Annual Report 2016 Financial Results
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Annual Report 2016 Financial Results 3 Only the German version of this Annual Report is legally binding. This Annual Report, and especially the Forecast Report section, contains certain forward-looking statements that are based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Uniper SE management and on other information currently available to Uniper SE management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause the actual results, financial condition, development or performance of the Company to differ materially from that anticipated in the estimates given here. Risks of this nature include, but are not limited to, the risks specifically described in the Risk Report. Uniper SE does not intend, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to update such forward-looking statements or to revise them in line with future events or developments. Contents Letter to Shareholders 2 Report of the Supervisory Board 4 Uniper Stock 10 Strategy and Objectives 13 Combined Management Report 16 Corporate Profile 19 Business Report 20 Macroeconomic and Industry Environment 20 Business Performance 29 Earnings 36 Financial Condition 42 Assets 46 Earnings, Financial Condition and Net Assets of Uniper SE 47 Non-financial Performance Indicators 49 Sustainability 49 Human Resources 51 Risk Report 56 Opportunity Report 63 Forecast Report 64 Internal Control System for the Accounting Process 68 Closing Statement by the Management Board in Accordance with Section 312(3) AktG 69 Additional Disclosures Regarding Takeovers 70 Corporate Governance Report 74 Corporate Governance Declaration 74 Compensation Report 80 Auditor’s Report 91 Consolidated Financial Statements 92 Consolidated Statements of Income 92 Consolidated Statements of Recognized Income and Expenses 93 Consolidated Balance Sheets 94 Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows 95 Statement of Changes in Equity 96 Notes 98 Declaration of the Management Board 201 List of Shareholdings 202 Members of the Supervisory Board 206 Members of the Management Board 207 Tables and Explanations 208 Glossary of Financial Terms 208 Financial Calendar 213 Letter to Shareholders Many of you decided to remain as shareholders of Uniper in the autumn of 2016, after our separation from the E.ON Group and our initial public offering. You have been joined by many new investors who are confident that we will play a key role in the energy world of tomorrow. On behalf of all of Uniper’s employees, I would like to express my thanks for your trust in us. The performance of Uniper’s share price, as well as our inclusion in the MDAX, underscore the confidence placed in us and motivate us to continue taking your company forward success- fully. So what does our comparatively young company stand for now, after an almost hun- dred-year history with its predecessor companies? Where are our opportunities and unique strengths in the ever more diverse energy industry? Energy is essential if we want to move things and get things done. We need energy for every- thing from moving the muscles in our bodies, to heating and lighting our houses and apart- ments, to supplying energy to entire cities or large industrial plants. Energy comes in many different forms: fire from coal or gas, heat from the light of the sun, or the movement of the wind. Some forms of energy can change, but they all have one thing in common—they set something in motion. That’s what we do at Uniper. Our business is the secure provision of energy and related services. We focus on power generation in Europe and Russia and on energy-related commodity trading worldwide—especially gas. Uniper generates energy from a variety of sources, but especially hydroelectric power, coal and gas. The fact that Uniper is not currently associated with renewable energies does not mean in any way that we are not modern, innovative or sustainable—just look at our 200 hy- dropower plants in Germany and Sweden for the proof. The energy transition that everyone—including Uniper—wants will only succeed through a combination of conventional and renewable energy providers. As a pioneer in the energy transition, Uniper is ensuring that power will continue to flow even when the wind isn’t blow- ing and the sun isn’t shining, and that gas remains available for industry and private house- holds. This is what gives me and my colleagues at Uniper the energy to take your company forward. To do this, we want to create value in three fields: we want to contribute to system stability in the European electricity and gas markets, take advantage of increasing integration in the global energy markets, and participate in the growing global electricity markets. With the expansion of renewable energies, demand is increasing in Europe for flexible gener- ation capacity to ensure that our energy supply remains secure and affordable. This is where Uniper comes in: with our flexible, dispatchable generation facilities and many years of expe- rience in gas procurement and storage, we play an important role in many European countries when it comes to security of supply. More and more countries—including large markets such as France, the United Kingdom, and Sweden—are recognizing that security of supply is not a given, and have already introduced new mechanisms for the provision of power generation capacity. These mechanisms, called capacity markets, guarantee that, even in stressful situa- tions, sufficient energy can be produced at fair prices, with competition between different providers. An ever-increasing proportion of Uniper’s generation fleet is competing successfully on this basis. In the United Kingdom, all seven of our power plants were successful in the capacity market auction held in 2016 for the period from October 2020 through September 2021. Uniper receives an appropriate fee to keep power plants online to compensate for fluctuations in the energy grid, thereby ensuring security of supply. This makes revenues from our power plants significantly more predictable. And it allows us to contribute to a secure energy supply in these countries. Uniper Annual Report 2016 2 Uniper is also one of Europe’s largest energy traders. We buy and sell a broad array of energy resources and products in a worldwide market for our own generation facilities and for our customers: natural gas, electricity, hard coal, liquefied natural gas (LNG), freight charters and emission allowances. Our trading activities help to connect global energy markets and at the same time broaden the supplier base by supplying gas to industry and to residential and business customers indirectly through our municipal-utility partners. We also see opportunities for Uniper in many countries outside of Europe, so that we can grow alongside the increasing energy demand around the globe. The latest World Energy Outlook from the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that demand is also rising for convention- ally-generated energy. The report states that fossil fuels, especially natural gas, will continue to play an indispensable role in supplying worldwide energy demand in the coming decades, despite the rapidly-climbing proportion of renewable forms of energy. Uniper’s operating business experienced solid development in the 2016 fiscal year, in what continues to be a challenging market environment. At €2.1 billion and €2.2 billion, respectively, adjusted EBITDA and operating cash flow have improved significantly. Our net loss for 2016, on the other hand, was particularly influenced by impairment charges that totaled €3.4 billion. In the context of reviewing our assumptions about the long-term developments in commodity and electricity prices, we recognized impairments and provisions primarily on generation facilities and in the gas-storage business. We are working on sustainably improving Uniper’s cash inflows and cost situation in order to enable us to navigate safely against a rugged headwind from the markets and have suffi- cient financial latitude. To this end, we have imposed strict discipline on expenditure and in- vestments. In a Group-wide program, Uniper is currently implementing a new and powerful reorganization. We want to reduce our annual controllable costs from €2.3 billion in 2015 by €0.4 billion to €1.9 billion by 2018. We had already achieved a significant portion of these cost reductions as of year-end 2016. We can also report success in reducing our economic net debt, which as of the Decem- ber 31, 2016, reporting date stood at €4.2 billion, just over €2.5 billion less than a year ago. Overall, Uniper has performed solidly in the 2016 fiscal year, both operationally and finan- cially. On the one hand, this gives us a good foundation in 2017 to ensure Uniper’s competi- tiveness over the long term. On the other hand, we have, as planned, the necessary latitude to pay out a dividend of 55 euro cent per share for the 2016 fiscal year. Dear shareholders, Uniper will succeed in helping to shape the energy world of tomorrow. We have the energy to set all of this in motion. This I promise you on behalf of our entire workforce. Our contribution to a secure energy supply will still be needed for a long time. We want to continue to improve our financial profile in the 2017 fiscal year and maintain our solid operating performance. At the same time, we want to continue taking advantage of market opportunities and innovations, and to identify new business for Uniper. We will focus, above all, on projects in which we can apply our experience and our technological expertise. This will enable us to create value for our customers and partners. By the end of 2018, Uniper should be sufficiently weatherproofed to allow us to begin looking for growth projects again. I look forward to your continued support as we move ahead on the exciting path of the energy transition.