KARLSRUHE (dpa-AFX) - EnBW, Germany's third-largest energy supplier, increased its operating result (adjusted EBITDA) by a good 60 percent to almost 6.4 billion euros in the past year. This was mainly due to an increase in thermal generation - i.e. coal and gas - and trading. Due to increased market prices and fluctuations, the electricity volumes generated were sold at significantly better conditions compared to 2022, the Karlsruhe-based company announced on Wednesday.

A decline to between 4.6 billion and 5.2 billion euros is expected for this year. "The background to this is that the volatility on the markets is decreasing and we assume that we will market the electricity generated in our plants at lower prices than was the case in 2023," explained CFO Thomas Kusterer according to the press release. The very good result for 2023 in the area of thermal generation and trading cannot simply be extrapolated into the future.

The new CEO Georg Stamatelopoulos explained that EnBW will once again significantly increase investments in the implementation of the Energiewende in the coming years due to the very good result. Gross investments of €40 billion are planned by 2030, around 90 percent of which will be in Germany. "This makes EnBW one of the largest investors in the implementation of the Energiewende in Germany." Stamatelopoulos took over as CEO almost three weeks ago after his predecessor Andreas Schell left the Group after less than a year and a half due to disagreements with the Supervisory Board over the corporate strategy./kre/DP/jha