CEZ Group

Board of Directors of power company ČEZ today decided about proposal of dividend from profit of 2017 to be presented to General Meeting of Shareholders – 22.6.2018.

Preparations for connecting the Production Unit 4 back to distribution grid are under way at NPP Dukovany. The unit has been temporarily shut down seven days ago due to pipe inspections in the secondary circuit of the steam generator. The same controls will be also carried out on Units 3 and 1. The fourth unit will begin producing electricity during the weekend.

In 2017, CEZ Group’s net income increased by 30% to CZK 19.0 billion, primarily due to a successful sale of MOL stock and an increase in electricity generation by nuclear power plants by 4 TWh. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were CZK 53.9 billion. The year-on-year decrease by 7% basically conforms to the decrease of realization prices of generated electricity. The positive effects of higher electricity generation in nuclear power plants and the benefits of new RES and ESCO acquisitions were eliminated by higher costs of emission allowances for generation from traditional sources and settlement of uninvoiced electricity in 2016.

Tonight, the Temelín Unit 1 began to produce electricity again. It was scheduled shut down for refueling from early December. The outage lasted 83 days and the energy technicians mastered it six days earlier against the schedule. Prior to achieving full power, the energy technicians are about to test the Unit at 80 percent of the rated power.

The ČEZ Supervisory Board has granted consent to the sale of the Bulgarian assets to Inercom. The package contains seven companies: CEZ Bulgaria, CEZ Elektro Bulgaria, CEZ Razpredelenie, CEZ Trade Bulgaria, CEZ ICT Bulgaria, Free Energy Project Oreshetz and Bara Group. Following interest of investors in the second half of 2016, CEZ Group started the sales process, the signing of the contract is expected in a few days. Taking into account the sales price, the Group’s fourteen-year-investments in its Bulgarian operations yielded an overall positive return. The international arbitration, which ČEZ initiated against the Republic of Bulgaria in July 2016, is not affected by the transaction and ČEZ continues to proceed with it.

Prague, 30. January 2018 – CEZ Group wind farms operated in Germany generated nearly 270 million kWh of power in 2017. The Group owns 53 wind turbines in Germany, with their installed capacity totaling some 135 MW.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing EUR 50m to the Czech Republic Inven Capital Fund to develop a co-investment initiative to support the growth of clean energy and smart technology SMEs and midcaps. Czech energy utility ČEZ is contributing the same amount to this initiative so that the total financing available for joint co-investments to clean-tech and smart energy businesses is EUR 100m. The transaction is backed by the guarantee of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), which is the central pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe.

Prague, November 24, 2017 – Fast recharging of electric vehicles on the roads across Czech Republic and to neighboring countries is becoming ever more accessible. ČEZ Electromobility, the operator of the most extensive domestic network of public charging stations for electric vehicles, has succeeded in the European grant procedure for the construction of another 63 fast-charging stations. The construction will again be funded by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), through which the European Commission supports the process of interconnecting Europe by installing charging points along the TEN-T core road network. At the same time, ČEZ builds charging stations from its own resources as well.

CEZ Group’s net income increased by 13% year-on-year to CZK 16.6 billion, primarily due to sale of MOL stock. EBITDA decreased by 6% year-on-year to CZK 41.1 billion, primarily due to decreased realization prices of generated electricity and increased expenses on emission allowances. By contrast, there was a positive year-on-year effect of increased generation at nuclear and wind power plants. CEZ Group confirms its outlook for annual adjusted net income at a level of CZK 19 billion.

CEZ has agreed on the terms of sale of its Bulgarian hard coal-fired thermal power plant Varna.