Fortum (OMX: FUM1V) keeps making solid money. Second quarter operating profit was 609 million Euro and earnings per share were 0.53 Euro. Nordic power consumption decreased a bit but that was offset by a slight advance in Russia. The company CEO Tapio Kuula says that uncertainties have arisen as a result of economic situation and energy policy sentiment in Europe.
Fortum says it understands the heightened nuclear safety concerns. The company says that wide political and social acceptance for nuclear power is important to Fortum. It stresses that climate change argument must not be forgotten in energy policy decision. CEO Kuula says that nuclear power will continue to have important role in Fortum’s operations and feels that German decision to scrap nuclear power will increase demand for natural gas, coal and wind based solutions.
Fortum expects Nordic power demand to be back at 2008 level by 2012-2014. Current Nordic water reservoirs are about 2 TWh below long-term average but up strongly from 2010 levels at the same time. Freshly completed Russian wholesale power market liberalization and Fortum’s new capacity coming online should bring solid earnings going forward.
Fortum is preparing for further growth and aims to maintain balance sheet strength to enable grabbing attractive growth opportunities. The company expects 2011 and 2012 annual CAPEX to be around 1.6 to 1.8 billion Euro. Fortum is down nearly 2% at 18.28 Euro per share at 14.45 local time. Interim report is available here.
No comments:
Post a Comment