BERLIN: German energy giant EON said that it booked a record loss of 8.45 billion euros (US$12.7 billion) in 2016, after massively overvaluing its coal and gas-fired power generation business which was spun-off late last year.
Previously, EON had already run up a bottom-line loss of almost 7 billion euros.
EON’s write downs have swelled to about 25 billion euros over the past four years as a power price slump eroded the value of its conventional power plants. To adapt, the utility listed its Uniper SE unit in September to focus on renewables, grids and retail customers. EON had to keep its German nuclear reactors.
EON proposed a dividend of 0.21 euros a share for last year, rising to 0.30 euros for 2017.
Adjusted net income fell 16 per cent to 904 million euros. The figure, which does not include writedowns and earnings from minority-owned Uniper, beat the 829.3 million euro average estimate of 16 analysts compiled by Bloomberg.
The utility forecast it will be between 1.2 billion euros and 1.45 billion euros this year.
