Virtual Uniper AGM votes for €501 million dividend payout; course laid for a green future
- Dividend up 19 percent year on year to €1.37 per share
- All earnings targets for 2020 reached despite difficult market environment
- Strong first quarter underpins earnings forecast for 2021
- Newly elected Supervisory Board members broaden energy-industry expertise
- Decarbonization guides actions; Fortum/Uniper Group already Europe’s third-largest producer of zero-carbon energy
Uniper’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) today in Düsseldorf was again entirely virtual due to Covid-19. Resolutions on agenda items were all adopted by a large majority of votes cast by the AGM. The voting results will posted on Uniper’s website www.uniper.energy/agm shortly.
Klaus-Dieter Maubach and Tiina Tuomela ended their service as Supervisory Board members effective the close of today’s AGM because they have been appointed Uniper SE CEO and CFO. In addition, Sirpa-Helena Sormunen has resigned from the Supervisory Board with effect from the end of April 30, 2021. As of May 1, 2021, she has assumed the function as general counsel of Uniper SE. Judith Buss, Esa Hyvärinen and Nora Steiner-Forsberg were elected as their successors today. Victoria Kulambi succeeds Ingrid Åsander, who is retiring and also stepping down from the supervisory board with effect from the end of today's AGM.
Uniper posted outstanding 2020 results in difficult market environment
At today's AGM, CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach presented shareholders a financially and operationally sound company.
Uniper CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach said: “In a difficult market environment, Uniper managed to achieve its 2020 targets and initiate a profound transformation toward a sustainable energy company of the future.”
In the 2020 financial year, Uniper significantly surpassed its prior-year earnings by recording adjusted EBIT of €998 million (2019: €863 million). The 2020 financial year benefited in particular from a successful gas business at the Global Commodities segment. The AGM voted for a dividend payout of about €501 million (€1.37 per share) for the 2019 financial year.
Based on its positive first-quarter earnings performance, Uniper increased the forecast range for full-year adjusted EBIT from €700 to €950 million to €800 to €1,050 million and the forecast range for adjusted net income from €550 to €750 million to €650 to €850 million.
Decarbonization guides actions
The Fortum/Uniper Group is Europe’s third-largest producer of zero-carbon energy and thus already doing its part for a successful energy transition. In view of the climate targets adopted in late April by the European Union and the United States, Uniper’s strategy focusing on decarbonization is right on track. Alongside establishing a renewables portfolio, Uniper will focus on gas with the aim of decarbonizing its gas portfolio over time as well as solidifying its strong expertise in hydrogen.
Klaus-Dieter Maubach said: “I’m pleased that Fortum supports Uniper’s strategy for more sustainable energy in the future. Both Uniper and the entire Fortum Group have made decarbonization the main guiding principle of their actions. Together, we’ll be able to propel the decarbonization of our businesses even faster and more comprehensively in the future—in the interest of a swift, efficient, and effective transformation toward a sustainable energy industry. We want to be a driving force in the energy industry’s transformation and successfully and enduringly shape the energy transition.”
About Uniper
Uniper is an international energy company with around 12,000 employees in more than 40 countries. The company plans to make its power generation CO2-neutral in Europe by 2035. With about 35 GW of installed generation capacity, Uniper is among the largest global power generators. Its main activities include power generation in Europe and Russia as well as global energy trading, including a diversified gas portfolio that makes Uniper one of Europe’s leading gas companies. In 2020, Uniper had a gas turnover of more than 220 bcm. Uniper is also a reliable partner for municipalities, public utilities, and industrial companies for developing and implementing innovative, CO2-reducing solutions on their way to decarbonizing their activities. As a pioneer in the field of hydrogen, Uniper is active worldwide along the entire value chain and is implementing projects to make hydrogen usable as a mainstay of energy supply.
The company is headquartered in Düsseldorf and currently the third-largest listed German utility. Together with its main shareholder Fortum, Uniper is also the third-largest producer of CO2-free energy in Europe.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Uniper SE Management and other information currently available to Uniper. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. Uniper SE does not intend, and does not assume any liability whatsoever, to update these forward-looking statements or to modify them to conform with future events or developments.
