The high electricity prices are a big challenge for us. But we do not need to issue shares and we have satisfactory liquidity. We have control, says Chairman Gisele Sveva, who since March has also been the company’s CEO.
Small electricity sales company GNP Energy, which is listed on Euronext Growth, is postponing the presentation of its 2021 annual report to June 17, according to a stock exchange announcement Tuesday afternoon.
The report states that “the Board of Directors wants further quality assurance of the outcome and overall effects of record high energy prices throughout the past year.”
The company also wrote that it expects a deficit in 2021 of around 120 million NOK before tax.
It is noteworthy that 2021 was a difficult year for players in the energy industry, both for suppliers and customers. The company says the “significant shortfall” is due to higher purchase prices, agreements and commitments to customers.
“The 2021 result also includes one-time effects and provisions for losses on customer agreements. As a result of the growth of profits, large-scale changes were made in areas such as organization, management, system support, product portfolios and sales organization,” the company writes in the report.
GNP Energy is headquartered in Sandefjord, with subsidiaries in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. GNP Energy is valued at 159.6 million NOK.
Promises of improvement this year
Although electricity prices this year are at least as high as they were last year, senior manager Sveva promises improvement. It stuck to its guidelines this winter and reported an operating profit of about 40 million kroner this year.
– We’ve renegotiated many contracts, and we’re now in a much better position than we could have imagined just a year ago, says Sveva.
He says the company had a major commitment in the form of fixed-rate agreements, which resulted in significant losses as electricity prices rose to new record levels, meaning the company had to buy expensive and sell cheap. The company still has a large portfolio of fixed-price contracts.
GNP Energy does not produce its own electricity, but is a pure intermediary between producer and consumer.
Sveva says Finland has long been the toughest market, but Sweden is now the most challenging. He says the company generally loses out on higher prices.
There is no perfect price, but there is no doubt that prices will not return to the levels to which we are accustomed. We are now preparing for a new reality with higher prices and greater volatility, says Sveva.
Identified major shareholder
Board member Glenn Nostdahl is the largest owner of GNP Energy, with just over 58 percent of the stock. The second largest owner is investor Arne Fredly, who owns privately and through AF Capital Management less than 20 percent of the shares.
Network millionaire Finn Ørjan Sæle, known for his ownership in direct sales firm Zinzino, owns 0.19 percent of the stock in GNP.
The company went public in December 2020. The share price is down just over 40 percent since it debuted, and is down 5.4 percent on Tuesday afternoon.
New CEO
At the same time, it turns out that Heine Wang has agreed to take the position of the company’s chairman.
Wang is the former CEO of Nukas and president of the NHO. Wang will take over as CEO Geisel Sveva, who also served as GNP Energy’s board chairman for a transitional period.(Conditions)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link that leads directly to our pages. All or part of the Content may not be copied or otherwise used with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.
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