Struggling gas importer Uniper unveils record 40 billion euro net loss

FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF – Soon-to-be-nationalized gas importer Uniper unveiled a record 40 billion euro ($39.3 billion) net loss, among the biggest in German corporate history, reflecting expected future losses in the wake of Russia’s move to stop supplies.

“Our half-year numbers already indicated that this has left massive scars in our financial results,” Chief Financial Officer Tiina Tuomela said, adding an agreed stabilization package that will see Germany take over Uniper was currently being finalized.

Uniper said the net loss factored in 10 billion euros of realized losses the company incurred by replacing Russian gas volumes on the spot market at much higher prices as well as 31 billion euros of future losses related to this problem.

“We are also working intensively to restructure our gas portfolio in order to minimize risks and to end by 2024 the losses resulting from suspended Russian gas deliveries,” Tuomela said.

Among the group’s top priorities remains the planned exit from the Russian market, where it owns a 83.7-percent stake in Unipro, it said.

Shares in Uniper were down 2.2 percent in pre-market trade.

Berlin in September agreed to nationalise Uniper and take over 99 percent of Germany’s largest gas importer to make sure the company can keep buying gas and supplying the country’s industry and avoid a Lehman Brothers-style domino effect in the energy sector.

Under the agreement, Uniper has received 18 billion euros worth of credit lines from state lender KfW, 14 billion of which have been drawn down as of the end of October, it said.

($1 = 1.0187 euros)