Innogy Ceska republika, increased its sales by 2.7 percent year-on-year to CZK 2 billion in 2019 and tripled its net profit to CZK 19.6 billion, thanks to the sale of a half stake in Czech Grid Holding.
The innogy group in the Czech Republic has been affected by the transformation at the European level in recent months. As part of a complex asset exchange agreement with RWE, the E.ON Group bought the innogy group from RWE. The European Commission has authorized the takeover only if certain conditions are met, including the sale of innogy’s gas and electricity activities in the Czech Republic. Nothing changes for Czech consumers, innogy remains on the Czech Republic market and offers electricity and gas to customers.
According to its annual report, innogy Energie, which sells gas and electricity to consumers in the Czech Republic, achieved a net profit of CZK 2.3 billion last year, down 13.4 percent year on year. Revenues from the sale of products, services, and goods, on the other hand, increased by two percent to CZK 32.3 billion.
“In 2019, innogy Energie sold 25,797,479 megawatt-hours (MWh) of natural gas to its end customers. Sales to end customers decreased by 1,412,994 MW five percent, compared to 2018,” the company said in a report. The decrease was due to the negative impact of temperature and the continuing departure of customers to the competition. On the other hand, sales of electricity increased by 15 percent year-on-year to 3,109,084 MWh.
At the beginning of July, it was announced that the Hungarian MVM Group bought innogy CR from E.ON. However, the sale is still subject to approval by the competent authorities of the European Commission. MVM will buy the company from the German E.ON SE. The companies did not disclose the price of the transaction.
The innogy brand is the largest gas supplier in the Czech Republic, with 1.2 million gas customers and 0.4 million electricity customers. According to estimates, the value of Czech activities is around EUR 800 million (CZK 21.3 billion). MVM acquires the group, including the innogy brand – the contracts and prices of the energy company will not change as a result of the sale.
Last year, the sole owner of the group’s distribution part, the former innogy Grid Holding (iGH), today Czech Grid Holding, became an investor association led by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA). Reuters reported that the MIRA-led association, which had a 49.96 percent stake in the company, paid about 1.8 billion euros (46.2 billion CZK) for the remaining stake in iGH. Czech Grid Holding is the 100% owner of GasNet, which distributes gas in the Czech Republic to 2.3 million connections and a network of about 65,000 kilometers.
Another step related to the agreement on the exchange of activities between the RWE and E.ON groups from 2018 is the July transfer of most underground gas storage facilities in the Czech Republic to the German RWE Group. The company operates six gas storage facilities in the Czech Republic with a total storage capacity of 28.7 terawatt-hours. The operator, innogy Gas Storage, changed its name to RWE Gas Storage CZ.