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Uniper Se

Q42022

2/17/2023

speaker
Operator
Conference Call Operator

Dear ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Uniper Analyst and Investor Conference Call Full Year Results 2022. At our customer's request, this conference will be recorded. As a reminder, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions by dialing star 11 on your telephone. May I now hand you over to Stefan Joost, who will start the meeting today. Please go ahead.

speaker
Stefan Joost
CEO, Uniper

Good morning, dear analysts and investors. I would like to welcome you to this morning's conference call on Uniper's 2022 results. Our CFO Tiina Tuomila is here with me today to share the key events and financial numbers on an exceptional year, focusing on the financial stabilization of the company. I'm also pleased to welcome Sebastian Veit as Uniper's new head of investor relations. succeeding our great colleague, Adam Stisch. For a number of years, Sebastian successfully led UNIPRESS governmental relations team. And he's known as an exceptional leader with great communication skills. Please welcome Sebastian in his new role. There will be plenty of occasions in the future for a get to know. As usual, we will have a Q&A session at the end. And I hand you over to Tina, please.

speaker
Tiina Tuomila
CFO, Uniper

Thank you, Stefan. A warm welcome from my side. Before I turn to the numbers, allow me a few personal remarks. This is my last analyst and investor call for Uniper before returning to Fortum in April. Dear analysts and investors, I would like to thank you all for your strong commitment to Uniper. but I also take the opportunity to especially thank the entire team at Uniper for their relentless work. Deported by the financial commitment of the German government, Uniper has the basis to take its future into its own hands with a new senior management. 2022 was a real watershed year for Uniper. Now, with major effort and the billion euro stabilization package agreed between the German government, Uniper and Fortum, a successful turnaround has been initiated. At year end 2022, the German government held a 99.12% stake in Uniper. In return, The state injected fresh equity totalling of 13.5 billion euros in December 2022 and moreover bought the Uniper shares from Fortum. Let me guide you through the elements which stabilised Uniper's financial base at the end of the year on the next slides in a moment. The primary headline results for 2022 financial year were already published in the ad hoc release on 1st February 2023. The final figures now look slightly different as we had to conclude a loss of control over Unipro meanwhile. Hence, Russian power generation is no longer included within our continuing operation but reported as discontinued operations. The profit or loss as well as cash flow and KPI figures for the previous year were restated as discontinued operations. Adjusted group EBIT in fiscal 2022 totalled a loss of 10.9 billion euros compared with a positive result of 955 million euros in the prior year period. Adjusted net income also slipped sharply into negative territory. These result figures include about 13.2 billion euros of realized additional costs for procuring replacement gas volumes due to Russian curtailments. Excluding this dominating effect, Uniper's underlying business performance in this extraordinary market situation was strong overall. The total losses from gas replacement procurement recalculated in the annual financial statements 2022 now stand about 19.1 billion euros instead of about 40 billion euros as reported in our Q3 results. driven by significantly lower market prices as compared to the end of September. The 2023 financial year will be a transition year for Uniper. At the top of the agenda is the push ahead with financial stabilisation and portfolio rotation. The latter is crucial to comply with the remedy measures of the EU Commission. First steps are already underway as demonstrated by the shift sale of Uniper stake in the PBL gas pipeline and United Arab Emirates based crude oil processing and marine fuel trading business. What I like, Uniper retains the integrity and a well-balanced portfolio and significant financial firepower to invest into its transformation. Let us now take a look at Uniper's current situation and where we stand with our stabilization. The equity position shows a significant improvement since the end of Q3 and even returned to positive territory at 4.4 billion euros at the year end 2022. This turnaround has two main drivers. First, the cash capital injection of €8 billion by the German government and then an initial drawdown of €5.5 billion from the newly created authorised capital in December 2022. following approval by Juniper shareholders at an extraordinary shareholders meeting and following the state aid approval by the EU Commission. Second, significant reversal of provisions were made in the balance sheet for the full year 2022, in particular as a result of the remeasurement of provisions for the expected additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes based on significantly lower market price at the end of December compared to end of September. Please continue to the next slide. The agreement with the German government stipulates that the additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes