EVN AG

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the conference call on EVN's results for the first half of 2020-2021 financial year. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode. The floor will be open for questions following the presentation. Let me now turn the floor over to your host, Mr. Stefan Schischkowitz.

Good morning, and welcome to the conference call on EVN results for the first half of the 2020 We are reporting today a sound performance for the first half of our financial year. EBITDA, EBIT and good net results are above the previous year. The main drivers for this improvement were the earnings contributions from our equity-accounted investees, in particular our supply company EVNKG and developments in our environment segment, in particular the start of the Kuwait project. The corona crisis only had selective negative impacts on our operating results. Our integrated business model and a widely diversified customer base continue to be stabilizing factors. Our investment level was high. We were able to increase investments by 21.3% to 155.8 million euros. This is in line with our commitment to further increase of cutbacks. Our plan is to invest on average up to 450 million euros per year in the near future. Thereof, up to three-fourths will be directed towards regulated and stable activities in Lower Austria. The key investment focus, now and in future, is on network infrastructure.

This investment fulfills three strategic objectives.