billion, MVV’s shares have been a stable capital investment offering a competitive return for a quarter of a century now. This success also shows how the stock market flotation actually mobilised fresh momentum and ideas throughout the company on an ongoing basis”, commented Dr. Georg Müller, CEO of MVV Energie AG, at this year’s Annual General Meeting of the energy company held at the Rosengarten Congress Center in Mannheim on Friday. He thus reminded shareholders of the company’s successful IPO 25 years ago. At the time, MVV was the first municipal energy supplier to venture onto the trading floor.

Seize potential offered by energy transition and extend legal framework

The energy transition is another area in which MVV acted early to adopt a pioneering role. The current debate surrounding the situation and mood in Germany was also impacting on the energy transition. The CEO urged: “The more we manage to do our homework within society as a whole, then the greater the success of the energy transition will be. That does not just involve acceptance, it means we have to draw on the more far-reaching potential offered by the energy transition to make our economy and society fit for the future. We will always have to readjust the balance between supply reliability, economic viability and environmental justice.”

In this context, Dr. Müller also referred to the debate surrounding the fundamental values underpinning a free society. Here, not only the state, but each and every individual was called on to act: “Our democracy allows for tough debate, but is also resilient. Our workforce, employee representatives, Supervisory Board and Executive Board are unreservedly committed to values such as tolerance and respect. There is no place for anything else at MVV”.

He attested that the Federal Government had launched numerous projects and initiatives that had not been addressed in previous years, or only to an inadequate extent. Examples here included the extensive improvements for wind and solar power and the legislation for the heat transition, and here in particular the German Municipal Heat Planning Act and the German Building Energy Act despite the unfortunate political debate initially surrounding the legislative process. Much nevertheless remained to be done. Dr. Müller: “The Federal Government has to introduce further measures to accelerate wind and solar power and create a clear framework for the future of gas grids, that in future will either be used for hydrogen or decommissioned. Furthermore, to safeguard supply reliability the Federal Government’s power plant strategy will have to take shape swiftly. After all, the time available to add the necessary power plant capacities is shrinking ever further. Similarly urgent is the creation of a robust framework for capturing, using and storing CO₂ from unavoidable emissions.”

Greater tempo for energy transition thanks to enhanced Mannheim Model

The updating of MVV’s #climatepositive strategy provides visible proof of the company’s activities to promote the energy transition. With this strategy, the company aims to reach a positive climate balance sheet by 2035 already, five years earlier than originally planned. “In the years ahead, we will expend up to Euro 7 billion in total for green growth. We are doing this not despite, but precisely because of the challenges currently facing the overall economy and the energy industry”, stressed the CEO.

MVV is consistently pressing ahead with its climate protection targets across all components of the Mannheim Model. To turn the heat transition into reality, MVV is making the district heat supply in Mannheim, the surrounding region and Offenbach 100 % green by 2030, with Kiel, and thus the whole of the Group, set to follow by 2035. In addition, MVV is increasing the density of its district heat grid and further expanding its range of decentralised heat solutions. Dr. Müller: “The heat transition calls for a collective effort from the whole city: private households, businesses, industry, trade firms, the city administration and MVV. We all have to tackle this task together. We all have to take responsibility.” For the electricity transition, the energy company has set itself the target of reaching around 2,000 megawatts of green generation by 2030. And in its customer solutions, by 2035 MVV will exclusively offer climate-neutral products and services.

In addition, by operating #climatepositive plants the energy company will actively remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and then bind, use or store this on a permanent basis. This way, MVV will not only offset its own unavoidable residual emissions but, thanks to the volumes additionally removed, reach negative total emissions and thus become #climatepositive by 2035.

“As a company, MVV will look different in the next decade compared with today. And it will be even more resilient”. That is how the CEO summarised MVV’s prospects for the future.

MVV shares: a stable capital investment for 25 years

Most recently in the 2023 financial year, MVV again successfully seized the opportunities offered by its course towards climate positivity and its broad-based business portfolio. With regard to its dividend, MVV is adhering to its principle of basing its dividend policy on continuity and its operating earnings performance. In view of this, the Executive and Supervisory Boards are proposing to the Annual General Meeting that the regular dividend should be increased by Euro 0.10 per share to Euro 1.15 per share. To mark MVV’s 150^th anniversary in 2023 and given the exceptional earnings performance in the 2023 financial year, the management is also proposing to distribute a one-off special dividend of Euro 0.30 per share. Moreover, as the CEO added: “Since its IPO in 1999, MVV has distributed a dividend every single year and not once reduced the amount of dividend paid.”

Outlook for 2024 confirmed: higher earnings base

MVV also posted a good start to the current 2024 financial year, with adjusted EBIT of Euro 124 million in the first quarter (1 October 2023 – 31 December 2023). The company has therefore confirmed its forecast. “From an operating perspective, we still expect our adjusted EBIT excluding disposal gains for the 2024 financial year to be within +/– 10 percent of Euro 400 million. In the 2024 financial year, MVV will thus achieve the higher level of earnings it has planned compared with long-term figures”, commented Dr. Müller. MVV will in future retain its hallmark of turning climate protection into business success.