DGAP-News

EVN AG: Business development in the 1st Half-year 2012/13 - Seite 3

March 31st, 2013, which is 2.9% higher than the level on September 30th,
2012. Equity rose by 3.3%, to EUR 3,113.5m; the equity ratio equalled 44.1%
can be seen as stable. Based on net debt of EUR 1,734.7m (September 30th,
2012: EUR 1,703.7m), gearing equalled 55.7% which represents an improvement
of 0.8 Percentage points over the value on September 30th, 2012.


Developments in the energy and project business

Changes on the energy market gave EVN an opportunity to offer the Federal
Network Agency in Germany reserve capacity for a further three years. A
total of 785 MW will be made available during each winter half-year to
provide Southern Germany with energy on demand.
After the successful testing and initiation of the boiler at the
Duisburg-Walsum coal-fired power plant, the general contractor Hitachi has
started an inspection of the turbines following damages to two similar
machines in Japan. Consequently, a delay in the start of operations cannot
be excluded.
Electricity production of renewable sources could be increased by more than
25% in the first six month of the financial year. In Macedonia, EVN took
over the operation of seven small revitalised hydropower plants in February
2013. The plants were leased up to January 2013. EVN now operates eleven
small hydropower plants with a total capacity of 48 MW in this country. In
addition the Ashta hydropower plant in Albania, which was built through a
joint venture with Verbund, has supplied electricity to the Albanian
federal energy company since April 2013 within the framework of a
concession agreement. The total capacity equals 53 MW. In addition EVN
registered better water flows in comparison with the previous year as well
as higher volumes from the Inn River power plants.
EVN AG informed the Republic of Bulgaria in March that it would start
international arbitration proceedings to protect its investment in the
Bulgarian network and distribution companies. This formal announcement
represents the start of a three to six-month consultation and negotiation
period.
In the environmental services business one of Europe's largest wastewater
purification plants could be successfully brought into service in Warsaw.
This facility purifies wastewater for 2.1 million residents. The
development of the environmental projects in Moscow is currently proving to
be difficult: for example, the construction permit for the second waste
incineration plant has still not been issued.


Outlook

Conditions on the European electricity and gas market remained challenging