PARIS (Reuters) – Engie published increased 2023 results on Thursday, driven by its activities in energy management and renewables, and raised its forecast for 2024 despite the drop in market prices.
The energy company specified in a press release that it was now counting on a recurring net profit, group share, of between 4.2 and 4.8 billion euros this year, compared to 3.8 to 4.4 billion previously.
This indicator would, however, be down compared to the level of 5.4 billion euros (+2.8%) reached in 2023.
“It is lower than 2023 since the market conditions are different, but much higher than 2021 which is the best year of comparison in terms of market conditions”, underlined Catherine MacGregor, the general director of Engie, during a telephone press conference.
Engie has also slightly revised downwards its forecast for recurring net profit share of the group for 2025, now expected between 3.9 and 4.5 billion, compared to 4.1 to 4.7 billion previously.
“The price assumptions underlying our projections (…) are very different. We have very significant differences which naturally reflect the drop in market prices (…) over the last 12 months,” declared the director financier, Pierre-François Riolacci.
“The projections are not very far (…) from those they were a year ago while the markets have adjusted a lot,” he added.
Engie also expects an average annual growth rate of its non-nuclear operating income of between 10% and 12% over the period 2021-2026.
The group recorded for last year a net profit group share of 2.2 billion euros (compared to 0.2 billion in 2022), a profit before interest and taxes (Ebit) excluding nuclear of 9.5 billion (+18.2%) and a turnover of 82.6 billion (-12.0%).
It proposes a dividend of 1.43 euros per share, up 2.1%.
Engie particularly benefited in 2023 from the performance of its “Global Energy Management & Sales” (GEMS) division, which includes supply, risk management and asset optimization activities in energy, whose Ebit increased jumped 36% to 3.6 billion euros. Projections for 2026 include an annual “normalized EBIT” for this activity revised upwards (from 1 to 1.5 billion).
The operating profit of its renewable energies division also jumped by 23% last year, thanks in particular to commissioning and positive price effects.
(Reporting by Benjamin Mallet; editing by Kate Entringer)
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