EDF announces a historic loss of 5.3 billion euros in the first half of 2022
The company, which is in the process of renationalization, is suffering from increasing nuclear reactor shutdowns and being forced to sell its electricity to other suppliers.
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As household energy bills soar, energy company EDF is in trouble itself. The company announced on Thursday, July 28, after suffering an historic loss of 5.3 billion euros in the first half. “Has there ever been a semester in the history of EDF where the numbers were this negative? I highly doubt it”paid tribute to its CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy during the presentation of the results.
They can be explained in particular by the decline in nuclear power generation since the beginning of the year: 12 of the 56 reactors in France are shut down due to corrosion problems, and 18 others are programmed for maintenance work. “To a lesser extent”hydroelectric power production has also fallen, explained Jean-Bernard Lévy in a press release.
He also attributes the losses to this “the effect of the customs shield introduced in France” to mitigate electricity price inflation on household bills. To that end, the government has actually forced EDF to sell cheaper electricity to its competitors. This forces the company to compensate by buying electricity on markets where the price is particularly high against the background of the war in Ukraine.
However, EDF’s turnover has increased significantly (+ 67.2%) to 66.262 billion euros, helped by the sharp increase in electricity and gas prices in Europe.
It is therefore a group in serious difficulties whose renationalisation is being prepared by the state through a takeover bid (OPA) for the 16% of shares not owned by the state. Net financial debt, which was 42.8 billion euros at the end of June, was stabilized by a capital increase of 3.1 billion euros that started in March.
