The Czech Group CEZ, which already announced its strategy of selling the assets from some Eastern European countries, including Romania, has set the deadline for doing this.
“Finalizing the selling of assets in Bulgaria, the selling of assets in the generation and supply segments in Romania, Poland and Turkey. Our purpose is to sell these assets by the end of 2022. These assets have contributed with 5.5 billion CZK (approx. 212.9 million euros) to the EBITDA result from 2018”.
This is shown in the recently published H1 results of the Czech group CEZ.
1 euro=26 CZK.
Recently, the officials of the Czech Group, who confirmed their intention of selling the assets in Romania, have stated that the operations undergoing in Romania “are successful and there is no pressure for a quick selling”.
“On June 26, the group’s shareholders voted a new strategy that describes the main development directions for the future and that includes giving up the assets in Romania. Right now, we are starting to work at the preparatory part of the sales process, but it’s too early to appreciate something about the next steps. We are not under time pressure to do this in the short term,” stated Ondrej Safar, country manager CEZ România.
The Czech group holds nine companies in Romania. The most important ones are the electricity distribution companies (Oltenia), the supply company CEZ Vânzare (1.4 million customers) and the wind park Fântânele-Cogealac (600 MW), the largest wind park on dryland in Europe.
How did the business evolve in Romania in the first half of 2018
The renewables production. The wind park produced 643 GWh, 8% more than in 2018, a weaker year. The group’s hydro power plants in Romania generated 46 GWh, the same as in 2018.
The electricity distribution. CEZ distributed in the first six months of this year 3.44 TWh of electricity, 1% more than in the first six months of 2018, in the Oltenia area. The grid losses were 452 GWh, dropping by 3%.
The electricity supply. The sales of electricity to final customers amounted 1.87 TWh, 14% above the level of 2018, of which 869 GWh were supplied to households (same level). However, CEZ sold in Romania on the wholesale market, a net of 1.64 TWh (11% increase).
Here is the financial data, after seeing the operational results. On the renewable side, EBITDA was 900 million CZK (34.8 million euros) in Romania, 17% higher than in 2018. On the distribution segment, EBITDA dropped by 17%, meaning 100 million CZK (3.87 million euros), to 700 million CZK (27 million euros), while on the supply segment EBITDA collapsed – a decrease of 79%, from 400 million CZK (15.4 million euros) in the first six months of 2018 to 100 million now (3.87 million euros).