for the period until 2024 will be observed through equity injections. Uniper will make an own contribution of 30% per year from its adjusted EBIT between 2022 and 2024. Additional losses from the gas repayments cost are excluded from these numbers. The realized additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes in fiscal 2022 amounted to about 13.2 billion euros. At the year end 2022, the provisions for anticipated future additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes was recalculated and reduced sharply to 5.9 billion euros. On this slide, you can see schematically how much the potential losses would swing with different gas prices on the market. Of the equity shield backed by the federal government up to 33 billion euros, 19.5 billion euros is still accessible. Against this background, the remaining amount of the newly created authorized capital is considered sufficient in most gas price scenarios. On the next slide, you can see another facet of how Uniper is in the process of improving its financial position. Cash margining requirements from forward sales via commodity exchanges or bilateral sales under margining agreements were significantly lower at the end of 2022 than in recent quarters. Lower commodity market prices were the main factor contributing to the sharp recent decline in liquidity requirements. However, Unip also been actively working to reduce the margin on forward deals through a prudent hedging strategy. Not to forget the usual positive seasonality effect with more delivers in winter. As a result, there are less liquidity reserves required to serve margining needs going forward. The financing headroom at the end of 2022 is a consequence of the successful implementation of the stabilisation, including the equity measures. The main purpose of the KfW facility is to provide a bridge financing for gas replacement costs until these costs get compensated by the state via equity injection under the newly created authorised capital. This protection against losses from Russian cash flows also provided a strong signal of governmental support for the banks, supporting renegotiation of credit lines and help to normalize day-to-day operations in Uniper's other businesses. Moreover, the credit trading agency Standard & Spur Globals had recently reaffirmed an investment grade rating for Uniper. Going forward, the issue of gas replacement costs will be overcome latest by the end of 2024 and therefore the extraordinary financial support from the state via equity injection and also via KFW credit facilities to support liquidity needs will be phasing out over time. In a first step, the 18 billion euro KfW facility has been reduced to 16.5 billion euros for 2023 and will be gradually reduced further in the subsequent years. All in all, financing stabilization has taken a huge step forward so far. Portfolio rotation with a Specified disposal list required under the state aid approval of the EU Commission is high on the management radar. The deadline to deliver on the commitment by 2026 gives Uniper sufficient leeway. Overall, the future portfolio will be more focused on Uniper's core markets in North-Western Europe which gives the potential for synergy effects. What are the most prominent candidates on the disposal list? To start with our Russian shareholding. Unipro has been put up for sale internally since 2021 as communicated before. A transaction has been agreed with a Russian buyer in 2022 but the political approval for the transaction is still outstanding and highly uncertain. Further Russian sanction legislation has further impaired Uniper's ability to exercise control as a major shareholder. As a result, Unipro was deconsolidated at the significant loss at the end of fiscal 2022 and is now reported as discontinued operation in our annual report 2022. On the power generation side, the disposal list consists of Dattenfall, coal-fired power plant in North Rhine-Westphalia and gas-fired power activities in Hungary. Also for sale are certain gas pipeline interests, which are less of strategic relevance than in the past. Thereof, our 20% pipeline participation in the UK Dutch gas pipeline EPL was already being sold. There are also market share limitation in the gas sale business in Germany. All in all, It is a substantial list of remedy commitments, but at the same time it allows UNIPE to implement its strategy and transformation path. Now on to the figures from 2022 financial statements. Let's start with the overview of UNIPE's main operating indicators. Physical gas storage levels at the year end 2022 in Europe were unusually high, driven by revised regulatory framework, strong LNG imports and coupled with demand reductions and thanks to mild temperatures. This certainly took a lot of the jitters out of the market. Gas storages in the EU were nearly 85% full at the end of December 2022. Uniper's storage level as of the reporting date was even a tick higher than Germany's overall fill level of 90%. Power production in our European generation segment recorded a decrease in power generation of 7% but only a small decline adjusted for disposal effects. Uniper's ultrafleet with its hydro and nuclear power generation recorded a slightly lower output overall. While the hydropower plants in Northern Europe delivered more electricity, the German