Verbund Ag Ord

With these pictures I would like to welcome you. Nice to have you here on this hot summer day in the middle of the press week. We look forward to your questions after the presentations by CEO Michael Strugl and CFO Peter Kollmann. Today for the last time with us, who is leaving us towards Bank of America. Thank you also to all media representatives who are online via the stream. We are also looking forward to your questions.

Unusual. One is the topic that is currently in everyone's mouths. We are currently experiencing the driest year Since we are doing hydrological recordings, of course, this also has an impact on our results. And secondly, and Ingo Metelko has already said, this is the last time that I am standing in front of you with Peter Kollmann, After 13 years at Verbund, after 8 years where we worked together in the boardroom, of which 6 years where I as CEO bear the responsibility for the company, Peter Kollmann as my CFO has accompanied me here. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, Peter. We have worked very well together. I have known this very well. It is of course a pity that Peter Kollmann now leaves the company. On the other hand, he has a new challenge ahead of him, which I am also happy about. But at this point, thank you very much, Peter, for your great commitment to the company and for the good cooperation. Ladies and gentlemen, today we will show you a result and Peter will do this in detail, which is characterized by declines in the result compared to the previous year. And that basically has two reasons. One is the amount and the other is the price. Both risks have hit the result accordingly, in the result before interest rates. Prof. Prof. Prof. Prof. that our business model is also very much dependent on how quantities and prices develop. As producers, we are of course exposed here. We see recurring electricity prices, even if prices have risen again in the past in the major trade markets. This has not yet been reflected in the results of the first two quarters. And on the other hand, we are of course very much affected by this drought. very strong also a hydropower generator and we are in the first two quarters at a production coefficient of 0.68, meanwhile even at 0.65, which means We are simply missing a third of the amount of water that we process in our hydropower plants. This is even worse than last year. Last year we had a production coefficient of 0.79 and that was already a Water year that was one of the worst. The year 2026 is actually the driest year since we have been doing hydrological recordings and that is at least 100 years. That means this dryness also comes down to the result. In the first half of the year, 1.2 terawatt hours less from the water power is generated. Of course, this can also be seen in the result. Now you have to say On the one hand, we were able to compensate for this with the storage power plants and on the other hand with other production technologies that also have a different production profile. This is above all wind and photovoltaic. also not only through a technological diversification, but also through a geographical diversification. We also have quite different weather cycles throughout Europe. The joint production portfolio is more widespread, also in other European countries. And in this respect, our strategy also confirms that we are and many others. Now, let me also say a few things about the topic of drought, because it is asked again and again without this. Does this also have an impact on supply security in Austria? We can say that supply security is currently guaranteed. through a corresponding technological spread in the production. We still have water power as a basic load-bearing technology. and many more. This is something that helps us during the day. By the way, this is also electricity that is used in the pump stores for the pump performance. and the supply security is very strongly ensured by these pump stores, namely in the morning and evening hours, i.e. at the edge of the day, where the photovoltaic no longer delivers. Wind is also currently relatively moderate, so we have a little wind in the evening and night hours, but comparatively little There are hardly any pressure differences in the major weather situation, but the pump stores fill this gap. As I said, in the morning hours and in the evening hours. In the night hours, it is then above all the import of Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. This applies to Austria, but it also applies to Europe. We have some countries in Europe that are strongly in export. This is especially France, but it is also the Czech Republic, it is the Netherlands, it is partly also Switzerland. and we have countries that are more importers. The largest is Italy, but also the Eastern European countries and also Austria belongs to the importers. That means we have a challenge that climate change brings with it. For us, supply security is the most important goal. We can ensure this, on the one hand, with hydropower as a basic load-bearing production that forms the backbone, but in particular with the pump stores, which are currently ensuring that we will be supplied with battery stores in the future. This resilience of the system comes from efficient networks and other production technologies with other production profiles such as wind and photovoltaic. are here a necessary addition as well as a flexibility of consumption and an integration into the European power market. This is essentially the to-do also for Austrian power supply and here we see ourselves also confirmed in our strategy by invest, continue to invest in water power, but also in other technologies and in a corresponding European perspective. We believe that flexibility in particular