by Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff
ESSEN, GERMANY (Reuters) – RWE, Germany’s leading utility group, on Tuesday pledged a higher dividend and more investment to expand its core renewable energy business.
RWE was relatively insulated from the energy crisis that hit Europe last year, mainly due to its low exposure to Russian fuel imports, and was even able to expand into the US renewable energy market thanks to to a $6.8 billion acquisition.
Net investments of 4.4 billion euros in 2022 will be exceeded this year, said the company, which also announced a dividend of 1 euro per share for 2023, an increase of 11% year-on-year.
The title RWE took 2.6% to 39.37 euros at 08:41 GMT on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
“RWE is one of the international drivers of the energy transition. We now have a leading position in all our key regions – in the EU, UK and US,” said Markus Krebber, Chairman of the board.
“We will continue to strengthen this position by investing heavily in our green core business,” he added.
For 2023, RWE forecasts adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of between €3.6 billion and €4.2 billion, down one-fifth from 2022 levels.
According to the Vara poll provided by the company, analysts expect 3.8 billion euros.
The company’s preliminary results for 2022, which were released in January, were also boosted by one-off factors such as a trading profit and high margins at RWE’s gas-fired power plants due to higher prices. wholesale.
(Report Christoph Steitz and Tom Kaeckenhoff; Nathan Vifflin, edited by Diana Mandiá and Kate Entringer)
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