EnBW continued its growth in operating earnings in the 2020 financial year and increased consolidated earnings for the fourth time in a row.

The 2020 financial year also marks the target year of the 'EnBW 2020' strategy, with which the company has been aligning itself sustainably to the opportunities of the energy transition since 2013 and has carried out a fundamental change since then.

The company not only achieved the strategic and economic goals set out in the strategy, but also exceeded them in some cases. 'After years of restructuring, EnBW has been reorganized as a company. Thanks to the continuous efforts of the entire team over the past eight years, our portfolio is consistently aligned with the requirements of the energy transition. The organization is now prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the coming years, 'explains EnBW boss Frank Mastiaux. At the same time, concrete new projects laid the foundation for further growth beyond the energy sector. 'We are coming both in our established growth fields, for example the expansion of renewable energies, and in new business fields, such as e-mobility or telecommunications

The 2020 result is also within the scope of the annual forecast of 2.75 to 2.9 billion euros. External sales were around 19.69 billion euros, an increase of 1.3 percent over the previous year (19.44 billion euros). The number of employees rose to 24,655, an increase of 5.8 percent compared to the previous year.

CFO Thomas Kusterer classifies: 'In addition to the grids, the main drivers of earnings were primarily renewable energies, in particular our two new offshore wind farms EnBW Hohe See and Albatros. In 2020, we invested almost every fourth euro of our total investment in the expansion of renewable energies, and since the start of our corporate restructuring in 2012, we have invested a total of almost five billion euros. '

Thanks to the robust business model, the corona pandemic only had a moderate impact on operational business, said Kusterer. 'Our successful portfolio restructuring is reflected in our earnings situation and thus also in our dividend development. After a challenging phase in recent years, we can now reap the fruits of our efforts. 'The company has solid internal financing and good access to the capital market. 'This is a good starting point for the implementation of our Strategy 2025, in which we want to grow and further expand our profitability,' continues Kusterer.

The adjusted consolidated net profit for the 2020 financial year fell by 104 million euros (-13.2 percent) compared to the previous year. The decrease is mainly due to the market valuation of securities. In the past financial year, EnBW thus achieved an adjusted group profit of EUR 682.8 million, allotted to EnBW AG shareholders. At this year's Annual General Meeting, it will be proposed to distribute a dividend of one euro per share.

Outlook for 2021: further earnings growth in sight

For the current financial year, EnBW expects a further slight increase in earnings. 'We are assuming that our adjusted EBITDA will probably be in a range of 2.825 to 2.975 billion euros - that corresponds to an increase of 2 to 7 percent,' said Kusterer. In the future, the previous four business segments will be divided into three business areas: For the business area 'Sustainable Generation Infrastructure' (renewable and conventional generation as well as trading) a result of between 1,375 and 1,475 million euros is expected. The 'System-Critical Infrastructure' (Networks) division remains stable and is expected to contribute around 1.3 to 1.4 billion euros to earnings.

Perspective: new growth towards 2025

Looking ahead is clearly mapped out by the EnBW 2025 strategy and the vision of a sustainable infrastructure company, according to Mastiaux. The signs point to growth: 'We want to achieve a result of more than three billion euros in 2025 and invest twelve billion euros for this by then - primarily in the further expansion of renewable energies, network and broadband business, but also in new business areas such as E-mobility, telecommunications and sustainable district development. 'Says the EnBW boss. Just a few weeks ago, EnBW and its partner bp were awarded the contract for two large areas in the Irish Sea. Here the two companies are planning to jointly develop two offshore wind farms with a total output of three gigawatts, which should go into operation from 2028.

Mastiaux: 'In the past year we have further specified our sustainable corporate strategy. The focus of a program with 25 measures is the goal of being climate-neutral by 2035 - an ambitious claim even in an industry comparison. We will cut our CO emissions in half by 2030. For the goal of a climate-neutral EnBW, we are aligning future decisions and investments and our growth even more consistently with sustainability criteria. '

Fiscal year 2020: development of the individual areas

The Adjusted EBITDA of the Sales segment for the past financial year was 335 million euros, an increase of 2.8 percent compared to the previous year. In 2020, the telecommunications company Plusnet contributed to the result for the first time all year round.

The Networks business area remained almost at the previous year's level in 2020: Adjusted EBITDA stood at 1,346.6 million euros, a decrease of -0.6 percent compared to the same period in the previous year. The increased revenues from network use have a major influence on the development of earnings, in particular due to increased investments in the security and reliability of the network's supply. This is offset by a moderate decline in earnings in the area of distribution networks, which is influenced by the effects of the corona pandemic.

In the Renewable Energies segment, the 2020 adjusted EBITDA rose significantly to EUR 835.6 million. This corresponds to a strong increase of 67.4 percent compared to the previous year. In addition, better wind conditions at the onshore wind farms in Germany and the French subsidiary Valeco contributed to the positive earnings development. The quantities of electricity supplied from the run-of-river power plants were also sold on the futures market at higher wholesale market prices than in the previous year.

The Generation and Trading segment achieved an adjusted EBITDA of 442.2 million euros in the 2020 financial year. This corresponds to an increase of 3.7 percent. Compared to the previous year, the self-generated electricity was sold at higher wholesale market prices, and trading activities also made a positive contribution to the segment's earnings.

The investments of the EnBW group in 2020 of 2.53 billion were below the level of the previous year (3.32 billion). This is mainly due to the acquisitions made in 2019 of the French wind and solar company Valeco and the Cologne telecommunications provider Plusnet, as well as the completion of the offshore wind projects. Of the total gross investments, around 68 percent went to growth projects, primarily in the areas of grid expansion and renewable energies.

Contact:

Tel: +49 721 63-255550

Email: presse@enbw.com

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