will become even more important. And that is also a mission we have. We not only understand ourselves as producers, We are the ones who continue to develop here in the long term and develop a corresponding In a dry year like 2026, it is not just about short-term reactions to this dryness, it is actually about a long-term further development. In the sense of resilience. With this I would like to say a few short sentences about the framework conditions. We have on the national level a lot that is currently in Arbeit ist. Das ist zum einen ein neues Tarifsystem für die Netze. Es wurde eine Systemnutzungsentgelt der Grundverordnung konsultiert. Die ist bereits abgeschlossen. who is already working on the future needs of a power system that, in particular, integrates the renewables, that needs more flexibility. There is also a performance component in the tariffing, which we welcome. It should come into force from January 1st, then with a new system use limit regulation, that is, then the new network rates will be determined accordingly by the regulator. The second is that the government has some Thank you very much. We don't know yet exactly how it is designed. We see it relatively skeptically, to be honest. First of all, there is a European regulation for crisis cases. Austria makes a gold plating here, if you like, by saying we have a crisis before a crisis in Europe. There are two novels of the Renewable Development Act announced. On the one hand, it is about the feed rates at negative power prices. On a larger scale, it is about the Contracts for Difference, which are written in European terms and need an adjustment in the EAG to implement them. and on the gas side there is the implementation of the gas and hydrogen package of the EU. The Commission has announced a reform of the emission trading system, the ETS. This must only be brought to the fore in the Trilogy, i.e. with the Council and with the Parliament, but essentially It is a deviation from the system in which, on the one hand, free certificates will be on the market for longer and the reduction factor will be reduced. This is an approach towards industry to ensure its competitiveness. An important point is in it, something we have pointed out more often, The revenues from the ETS trade and also from other CO2 prices should not be insured in the budgets of the Member States, but should be used again specifically to support the industry, which has to pay these costs. Then there is the electrification plan, an important package. Why? Because electrification, from our point of view, is the best way to maintain competitiveness and at the same time to achieve climate goals. Europe is lagging behind in electrification compared to other economic areas. We are at about 22-23% electrification. China is at about 30%, Japan and Scandinavia even further. The goal is now 46% by 2040. You know the Grids Package and the Industrial Accelerator Act, I'm not going to go into that now. I have already said a few things about the drought. As I said, we have been researching together with the AIT, with Geosphere Austria and with the University of soil culture on these changes for many years. The new modelling of the ÖKS 26 is coming now, which means that we will have more accurate results from autumn. But the basic statement is that we have underage shifts in the declines and in the declines. On the other hand, we have a significant increase in evaporation and that is already a relevant factor for us, also in water power. And there are simply greater fluctuations, also In the perspective of several years. So it may be that there will be several dry years and then there will be better water years again. That means we have to deal with these fluctuations accordingly. And that also means that we have to make adjustments. This is, on the one hand, the already mentioned diversification in the production technologies. These are mainly the stores that we have to use. These are also appropriate adjustments to the systems and efficiency increases and also hybridization of systems to react to these changes. With this I come to the main projects as the last part. In the area of ​​water power, we currently have larger pump storage projects in preparation. For one, in Kaprun, the pump storage Schaufelberg as well as the resupply of existing systems. To do this, they always have to meet the latest technical standards, which means that Schaufelberg Schaufelberg In the meantime, we have received the approval, the plan notification and applied for the immediate completion. We start with the first measures, preferably in winter. A new project is the pump reservoir Salzer. This pump reservoir power plant with an upper tank over an existing connection power plant in Steiermark also has a power of 480 megawatts. There we prepare for the UVP approval process. As I said, these are all projects in preparation. There are no investment decisions yet. This is something that is currently under review. The same applies for further running water power in Gollingen, in Stübingen, in Leoben-Ost, where we have developed corresponding projects. In addition, there are the entire revitalization measures, i.e. existing power plants that are also made more efficient through more efficient machine sets. A total of over 600 million euros that we invest here until 2032 results in an additional power of 90 megawatts. The ecological measures for renaturation with 400 million by 2027. In the field of wind and photovoltaic in 2026. in Germany, Italy, Romania and Spain. Italy, Romania and Albania are also planned for 2026. At the moment, 1300 megawatt power is installed in photovoltaic and wind in our production portfolio. And with that I hand over to Peter Kollmann, who will immediately connect with the infrastructure.

