The energy group E.ON has significantly increased its investments in the first half of the year and sees itself continuing on its growth path after increasing profits. In the first six months, investments increased by 36 percent to 2.4 billion euros compared to the same period last year, the company announced on Wednesday. "Our market environment is increasingly recovering. This means that the risks for our business will also decrease in the coming months," emphasized CFO Marc Spieker. E.ON confirmed the forecast raised at the end of July, according to which, among other things, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the full year should be in the range of EUR8.6 to 8.8 billion. In the first six months, earnings climbed by 40 percent to 5.7 billion euros.

"Last year, the historically high procurement costs for gas and electricity posed a major challenge for us. We can now see that the wholesale markets are easing again, explained CEO Leonhard Birnbaum. This will enable us to lower prices for millions of electricity and gas customers again, as announced." E.ON is clearly on course for growth. In Germany alone, E.ON will have to connect six million new plants to its grids by 2030. "This requires an appropriate and legally secure investment environment."

The Federal Network Agency has announced higher returns for investments in new grids. According to this, there could be a return on equity of around 7.09 percent for investments in new plants, compared to the current 5.03 percent. This is not enough for the industry. It has called for improvements.

(Report by Tom Käckenhoff; edited by Sabine Wollrab. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).