As of: March 27, 2024, 5:09 a.m
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Flags with the logo of the energy company Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW), taken at the company headquarters.
© Uli Deck/dpa
Purely based on the numbers, things are going well at EnBW.
How good will become clear with the annual balance sheet.
But it's not just behind the scenes that the recent sudden change in boss could overshadow the presentation.
Karlsruhe/Stuttgart - According to the forecast, the Karlsruhe energy group EnBW could have increased its earnings by more than half last year compared to 2022.
Germany's third-largest utility had stated its expected adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (adjusted Ebitda) at up to 6.5 billion euros after evaluating the nine-month figures.
The previous year the value was 3.97 billion euros.
The new CEO Georg Stamatelopoulos, who took over the company's helm after the surprising departure of Andreas Schell less than three weeks ago, will be in charge of presenting the figures on Wednesday (10:30 a.m.) in Stuttgart.
Consequences of the energy crisis
When publishing its figures for the third quarter, EnBW attributed the strong year-on-year increases primarily to the “Sustainable Generation Infrastructure” segment, which Stamatelopoulos has previously been responsible for.
EnBW announced in November that results had developed particularly positively in thermal power generation - for example from coal and gas.
The fact that the previous year 2022 was characterized by the energy crisis as a result of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine also plays a role.
Chief Financial Officer Thomas Kusterer has recently repeatedly emphasized that the group is investing a lot of money in the expansion of renewable energies, the network and charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and climate-friendly production.
There is talk of an average of 4.5 billion euros per year.
The largest part of this, around 80 percent, is invested in Germany.
What strategy does the new boss have?
Beyond the numbers, the topic at the press conference will probably be whether EnBW will stick to the early exit from coal in 2028 that was announced last year.
And of course the sudden change in the executive chair of the group with around 5.5 million customers and, most recently, more than 28,000 employees.
According to information, Schell left the company at the end of March 8th in a dispute with the supervisory board over the further course.
He only took up the top job in November 2022, in the midst of the energy crisis - with a contract term of actually three years.
The chairman of the supervisory board, Lutz Feldmann, praised the team spirit and expertise of his successor in a statement.
Stamatelopoulos was “extremely successful” in driving forward the restructuring of generation over almost 15 years at EnBW in various positions.
EnBW has been largely owned by the public sector since 2011.
The state of Baden-Württemberg and the OEW association of nine Upper Swabian districts each hold almost 47 percent of the group.
dpa