Gasum Group Q1 2022 – Energy market uncertainty affected to the company's result

• Revenue totalled €758.0 million (Q1/2021: €298.6 million)
• Comparable operating profit was -€11.3 million (Q1/2021: -€6.2 million)
• Balance sheet total came to €2,348.2 million (31.3.2021: €1,363.1 million)
• Equity ratio was 18.0% (31.3.2021: 35.7%)
• Gasum Board of Directors appointed Mika Wiljanen as Gasum CEO effective from 1 March 2022

CEO's Mika Wiljanen comment on first quarter of 2022:

“Our performance during the first quarter was reasonable, despite the uncertainty caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine and the overall volatility of the market. Gasum has been monitoring closely the development of the war in Ukraine and its impacts on the energy sector. The geopolitical situation has affected gas prices, and fluctuations have continued during the first quarter of 2022.

The Group’s revenue was €758.0 million, operating profit was -€11.3 million and adjusted operating profit was €5.7 million. Despite the changes taking place in the operating environment, the profitability of our Group’s business reached the projected level.

Gas imports from Russia to Europe have continued, but the geopolitical situation and related sanctions imposed, as well as any additional sanctions and countersanctions and their consequences, result in uncertainty over the company’s operations, demand for gas and gas deliveries. The Russian supplier of natural gas has demanded payments for gas to be made in rubles and stated that it may restrict supply if the contractual amendments
are not accepted. Contractual obligations in the event of the discontinuation of deliveries of natural gas and liquefied natural gas could be significant. The company is mitigating the risk of supply cuts by exploring alternative supply methods, for example.

We are monitoring the situation actively and maintaining an active dialogue with relevant national authorities and stakeholders to ensure compliance with EU policies as well as any legislation and regulations that come into force, including sanctions. To prepare for the situation and any changes, Gasum is working on mitigating measures.

We have made good progress towards reaching our sustainability targets and continue to help our customers to improve their emission targets-based performance by reducing their carbon footprint. Despite the challenging market situation in our operating environment, we progressed in the first quarter with our key segments – Industry, Maritime and Traffic.

In the industry business, this period saw us conclude a long-term windgenerated renewable power agreement with Renewable Power Capital (RPC). Essity’s tissue mill in Sweden started to produce tissue paper on a large scale without fossil CO2 emissions, having switched over to LBG for all deliveries. We entered a supply agreement for LNG and LBG with sugar company Sucros Oy during the period. In addition, we agreed on a comprehensive energy market services partnership with Yara Suomi, in which we will be responsible for Yara’s 24/7 operations on the power market, including electricity procurement and sales, energy balance management, metering and distribution system operator (DSO) services.

In our maritime business, we continue focusing on developing environmentally friendly products. There is growing interest in the shipping industry in an environmentally friendly fuel that is regarded as a competitive advantage when moving towards stricter emission reduction targets. In the traffic business, we continued expanding our network of gas f illing stations by opening two new stations in Hämeenlinna and Kotka. During the first quarter, biogas-fuelled delivery trucks were taken into use by Onninen, part of K Group, for its logistics. Gas-fuelled vehicles play a key role in reducing transport emissions. We are scaling up our biogas production, and by 2025 Gasum intends to make 4 TWh of biogas available on the market from its own production and that of certified European partners. The company is developing the biogas plant production network in the Nordics.

In our maritime business, we continue focusing on developing environmentally friendly products. There is growing interest in the shipping industry in an environmentally friendly fuel that is regarded as a competitive advantage when moving towards stricter emission reduction targets. In the traffic business, we continued expanding our network of gas f illing stations by opening two new stations in Hämeenlinna and Kotka. During the first quarter, biogas-fuelled delivery trucks were taken into use by Onninen, part of K Group, for its logistics. Gas-fuelled vehicles play a key role in reducing transport emissions.

We are scaling up our biogas production, and by 2025 Gasum intends to make 4 TWh of biogas available on the market from its own production and that of certified European partners. The company is developing the biogas plant production network in the Nordics. 

We will continue to focus strongly on continuously improving our business development despite the challenging circumstances. I would like to thank our customers for their confidence in Gasum and our employees for their successful work during these challenging times in Q1 2022.”

Read  more about Gasum Group financial result Q1 2022 >