Michael Strugl, Peter Kollmann, Susanna Zapreva-Hennerbichler, Andreas Wollein, Achim Kaspar and I would also like to address you personally and thank you. In the many years you have become real acquaintances of the BGM. Our common task was to give orientation. Not easy, because the rules of the game have changed very often, but also the game itself. And the one thing that you can say, we've never been bored. I don't think there's been a single press conference that I've done with them in almost 13 years where we haven't had extraordinary situations. I would like to thank you very much for your interest, for your curiosity and for the many interesting discussions and the exciting exchange. It has always been a great pleasure for me and that brings me to the infrastructure. You will remember the last press conference. We said that infrastructure is an absolute prerequisite, a foundation for energy transformation. I think we can all agree with that. But it's very interesting how often we see that it really is like that. Michael has already mentioned it. We had a dark flute, you could almost say a dark dry flute. I think that's a new word. And that clearly shows that we have to deal with these challenges that are given to us here, externally, that we cannot influence. And the infrastructure is a very essential factor so that we can handle it. And I have some projects here that we are working on and I would like to take one out because it fits in very well, namely the 380 kV line to Germany. This line, which we planned at a time when we didn't know how important it would be and which will now be finished in 2027, enables the flow of electricity between Austria and Germany, no matter in which direction, to have more capacity. Why is this so important? In the last year, and this has continued this year, we had a price difference of almost 10 euros. Now you will say 10 euros. 10 euros means for the Austrian economy 700 million more costs compared to Germany. And Germany is of course a partner, but also a competitor. That means to maintain our competitiveness, to do the right thing for the economy as a whole, we have to expand the infrastructure. and that applies not only to the German leadership, but of course also to many other projects that we at Emsig are working on. Gas is something that is always looked down upon. It is a bit evil, to be honest, or at least it is portrayed as a bit evil. Evil, but we need it. We can... Thank you very much. and our Gas Connect Austria also serves to get this gas that we need to Austria. And there is a project that I would like to point out, but that you all know without it because it has gone through the press a lot, that is the Wacloop and this Wacloop with a capex, i.e. with an investment size of about 175 million euros, increase the capacity of a new gas flow. Because in the past we had the gas flows that came from Russia to Austria and we continued to export to Germany. Now we have the gas flows, and we need them, that come in from Germany. And that's why it's so important that we build this WacClub. And now I come to our results. Das ist eine Serviceleistung an Sie, wo wir alles noch einmal ganz nett zusammenfassen. Das werde ich jetzt überspringen und ich gehe gleich in eine Seite, die wir nie verändert haben, weil sie alles sagt und weil sie sehr wichtig ist. and the main factors of influence. The main factors of influence are the amount, which is why drought is a problem, because the amount goes back, and the price, the electricity price. That is why we have talked so often in this press conference over the electricity price in the many years. Am einfachsten kann man sich orientieren, wenn man auf die Grafik blickt, rechts oben. Sie sehen, dass bereits 2025 ein sehr trockenes Jahr war. und wir haben damals ja sehr viel über diese Trockenheit gesprochen. Es war bei 0,76 und jetzt haben wir wieder ein sehr trockenes Jahr mit 0,68. 0,68 ist in der Tat ein echter Ausreißer, eine ausgesprochen schlechte Zahl, enorme Trockenheit. Sie sehen ja der langjährige Durchschnitt von 1, der Durchschnitt der letzten 100 Jahre. That means that we have produced less and that means above all that this has a direct effect on our EBITDA, on our company results, on our cash flow, on all our numbers. But we also have a price effect. And we have a price effect, if you remember, We have always said 1 million price change, excuse me, 1 euro price change is 25 million EBITDA, up or down. 1 euro, 25 million EBITDA. These are enormous numbers. And here you can see that from the half year 2025, when we were still at 117.2, we went down to 86.2. Also wir haben eine Situation mit der wir umgehen müssen, aber auch gut umgehen können, wo wir sowohl einen Mengeneffekt haben, der negativ ist, als auch einen Preiseffekt, der negativ ist. And because this is so important, we have presented the development of water management a little differently for you. We took a long-term time of three decades and we showed you the bandwidth. And if you look at the range, there have always been dry years and there have always been wet years. The weather cannot be influenced and of course it underlines what Michael Strugl said. We have deposits, but we don't see a specific trend at the moment, as far as Austria and us are concerned. Can this change? Yes, it can change. If we now have strong drought for the next five years and not a year that is above a hydro coefficient of 1, this would of course mean that the regular working capital would be adjusted accordingly. Diese Trockenheit, und Sie sehen hier das Halbjahr 2026 als den Ausreißer nach unten, und zwar ist es nicht nur ein Ausreißer, wenn wir die letzten drei Jahrzehnte betrachten, es ist auch ein Ausreißer, wenn wir die letzten 100 Jahre betrachten, denn es ist der schlechteste Wert der letzten 100 Jahre. und das hat finanzielle Auswirkungen und die finanziellen Auswirkungen im ersten Halbjahr sind und ich weiß, das ist eine große Zahl, 370 Millionen Euro im Vergleich