Announcements

Today, on 30 August the unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements of Latvenergo Group of the first 6 months of 2019 are published.

Latvenergo Group’s revenue in the first half of 2019 has not changed considerably compared to the respective period a year ago and comprised EUR 451.6 mill. The Group's EBITDA amounts to EUR 147.0 mill. which is 22% below last year and which was determined by the decrease of power generation by the Daugava HPP's due to lower water inflow. During this half of the year Latvenergo Group has successfully continued operations on the natural gas market by selling 143 GWh of natural gas which is almost a triple amount of the relevant period last year. Also the amount of retail sale of the electricity in the Baltic countries has increased by 45 GWh. The number of contracts for installation of solar panels has increased very intensely.

During the first six months of 2019 Latvenergo Group successfully operated on new markets and actively offered new services under Elektrum brand in compliance with the operating strategy.

In February this year, Latvenergo launched sale of natural gas to households and 143 GWh of natural gas in total already sold this year (51 GWh during the first half of 2018). The number of corporate natural gas customers in the Baltic countries is 618. The total volume of natural gas consumed by the Group and sold to customers reaches 3,274 GWh during the report period; Latvenergo Group is the second biggest natural gas consumer in the Baltic countries.

The number of signed contracts on solar panels of Elektrum Solar has increased considerably and there are more than 130 contracts at the end of the first six months of 2019. The biggest increase is on the Lithuanian market. During the 6 months of 2019 solar panels of Elektrum Solar were installed for 66 customers with the total capacity of 530 kW. Elektrum actively developed the sale of products which provide value added to customers, are logically justified, suitable and needed. Besides the products of Elektrum Solar and Smart House, also LED light bulbs and electrical scooters are offered at Elektrum e-shop as from May this year.

During the first half of 2019 Latvenergo Group has generated 2,373 GWh of electricity and 1,139 GWh of thermal energy at its plants. Power generation by the Daugava hydro power plants has decreased by 42% due to twice as low water flow compared to the last year and amounted to 1,141 GWh. Power generation by the combined heat and power plants of Latvenergo AS, whose importance has increased even more on the scale of the Baltic countries due to the considerable reduction of generation at the oil-shale based plants in Estonia, increased by 6% in the first half of 2019 compared to the last year and amounted to 1,205 GWh. The thermal energy generation decreased by 21% during the first half of 2019 compared to the relevant period last year and this has been affected by competition and warmer weather during the heating season.

Totally 3,365 GWh of electricity were sold to customers in the Baltics during the report period and this is 45 GWh more than the respective period last year. The number of customers outside Latvia reaches 35 thousand to whom approximately 1/3 of retailed electricity was sold, amounting to 1,233 GWh.

The revenue of Latvenergo Group during the first half of 2019 is similar to the last year and amount to EUR 451.6 mill. The Group's EBITDA decreased by 22% and equals EUR 147.0 mill. and the Group's profit is EUR 54.0 mill (EUR 97.2 mill. last year). The results were mainly affected by lower power generation at the Daugava HPP's.

The total amount of investment by Latvenergo Group has increased by 3% during the first half of 2019 compared to the first six months last year and amounts to EUR 99.6 mill. 82% of the total investment were made in the network modernisation in order to provide higher quality and safety of the services. In the first half of 2019 EUR 8.5 mill. have been invested in the reconstruction of the hydro power units of the Daugava HPP's and this will secure their operation during the next 40 years. The total envisaged investment in this project exceeds EUR 200 mill. by year 2022. Construction of Kurzeme Ring is scheduled to be completed this year with the total investment of close to EUR 230 mill. Construction of the Third Power Network Connection between Estonia and Latvia is scheduled until the end of 2020 and the investment there will be close to EUR 100 mill.

On 14 June Latvenergo AS was awarded the Platinum (highest) category of the Sustainability Indexfor the seventh consecutive year and the highest evaluation during its participation record, i.e. 97.3%. The evaluation of the company according to international requirements in all the corporate social responsibility areas is promoted by sustainable capital investment, responsibility towards the customer, environment and employees and governance compliant with the international practice.

The next interim report 2019 of Latvenergo Group for 9 months will be published on 29 November. The unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements of Latvenergo Group for the 6 months of 2019 are available at Investors/ Reports.