12.04.2018
Energiekontor AG DE0005313506
DGAP-News: Energiekontor AG still on track with good 2017 results
DGAP-News: Energiekontor AG / Key word(s): Final Results
Energiekontor AG still on track with good 2017 results
12.04.2018 / 08:33
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Bremen-based wind power pioneer publishes annual financial statements for
2017
Energiekontor AG still on track with good 2017 results
Bremen, 12 April 2018. Given the significant additions to Group-owned wind
farms from own developments, Energiekontor AG's earnings for the 2017
financial year were in line with expectations. Group EBT amounted to EUR
16.7 million (previous year: EUR 35.5 million) and consolidated net income
came to EUR 11.9 million (previous year: EUR 25.3 million). At EUR 202.1
million, the Group's total output was well above the previous year (previous
year: EUR 166.7 million) and underlines the sustained high productivity and
ability of the Company to create value.
At the level of the AG, Energiekontor generated net income of EUR 15.5
million (previous year: EUR 28.7 million). The Management Board and the
Supervisory Board will suggest a dividend of EUR 0.60 per share at the
General Meeting on 23 May 2018.
"The significant decline in earnings compared to the previous year can
largely be attributed to the fact that about half of all wind farms
developed by Energiekontor in 2017 were added to the Group's own portfolio",
Peter Szabo, Energiekontor's CEO explains. "The potential margins, which
would be realised as profits if the projects were sold, remain as hidden
reserves in property, plant and equipment. Group-owned plants continuously
generate profits over the years. Energiekontor prefers this strategy of
sustainable growth, which also safeguards the business for the long term, to
short-term profit-taking. As Energiekontor has consistently followed this
strategy in the 2017 financial year, the difference to the previous year is
particularly striking. In order to expand the Group's own portfolio of wind
farms and solar parks, we intend to maintain this strategy in the coming
years."
With that in mind, the operating business of Energiekontor AG was largely on
track in the 2017 financial year. The Group completed and commissioned ten
projects and sold three wind farms and three single turbines to investors.
Merely the Hammelwarder Moor wind farm and the Garzau-Garzin solar park were
only finalised at the beginning of 2018. Together with the projects
Bremen-Hemelingen and Debstedt II, which are still under construction,
Energiekontor has implemented all wind farms that were granted a permit
before the end of 2016 and are therefore remunerated at a higher tariff in
accordance with the transitional provisions of EEG 2017.
"As anticipated, Company growth slowed down temporarily in 2017. Our
acquisition activities in Germany and the UK as well as the new national
markets Netherlands, France and the US took the overall pipeline of projects
in different development stages up to nearly 3,000 MW", Peter Szabo
summarises the past financial year.
With respect to the current financial year, he adds: "In 2018, we anticipate
a transitional year where reported Group EBT might fall short of the
previous year's figure. This is due primarily to the onshore wind auctioning
procedure introduced in Germany in 2017, which led to a certain degree of
competitive distortion and undesirable effects. Energiekontor and many other
project developers were forced to fundamentally change the planning and
permission of projects already approved to be able to profitably realise
these projects on the basis of the massively lower feed-in tariffs.
Accordingly, many of the projects planned in 2018 are experiencing unplanned
delays. However, due to the excellent project pipelines in Germany and
abroad and Energiekontor's progress in realising projects on the basis of
PPAs without state subsidies and the expected first earnings contributions
from the new foreign markets, the Management Board currently assumes that
2018 is an exception caused by the general external conditions and that,
from 2019, the growth path will return to the level seen in previous years."
Energiekontor will presumably realise the first projects without state
subsidies that are based only on Power Purchase Agreements with large
companies (end-user PPAs) in the UK. Also in the US, the profitability of
wind and solar projects relies on PPAs. In the western part of Texas,
Energiekontor's on-site team has already secured sites for setting up solar
parks with a capacity of more than 600 MW. The first PPAs for these projects
are to be concluded as early as the current 2018 financial year. The
management intends to start selling project rights as from this stage rather
than setting up the solar parks itself. This approach provides for faster
profit and preserves available equity. Depending on the progress of the
projects, the US business might start contributing to earnings as from 2018.
"We want to further expand our solar business and establish successful
activities in the new national markets", Szabo continues. "Our work is
driven by a vision, which is also part of our mission statement: to cover
the entire electricity need with 100 percent renewable energy. Our mission
statement begins with this vision. It motivates our staff each day to bring
forward creative ideas and to take pleasure in achieving joint success on
the path to reaching this overall objective.
The best way for renewable energies to prevail on the energy market is to
bring the levelized cost of electricity to a level below the cost of fossil
and nuclear power generation. Here, Energiekontor can make a significant
contribution. We want to take a pioneering role and realise wind farms and
solar parks with a levelized cost of electricity that is below that of
conventional energy sources.
This step will do away with a number of barriers, such as the economic
barrier: users will always opt for the cheaper provider as long as this does
not entail further disadvantages, above all if the cheaper option is also
the more environmentally friendly one. At the same time, a social barrier
will fall: renewables are bound to receive stronger backing from politicians
and society, especially when wind and solar energy cease to depend on state
subsidies. All this will give the renewable energy sector a strong boost."
An extract from the German original version of the annual report for 2017 is
available online at
https://www.energiekontor.de/en/investor-relations/financial-reports.html
About Energiekontor AG:
For the last 25 years, Energiekontor has stood for a sound approach to
business and a wealth of experience in wind power. Formed in Bremerhaven in
1990, the Company was one of the pioneers in the industry and is now one of
the leading German project developers. Its core business covers the
planning, construction and operational management of wind farms in Germany
and abroad, and was expanded to include solar power in 2010. Energiekontor
also currently owns and operates 34 wind farms (as of 31.12.2017) with total
rated power of around 260 megawatts. Now, Energiekontor AG intends to extend
its pioneering role to commercial aspects and to realise wind farms and
solar parks at pure market prices without state subsidies in all target
markets as quickly as possible.
In addition to its headquarters in Bremen, Energiekontor also maintains
offices in Bremerhaven, Hagen im Bremischen, Aachen, Bernau (near Berlin)
and Dortmund. The Company also has branch offices in England (Leeds),
Scotland (Glasgow), Portugal (Lisbon) and the Netherlands (Nijmegen). The
formation of additional branch offices in the US and France is currently
underway. Our track record speaks for itself: 118 wind farms in operation,
with total rated power of around 940 megawatts. This corresponds to an
investment volume of about EUR 1.5 billion.
Energiekontor went public on 25 May 2000. The shares of Energiekontor AG
(WKN 531350/ISIN DE0005313506) are listed in the General Standard segment of
the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and can be traded on all German stock
exchanges.
Contact:
Investor Relations/Press
Dr Stefan Eckhoff
Phone: (+49-421) 3304-0
Email: [email protected]
Energiekontor AG / Reuters: EKT / ISIN: DE0005313506
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12.04.2018 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a
service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Language: English
Company: Energiekontor AG
Mary-Somerville-Straße 5
28359 Bremen
Germany
Phone: 04 21/33 04-0
Fax: 04 21/33 04-4 44
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.energiekontor.de
ISIN: DE0005313506
WKN: 531350
Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (General Standard);
Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf,
Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange
End of News DGAP News Service
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673781 12.04.2018
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