power plant suffered from a severe drought last summer. Higher volumes and nuclear were held back by extended outages at our Oskarsham 3 power plant and at the Ringhaus 4 power plant participation. Output at our fossil power plants was satisfactory against the background of weak overall demand for electricity in Europe. Overall, we recorded a slight drop, which was far more than offset by our higher spreads. The output of our coal-fired power portfolio was supported by a temporary return of the 875 megawatt Haydn 4 power plant to improve security of supply in Germany, which has been scheduled for closer. Another positive factor we were allowed to fully run Dutch power plant Maasvlakte 3 after the cancellation of the output gap as a consequence of Dutch security of supply measures. Output from our gas-fired power plants in 2022 was slightly down. The UK remained the far most important market for gas-fired power generation for Uniper. Carbon emissions of Europe's generation and global commodities decreased by 7%, in particular because no more lignite has been burned since October 2021, following the disposal of our one lignite plant. European generation's carbon intensity fell slightly below the rate of 400 grams per kilowatt hour. Let's now move on to our key financials for the 2022 financial year. And as said before, the comparison numbers for 2021 were adjusted for discontinued operations of our Russian power business. The operating results mark the bottom and are a turning point for Uniper. Uniper's key financials have been significantly impacted by the additional cost for profuring replacement gas volumes, also in the fourth quarter of the 2022 financial year. This masks a very solid underlying result. Looking at adjusted EBIT and adjusted EBITDA for the 2022 financial year, the figures are highly positive if the realized additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes of about 13.2 billion euros are isolated. I'll get to the key result drivers on the very next slide. The operating gas flow clearly reflects the high realized additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes. In addition, there was a considerable increase in working capital as a result of the sharp year-on-year rise in commodity prices paired with higher gas injections and a raised coal stock. With regards to adjusted net income, the realized loss was partly offset by corresponding positive tax effects. Group net income and economic net debt were weaker than prior year, but significantly better than in the last nine months report. The group published net income for 2022 of minus 19 billion euros was materially up versus Q3 2022 with a reported net loss of 40.3 billion euros. The difference between adjusted net income and published net income is mainly driven by non-operating accounting effects relating to the Russian business as well as the result from discontinued operation. First, a provision of 5.9 billion euros in our segment global commodities for the anticipated additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes. Second, asset and goodwill impairments totaling 3.1 billion euros, including a Nord Stream 2 loan impairment of 1 billion euros. Third, another major impact stems from the deconsolidation of Unipro, leading to a deconsolidation loss of 4.4 billion euros. Economic debt at the end of the year showed a significant recovery compared to Q3 numbers as a result of the cash equity injection of the German government in December 2022. On the next slide, I would like to dive into the key drivers of adjusted EBIT. This slide clearly shows how the additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes completely dominate Uniper's performance in the 2022 financial year. In contrast, for other activities have been able to contribute positively to the company's earnings development. In general, it shows that Juniper is capable of generating additional earnings in a volatile market environment. In the global commodity segment, the earnings contribution of the commodity gas activities remained healthy as a result of successful optimization business including the optimization of our storages capacities. The global commodity sub-segment international reported an EBIT loss in the mid three digit million euro range. The result was dented by a loss of deliveries of contractually secured LNG cargos due to a fire at the US LNG liquidation terminal Freeport. Missing volumes had to be procured alternatively on the market at the higher costs. The commodity power business with optimization and power trading made an unexpectedly strong year-end spurt and delivered its highest contribution to date to the earnings of the global commodities segment. The year-over-generation business achieved a substantially improved operating result overall in the 2022 financial year. The fossil portfolio converted elevated spread into higher margins. This effect was particularly evident in Q4 2022. Adjusted EBIT was additionally driven by the reversal of the intra-year carbon basing in Q4. Earnings drivers at fossil power portfolio were hard coal-fired power plants in all European markets we operate in. Rising spread had an increasingly positive margin impact here over the course of the year and were only partly burdened by higher cost from the diversification of coal procurement contracts away from Russian sources. The