Revenue of the energy transmission and exchange company group EPSO-G in the first nine months of the year amounted to EUR 444.7 million and represented an increase of 95% compared to EUR 228.3 million in the same period last year. The Group's results were significantly impacted by the change in energy flows following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the rapid increase in energy prices. This also resulted in significant increase in Group's costs from January to September, which amounted to EUR 487.5 million.
After Lithuania stopped importing natural gas from Russia, the Klaipeda LNG terminal became the main source of gas in the Baltic States, resulting in a significant redistribution of gas flows. More gas is being transported towards Latvia and, since May this year, towards Poland. Transporting gas to adjacent transmission systems has increased revenues and changed their structure. The extremely high natural gas prices more than doubled revenues from natural gas transmission services to EUR 49.3 million, while revenues from gas flow balancing services increased significantly. The increase in the Group's revenues was also driven by an increase of EUR 93 million in electricity imbalance and balancing revenues due to the rise in electricity prices.
According to Mindaugas Keizeris, CEO of EPSO-G, the Group's financial results accurately reflect this year's developments in the Lithuanian energy sector. "The Group continued to make significant investments in strategic infrastructure that strengthens the country's energy independence. The increase in electricity and gas prices almost doubled the Group's consolidated revenues, but operating costs grew even more significantly, resulting in negative profit figures for the year. The Group derives most of its revenues from regulated activities, therefore, taking into account the future adjustment of the financial results, the Group has been profitable and successfully continues the implementation of strategic projects and investments in them", said Mindaugas Keizeris when commenting on the results.
Nearly 30 terawatt-hours (TWh) of gas were delivered to Lithuania in the first nine months of the year, excluding gas transit to the Kaliningrad region. This is an increase of 45% compared to last year. However, 13.2 TWh of gas was transported to Latvia alone for storage at the Incukalns underground storage facility and for the needs of the other Baltic countries and Finland - 8 times more than in the same period in 2021.
The main performance indicators for electricity transmission remained relatively stable this year. 7.6 TWh of electricity was transmitted through high-voltage transmission networks to the needs of the country's population and businesses in January-September, a decrease of 4.5% compared to the same period last year.
Participants of the "GET Baltic" gas exchange, which operates in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland, traded 4.6 TWh in the first nine months of the year. On the "Baltpool" energy exchange, Lithuanian heat supply companies, independent heat producers and industrial companies purchased 5.1 TWh of biofuels in January-September. This is an increase of one third compared to the same period in 2021.
The Group's operating costs rose 3.5 times to EUR 487.5 million in the first nine months of the year, due to a significant increase in energy prices. As a result of these higher costs, EPSO-G Group's EBITDA was negative at EUR -16.4 million in the period of January-September. In the same period last year, the Group's EBITDA was EUR 62.1 million. The Group made a loss of EUR 38 million, with a net profit for the first nine months of 2021 of EUR 32.9 million.
The Group's adjusted EBITDA, after taking into account the adjustment of the transmission operators' results in subsequent years for prior periods, the difference between actual technological losses and the price set and other factors, was positive and amounted to EUR 46.8 million this year. The Group's adjusted net profit for the year amounted to EUR 14.2 million.
The EPSO-G Group's investments amounted to EUR 89.4 million in the first nine months of the year. "Amber Grid", the EPSO-G Group's company, invested EUR 37.3 million in the gas transmission system this year, while "Litgrid" invested EUR 30.3 million.
The EPSO-G Group consists of the management company EPSO-G, its five direct subsidiaries "Amber Grid", "Baltpool", "Energy cells", "Litgrid" and "Tetas", and the indirectly controlled "GET Baltic". On 30 September, the EPSO-G Group had 1 368 employees.
