Extreme market conditions with both positive and negative consequences ForFjordkraft Holding ASA . Financial performance: The Nordic segment underperforms, Consumer and Business segments overperform. Nordic segment - Q4 2021: The financial results in Nordic Green Energy ("NGE", registered asSwitch Nordic Green AB , a subsidiary in theFjordkraft Group constituting the "Nordic" reporting segment) in Q4 2021, and the last part of December in particular, have been significantly affected by the extraordinary situation in the Nordic power market. The Nordic segment's EBIT adj. is expected around 75 NOKm negative in Q4 2021 and is related to losses on fixed price contracts due to the inability to fully hedge these efficiently in the current market situation. The fixed price customers' consumption was significantly higher than normal due to a cold December, which has resulted in an under-hedged situation in NGE. Normally, these situations would have a limited financial impact, but due to the current extraordinarily high price level and spread between market price and contract fixed price, this under-hedging had a significantly negative financial effect in December. In addition to this, an extraordinary peak/off-peak intraday and intramonth price volatility throughout Q4, resulted in a much higher-than-normal profile cost, also negatively affecting margins on the fixed price portfolio. -The situation in the power market has been extraordinary, and NGE was negatively impacted by this particularly in December, where both the price level and peak/off-peak differences were around four times higher than usual. The fixed price contracts related to the business segments inSweden andFinland have a different set-up compared to the fixed price contracts inNorway , where fixed prices typically are offered on a set volume. We are in the process of aligning the contract structure across the countries in order to reduce the associated volume risk, says CEORolf Barmen . -Despite this quarter's results, we are still satisfied with the acquisition of NGE. In our view, the acquisition was done at attractive terms, and we firmly believe that NGE will continue to serve as a platform for further growth in the Nordics, says Barmen. -We have a great team in place both in Vasa andStockholm , the market conditions are equally challenging for all the players in our market areas, but with the implementation of the nuclear power plant Olkiluoto 3 (1,600 MW), which is expected to be fully operative inJune 2022 , the base load in the area will be more stable and the market is expecting a more normalised price level from then, which will reduce the risk in NGE, says Barmen. Consumer segment - Q4 2021: EBIT adj. margin in Q4 2021 is expected to be in the area of 38% (Q4 2020: 32%), giving a full year EBIT adj. margin of 32%, higher than the targeted 30%. Net revenue is expected up around 3% from Q4 2020 and full year growth around -1%, in line with guidance for 2021. Good hedges, good product management and good cost control under extreme market conditions are the main drivers for the good results. Business segment - Q4 2021: EBIT adj margin in Q4 2021 is expected to be in the area of 64% (Q4 2020: 59%), and full year EBIT margin around 60%, in line with the full year guidance ("higher than the long-term target of 52-54%"). Net revenue growth is expected up around 14% from Q4 2020 and around 23% growth on full year figures (full year guidance: 'above double digit'). Good hedges, good product management and good cost control are the main drivers for the results. Financial performance in summary: All segments apart from the Nordic segment are developing strongly in Q4 2021 and the Group expects to report an EBIT adj. in the area of 130 -140 NOKm in the quarter (Q4 2020: 168 NOKm). All financial figures are subject to changes as the Group is currently preparing its consolidated accounts. Customer development Q4 2021: In total, the customer base of the Group increased by 5k customers. The growth has the following distribution: In the Consumer segment the number of electricity deliveries decreased by 34k in Q4 2021. All brands are proportionally quite equally affected. -In addition to an intense competitive situation, we decided to discontinue our "price matching" service this quarter, and this has naturally resulted in a decline in number of customers. This was a commercial decision for us, as we have experienced that an increasing number of customers on this product were frequently swapping between contracts with negative margins. We believe in offering products with sustainable margins and will continue to develop our product portfolio going forward. We target an organic stabilisation in number of customers from the current level during the year, says Barmen. In the Business segment the number of deliveries was flat, Alliance growth was 5k, Nordic growth was 5k and Mobile increased by 29k subscribers due to the acquisition of Skymobil. The Q4 2021 results will be presented on 10 February and in connection with the presentation there will be a Capital Markets Update where both details on the results and updated targets for the next years will be presented. For queries, please contact: Rolf Barmen, CEO, + 47 900 80 950Morten Opdal , Head of Investor Relations, + 47 970 62 52
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