E.on Posts Lower EBIT and Net Income For First Quarter of 2019

The Renewables segment’s adjusted EBIT rose by 23 percent year on year, from €171 million to €211 million. Thanks to commissioning of offshore wind farms in Germany and the UK and an onshore wind farm in the US.

The Germany-based electric utility company, E.On, with its core business in Energy Networks, Customer Solutions and Renewables has reported predominantly strong operating performances in all markets except the United Kingdom in the first quarter of 2019.

The company’s renewables business significantly increased its earnings, and the networks business matched the numbers set in the previous years, but the earnings decline at the customer solutions business. This drop was attributed to the special situation in the United Kingdom. Earnings there were considerably lower, principally because of a new regulatory price cap.

“Aside from the special case of the United Kingdom, our core businesses delivered a solid performance. We can therefore unequivocally reaffirm our forecast for the 2019 financial year. We continue to expect our 2019 adjusted EBIT to be between €2.9 and €3.1 billion and our 2019 adjusted net income to be between €1.4 and €1.6 billion. We likewise reaffirm our dividend proposal of 46 cents per share for the 2019 financial year,” CFO Marc Spieker said at the presentation of the company’s results for the first quarter of 2019.

E.ON’s first-quarter sales rose by roughly €0.4 billion year on year to €9.2 billion. Compared with the extraordinarily strong prior-year quarter, the E.ON Group’s adjusted EBIT declined by 8 percent, from €1.3 billion to €1.2 billion. Adjusted net income of €650 million was below the prior-year figure of €727 million.

Adjusted EBIT of €623 million at the Energy Networks segment was at the prior-year level (€642 million). The Customer Solutions segment’s adjusted EBIT decreased significantly year on year, from €392 million to €219 million. The decline in Germany, which is due to a delay in the passthrough of pass higher grid fees to customers, is purely temporary. It likely will fully balance itself out as the year moves forward.

The Renewables segment’s adjusted EBIT rose by 23 percent year on year, from €171 million to €211 million. The increase resulted primarily from an increase in output due to the commissioning of offshore wind farms in Germany and the United Kingdom and an onshore wind farm in the United States.