The Electricity of France group, ODF, suffered one of the largest losses in the history of the Paris Stock Exchange’s CAC 40 index in 2022, pushing its debt to a record level of 64.5 billion euros. at the end of the black year.
The sales value of electricity giant Electricity de France increased by 70% to 143.5 billion euros thanks to higher energy prices. However, the group contracted with a very large net loss of €17.9bn compared to a profit of €5.1bn in 2021.
This is one of the largest losses recorded by the group in France, after France Telecom (20.7 billion euros) and Vivendi Universal (23.3 billion) 20 years ago.
With electricity prices skyrocketing, EF has returned a large number of French customers, but it has not been able to produce enough power plants and has been forced to buy electricity at high market prices.
Luke Raymond, the group’s chairman, who took office last fall when the company was facing huge challenges, told reporters of “significant sales growth driven by electricity and gas prices.”
However, he added: “However, the gross operating margin has been heavily impacted by the decline in nuclear production and the exceptional regulatory measures taken in France in 2022 under difficult market conditions.”
Raymond emphasized that nuclear plant production “ranges between 300 and 330 terawatt/hour in 2023”, noting that this is indicative of a “gradual recovery from the stress corrosion crisis”, i.e. the problem of microcracks that have been found on the part pipes, which led to the closure of a number of reactors from the end of 2021.
In 2022, at the height of the energy and climate crisis in the world, there was a decrease in the production of electricity from nuclear and hydraulic energy to historical levels. “The state will allow us to fund investments and meet the financial needs of the group,” said Xavier Geyer, the group’s chief financial officer.
Source: AFP.