zu einem Regeljahr und das muss ein Konzern wie Verbund absorbieren und das können wir absorbieren und das können wir absorbieren aufgrund unseres diversifizierten Geschäftsmodells. You will not be surprised by these numbers. They are the effect of the causes that I have just described. Of course, the EBITDA has fallen due to the factors that I have described and the company result has also fallen. But what you see here is that the investments are rising. And I will talk about the investments later, because they are a very important factor, not only for Verbund, but also for Austria. and you can see on the right side the investments in renewable generation and others, especially batteries, where we, a co-creator and a drive spring, have changed this system. From a central system, as we knew it for many decades, which was much easier, to a decentralized system with all its challenges and volatilities. The cash flow has gone back. That's not surprising. Also the free cash flow after investments and dividends. But an essential point is net debt. And Michael has said before that we are core healthy, that we are extremely well positioned. Why is that so important? It is always good to be core healthy. But for us it is especially important because we have this volatility, because we have this counter wind, Thank you very much. And that shows in our net debt, which still belongs to one of the lowest net debts in connection with our liability, with our debt liability. And that also reflects in our rating, which is one of the best ratings in Europe in the utility sector. And now I come to the investments. Peter Kollmann, 6.8 billion, that's really a lot. First of all, does it make sense? Second, is it meaningful in the sense of our contribution to energy transformation, but also for ourselves? The answer is yes, of course. Why? You see it here. We invest around 2.5 billion euros in the next three years in the network. These investments in the network are a condition sine qua non, because we have to expand the network further. We have to integrate the new renewable energy. We have to create the foundations, I mentioned it earlier, that it all works and that we have this so important supply security. But we also invest in the new renewables. This is an important diversification for us. And of course we continue to invest in our DNA, in our core business, in the water. And here it's not just about growth investments. Here, of course, it's also about us It's a massive substance of almost 135 hydropower plants, that we keep them in such a way that they deliver what we expect at any time. And otherwise, these are power storage and innovation projects that are also very important, because in this system change we have a situation that, it was already mentioned, when the sun is shining, Then so much power comes into the system and this power, this massive power that goes into the networks here, of course, leads to the power prices falling, sometimes even leading to negative hours. And you can avoid that by, at the time when the power is cheap, that it comes into the batteries and is then stored by the batteries when necessary. And that may show that you have to think of this transformation as a system. And this system, this system transformation is highly complex. Every system transformation is highly complex. This one is particularly complex. And that's why it's so important, and we've always said it, that all measures are synchronized. So that you never look at it singularly, but that you always say, there are interactions of everything we do in the power system. We have the foundation, that's the network infrastructure, but everything about it has enormous effects and that's why we always have to think comprehensively, and that's very, very important. And with that I come to the outlook. We have an outlook, a prognosis for the EBITDA of 2.1 to 2.4 billion and a company result prognosis of 1 billion to 1.15 billion. We assume an outflow rate. as well as in recent years from between 45 and 55 percent related to the clean-up of the corporate result. Underneath I have shown you the sensitivities, the change of one euro in the gross trade price, just for the rest year now, of a little more than 2 million euros. But you see a high sensitivity of almost 10 million euros for a change of 1% in the hydro coefficient, i.e. in the production of water power. A very important message is the development not only of 2026, but the development of 2027. And here I would like to go into an essential aspect. I said earlier that the price of electricity normalization was slowed down by the Iran conflict. How do I mean that? The Iran conflict has led to the price of electricity rising. because the gas price has gone up. Gas still has a very significant influence on the European electricity prices, also on the German and Austrian electricity prices. And due to the Iran conflict, the gas prices have gone up very strongly. Today we are at 60 euros. We were already below 30 euros. So that's an increase. This is a massively high gas price, but also an interesting development is that the term prices, i.e. those prices for gas in the year 2027, have also moved very strongly from about 33, 34 to over 40. And that of course does not only mean that the electricity prices will be higher in 2026, but also the electricity prices in 2027. This is a positive news among the many negative news that we had to give today, because it means that the electricity prices in the year 2027 will be a little higher for us, for Verbund, than the prices in 2026. You can see that here. The market-to-market is basically the current prices we have already hedged and the current prices we currently see in the market. And so we made a forecast and this forecast would be mark-to-market for the total amount of electricity of 105 euros in 2027. And below you can see the insured amounts. We are almost 90% insured for the year 2026. Thank you very much and it was a special pleasure for me.