Economic development  [Certified Content]

Sales revenue in the Grid segment deteriorated by 10.9 % to € 236.6 million. This decline can essentially be attributed to the absence of transit revenue as well as the Europe-wide halving of the export tariffs in connection with the drop in export volumes. Sales revenue from the Grid segment accounted for approx. 10 % of total sales.

The EBIT also dropped significantly by 18.1 % to € 76.2 million. The reduction in sales revenue had a negative impact on the EBIT and could only be compensated in part by cost reductions. The Grid segment generated around 24 % of the group EBIT.

Return on capital employed (ROCE), the interest accrued on interest-bearing capital, deteriorated from a high level to 17.3 %. Capital employed only fell slightly by 0.4 % to € 438.8 million but the result dropped significantly.

Investments in plant, property and equipment were up on the low level of the previous year at approx. € 30.8 million. The main investment projects include the 380 kV line construction project in Styria, the remote control program for the grid facilities, the transformer exchange program and the increase of transformer capacity to a number of subgrids. Investments in the Grid segment accounted for approx. 40 % of the overall investment volume.

The continuation of the early-retirement scheme led to an 11.2 % reduction in the number employees to 454. Approx. 17 % of the group’s staff is employed in the Grid segment.