gas-fired power plants repeated a good prior year performance in 2022. Our UK gas-fired power plants particularly contributed to the business success thanks to high spreads. Earnings at alt-right were significantly lower than a year earlier. Earnings of our Swedish nuclear activity slipped more sharply than planned into the red zone. Swedish nuclear was mainly impacted by inflation-related higher addition to the provision for decommissioning and dismantling obligations and unplanned unavailability. By contrast, Hydro's earnings were slightly higher year on year, thanks to an excellent final quarter in fiscal 2022. In view of improved availability in Q4, additional spot volumes were sold at high prices, especially in the Nordic markets. This also compensated the supply restriction resulting from the low water levels in Germany last summer and deteriorating EBATs, i.e. electricity price area differentials in Sweden. We remained cautious in hedging our outright position given the margin requirements involved. A positive trend in hedge prices was visible in the year and number compared to locked in prices back in September. The operating results as well as the deconsolidation loss of Russian powered generation, namely Unipro, is now reported within the line item income loss from discontinued operations in our profit and loss. Following a roundup of the key operating earnings drivers, I would now like to turn to operating cash flow, which was also the focus of our recent ad hoc announcement. Coming to the operating cash flow, which came in at minus 15.6 billion euros. Besides of the recorded operating loss, the main driver here was the sharp increase in working capital requirements. Significant increases in commodity purchase prices contributed to this. At the same time, we increased gas inventories in our storages and coal supplies at our power plant side due to political requirements and on improved market environment and all at higher purchase cost. In addition, there was a base effect resulting from liquidity optimization measures in 2021 with OCF being shifted at the expense of the year 2022. Now to the latest figures on Uniper's net debt. At the year end 2022, economic net debt stood at 3 billion euros, which is 2.7 billion euros higher compared to the end of 2021. At the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2022, economic net debt still amounted to 11 billion euros as a result of the realized additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes due to the Russian curtailments. Although the continued accumulation of losses further deteriorated operating cash flow through to the end of the year, the equity injections of 13.5 billion euros by the German government in December marked a significant turnaround in Uniper's net financial position. At 0.6 billion euro, capital expenditure in at the lower end of the plant. Here we had to put the brakes on our growth plans, particularly due to the uncertain development. In 2022 growth investment amounted to just under 0.2 billion euros. Lower pension provisions were supportive for unipersonal debt. reflecting higher interest rate. The discount rate for German pensions rose to 3.7%, for the UK even to 5%. This was offset by higher provisions for asset retirement obligation, mainly as a result of higher allocation to the Swedish nuclear provisions. I would like to conclude my presentation with an outlook of the key earnings drivers for fiscal 2023. The financial impact caused by the replacement of RAS and gas supplies will remain the decisive swing factor for Unibus Group earnings development in 2023. This means that Uniper is unlikely to have sufficient control over earnings development in 2023 due to commodity price fluctuations that continue to be difficult to predict. Today, we can provide an outlook for 2023 with a qualitative direction compared to 2022 actuals. Based on the current commodity spot and forward market prices for cash for 2023, the adjusted EBIT and adjusted net income for the group would turn out above prior year level. It should be a good year for the year when generation segment. The generation portfolio should benefit from a fundamentally higher average price level. We also expect a negative one of effects from the absence of the switch in our coal procurement mix last year. Moreover, such high allocation to provision with respect to nuclear power generation should not repeat again. For the global commodity segments, lower burdens from the replacement procurement of Russian gas could likewise result in a earnings improvement. Finally, a few closing remarks. Juniper has a strong operational core base which has to be further developed for the future and a changing energy market. The first step stabilization through the strong financial commitment of the German federal government has been successfully put us back on track. The group's net debt and return to positive equity at the year end 2022 are clear evidence of the turnaround achieved. A new management board team will set the new targets in close consultation with the new supervisory board. From here, Juniper can once again look to the future with more confidence. This brings me to the end of our presentation today. The floor is back to you, Stefan.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

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