The power plant operator Uniper has dropped its earnings forecasts for the current year due to the restricted gas supplies from Russia and is talking to the federal government about stabilization measures.
The company is examining how the company's liquidity can be further secured, Uniper announced on Wednesday evening in Düsseldorf.
"We already had a significantly increased need for liquidity at the end of last year due to the enormous increase in gas prices," explained CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach.
"In order to counteract this, we had already expanded our credit lines and, among other things, received a facility from the state KfW in the amount of two billion euros, which we have not used to date."
Maubach explained that business development had “notably deteriorated” due to the war in Ukraine and the subsequent sharp reduction in gas supplies from Russia.
"Therefore, we are now talking to the federal government again about stabilization measures, for which a number of instruments are possible, such as guarantees and security payments, an increase in the current credit facility, and even participation in the form of equity."
After hours on the Tradegate trading platform, the Uniper share lost more than seven percent compared to the Xetra closing price at the low.
They had already closed the main trade with a minus of 3.4 percent.
The MDax company suspended the previous earnings forecast.
In the first half of the year, based on preliminary figures, operating profits should also be significantly below those of the same period last year, it said.
A year ago, Uniper had earned 580 million euros in the first six months before interest, taxes and special effects.
Adjusted net income at the time was EUR 485 million.
Buy replacement quantities expensive
The background to the development is the effects of the current gas supply restrictions imposed by the Russian state-owned company Gazprom.
According to Uniper, since mid-June it has only received 40 percent of the contractually guaranteed gas volumes from Gazprom and has had to procure replacement volumes at great expense.
Uniper assumes that if the Federal Network Agency determines and announces the gas shortage, some of the current burdens can be passed on to customers.