Statkraft to expand in renewables, posts 85.6% drop in Q2 profit

Andershaw wind farm. Photo by: Statkraft (www.statkraft.com).

Norwegian state-owned utility Statkraft AS on Thursday posted an 85.6% drop in second-quarter net profit and said it intends to ramp up investments in renewables, specifically in the onshore wind and solar power segments.

The company’s updated growth strategy envisages maintaining its position within hydropower, becoming a major developer of profitable wind and solar projects in Europe, South America and India, increasing the customer business within district heating and market operations, and developing new business within decarbonisation and renewable energy.

Statkraft did not mention details about upcoming wind and solar projects.

For the second quarter (Q2) of 2018, the company reported a net profit of NOK 271 million (USD 32.9m/EUR 28.3m), significantly down from NOK 1.89 billion a year back.

More details about Statkraft’s Q2 and first-half financial performance are available in the table below.

Figures in NOK million	Q2 2018	Q2 2017	H1 2018	H1 2017
EBITDA, underlying	2,301	2,968	9,176	7,831
EBIT, underlying	1,428	2,050	7,390	6,039
EBIT, booked	478	2,702	7,522	7,263
Net profit (loss)	271	1,886	10,553	4,634

The NOK-621-million decline in Q2 underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) is attributed to unrealised effects in Market operations that arose partly from the changed valuation methodology.

Total Q2 generation fell by 22% on the year to 11.5 TWh, mainly because hydropower production went down to 10.9 TWh from 11.6 TWh. This was offset by substantially higher Nordic power prices, Statkraft noted.

(NOK 1.0 = USD 0.121/EUR 0.104)

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