Positive earnings performance at MVV Energie

With operating earnings of Euro 246 million and sales of Euro 3.0 billion, the Mannheim-based energy company MVV Energie (WKN: A0H52F, ISIN: DE000A0H52F5) underlined its positive earnings performance in the first nine months of the current 2015/16 financial year (1 October 2015 - 30 June 2016). "We have aligned our strategy and our investments to expanding renewable energies and boosting energy efficiency, and thus towards the energy supply of the future", stressed MVV's CEO, Dr. Georg Müller, when presenting the company’s financial report in Mannheim on Friday. "This way, we have assumed a pioneering role when it comes to implementing the energy turnaround in Germany. Not only that, we have also overcome the dip in our earnings in recent years."

This earnings and sales growth - in the comparative period in the previous year operating earnings (adjusted EBIT) came to Euro 196 million and sales to Euro 2.6 billion - was driven in particular by the launch of operations at two new power plants in the UK in the course of the year and the successful renewable energies project development business, which MVV Energie recently significantly expanded with its stake in the Wörrstadt-based company Juwi AG and its takeover of Hanover-based Windwärts GmbH.

Growth has also been driven by two new biomethane plants in Saxony-Anhalt and the wind power business. Comments Dr. Müller: "We are drawing on our great expertise and our longstanding experience along the entire energy industry value chain in conjunction with strict cost and spending discipline and a consistent focus on our customers in order to further expand our competitive position and develop new business models, in some cases also in partnership with companies outside our own industry."

Earnings forecast raised

Given the positive course of business in the first nine months, MVV Energie has now also raised its earnings forecast for the 2015/16 financial year as a whole. From an operating perspective, the Mannheim-based group of companies expects to generate adjusted EBIT in a range of Euro 210 million to Euro 215 million. Due to construction and inspection work performed in the summer months, the Group traditionally posts negative earnings for the fourth quarter of its financial year. In its previous earnings forecast, MVV Energie expected to achieve year-on-year earnings growth of around 15 percent on the previous year's figure of Euro 175 million. In terms of its sales, the company still expects to generate strong growth from Euro 3.4 billion to more than Euro 4.0 billion.

Consistent with the development in adjusted EBIT, MVV Energie also posted growth in its pre-tax earnings (adjusted EBT) for the first nine months of the current financial year, in this case from Euro 169 million to Euro 198 million. Profit, i.e. adjusted net income for the period after minority interests, rose year-on-year by Euro 19 million to Euro 122 million. That corresponds to adjusted earnings per share of Euro 1.86, as against Euro 1.56 in the previous year's period. The new investments and plants have also increased the Group's workforce. With a total of 6,109 employees, the group of companies had more than 900 more employees at the end of June 2016 than twelve months earlier.

Sustainable investments in the future

MVV Energie will be maintaining its high pace of investment in future as well. Remarks Dr. Müller: "Our key growth focuses will still involve expanding renewable energies, boosting energy efficiency and combined heat and power generation in conjunction with environmentally-friendly district heating and developing new, forward-looking business models." MVV Energie invested Euro 164 million in the first nine months of the current financial year. Of this total, Euro 96 million was channelled into growth investments, while Euro 68 million was invested in modernising existing plants and grids. The Mannheim energy company intends to invest a further three billion euros in the years ahead and thus further boost its role in driving the German energy supply conversion by smartly linking renewable and conventional energies.