German utility RWE AG reported Thursday sharply lower profit in its fiscal 2023 with weak revenues, while adjusted EBIT and EBITDA, key earnings metrics, were higher. Further, the company announced higher dividend, and said it maintains fiscal 2024 earnings view, but now sees at the lower end of the range.
In Germany, RWE shares were gaining around 3.5 percent to trade at 32.85 euros.
Michael Muller, CFO of RWE AG, said, “We confirm today the outlook for fiscal 2024 that we communicated at our Capital Markets Day. Due to the recent significant drop in power prices on the European wholesale markets, we expect a figure at the lower end of the forecast range.”
RWE confirmed its dividend target of 1.00 euro per share for fiscal 2023, higher than last year’s 0.90 euro.
The company also plans to raise its dividend for fiscal 2024 to 1.10 euros per share.
Looking ahead for fiscal 2024, RWE said it expects that it will not be able to match the very good earnings achieved in 2023. The company maintained its outlook range, but now expects to reach earnings at the lower end of the forecast range due to drop in power prices.
For fiscal 2024, RWE still expects adjusted net income of 1.90 billion euros to 2.40 billion euros. Adjusted EBIT would be 3.20 billion euros to 3.80 billion euros. RWE Group’s adjusted EBITDA would be 5.20 billion euros to 5.80 billion euros.
In fiscal 2023, net income attributable to shareholders fell to 1.45 billion euros from last year’s 2.72 billion euros. Earnings per share declined to 1.95 euros from 3.93 euros a year ago.
Adjusted net income was 4.54 billion euros, compared to 3.25 billion euros last year. Adjusted net income per share was 6.10 euros, compared to 4.71 euros a year ago.
Adjusted EBIT was 6.35 billion euros, up from 4.57 billion euros a year earlier. RWE Group’s adjusted EBITDA amounted to 8.38 billion euros, compared to 6.31 billion euros a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA core business was 7.67 billion euros, compared to 5.56 billion euros last year.
External revenue, excluding natural gas tax/electricity tax, declined to 28.57 billion euros from last year’s 38.42 billion euros.
Power generation was 129,701 Gwh, down from 156,794 Gwh a year ago.
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