In 2019 European Energy’s EBITDA totalled € 44.3 million (+32%) and the profit before tax was € 37.4 million (+44%), this compared to an EBITDA of € 33.6 million and profit before tax of € 25.9 million in 2018. The return on equity for the year reached 31.5%.
In the fourth quarter of 2019, the company had an EBITDA of € 14 million and a profit before tax of € 9.5 million. In the fourth quarter especially the sale of three wind parks in Sweden, Denmark and Germany, with a total capacity of 77.9MW, had a positive impact on the result.
The 2019 result underlines the company’s shift from being solely developer of renewable projects, and its transition to becoming partly a developer and partly an independent power producer (IPP), as electricity sales for the first time generated more profit for the company than the sale of energy plants. Electricity sales has grown from € 10 million in 2017, to € 19.8 million in 2018 and now € 30.5 million (+54%) in 2019. The operational assets more than doubled from 173MW in 2018 to 371MW (+114%) in 2019.
European Energy own assets produced 458,2 GWh in 2019, up from 327,5 GWh in 2018. In 2020, European Energy expects a higher EBITDA than last year. Due to the Groups acquisition of energy plants in 2019, the depreciation and financial costs will increase. The EBITDA level is expected within the range of € 52-58 million. The profit before tax in 2020 is expected to reach € 35-39 million.