DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - Germany's largest gas wholesaler Uniper expects significantly lower losses than recently assumed. According to preliminary figures, losses from gas replacement procurement costs for fiscal 2022 amounted to 13.2 billion euros, the company announced in Düsseldorf on Wednesday. Added to this would be expected future losses from continuing gas replacement procurement costs of around 5.9 billion euros, making a total of around 19.1 billion euros. At the beginning of November, the recently nationalized group had put this figure at around 40 billion euros.

The costs were incurred after Russia first supplied less and then no more pipeline gas to Germany last year. In order to be able to continue supplying industrial plants and more than 500 municipal utilities with gas, Uniper has since been buying natural gas at significantly higher prices on other markets.

Uniper emphasized that actual losses and expected losses from gas replacement procurement costs would continue to fluctuate significantly in the future as gas prices change.

"The amount of future expected losses is mainly based on the gas prices at the valuation date," Uniper CFO Tiina Tuomela said. Because of the significant decline in gas prices at the end of 2022, expected losses for future gas replacement costs could have been reduced from around €30 billion to around €5.9 billion, she said. "In future quarters, Uniper's earnings will continue to depend on the level of gas replacement procurement costs." These costs, in turn, depended quite significantly on the price of gas.

For fiscal 2022, the company now expects a loss before interest and taxes of around €10.4 billion (previous year: €1.2 billion). In terms of adjusted net income, the company expects a loss of around €7 billion, compared with €906 million in the previous year. Uniper plans to publish exact figures on February 17./tob/DP/jha