MVV posts record profit, proposes dividend hike, special dividend

MVV Energie AG

14/12/2023 09:00

FRANKFURT, Dec 14 (Reuters) - German regional utility
MVV Energie  MVVGn.DE  on Thursday posted a record annual
profit, helped by firmer electricity prices, trading gains and
asset sales, and proposed a dividend increase by 9.5% for its
2023 fiscal year ended in September.
    MVV, based in Mannheim where the city owns a 50.1% stake in
it, said it planned to raise its dividend to 1.15 euros per
share for 2023 from 1.05 euros in the previous year. 
    It will also propose a special one-off dividend of 0.3
euros.
    "For MVV, 2023 was a strong year in which we leveraged our
climate course and our broad business portfolio successfully,
despite difficult framework conditions," CEO Georg Mueller told
the firm's annual results news conference in Frankfurt.
    Adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose to 880
 million euros ($959 million) from 353 million a year earlier,
said MVV, in which Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group's  8306.T 
First Sentier Investors owns a 45.1% stake.
    Mueller noted the results were buoyed by the sale of its
Czech Republic activities and shares in the Ingolstadt local
utility.
    Operating earnings in 2024 will likely be 10% above or below
400 million euros, versus 747 million in 2023 representing the
880 million euros figure without disposal gains, MVV said.
    Mueller criticised the Berlin government for lacking speed
in helping permit wind and solar power installations and in
creating a reliable legal framework for the move to carbon-free
gases and carbon capture.
    ($1 = 0.9172 euros)

 (Reporting by Vera Eckert, editing by Jason Neely)
 ((vera.eckert@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 2201 33654;
@EckertVera;))