(Bloomberg) -- Uniper SE increased its earnings forecast for 2024 after the German utility settled long-running legal disputes.
Uniper would not disclose further details of the agreement because it’s a legal matter. “Just this much: Gazprom Export is not involved,” said Oliver Roeder, a company spokesperson.
The accord resulted in the release of earlier provisions created for the cases that will be recognized in earnings for this quarter, Uniper said in a statement late Wednesday, without providing more details.
The company was bailed out in 2022 by the German government, after Uniper — once the biggest buyer of Russian gas in Germany — was forced to pay hundreds of millions of euros a day for alternative supplies during the energy crisis.
Uniper was awarded more than €13 billion ($13.7 billion) for losses related to the gas volumes not supplied by Gazprom Export from the middle of 2022 to this summer. It is not yet possible to estimate whether any “significant amounts” could be expected, Roeder said.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization will now be in a range of €2.5 billion to €2.8 billion in 2024, compared with the previous estimate of €1.9 billion to €2.4 billion.
It is not clear if the agreement will impact the €2.5 billion that Uniper plans to transfer to the German government early next year. There will not be an update on this until the full 2024 financial year, as the valuation is carried out on a quarterly basis, Uniper said.
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