PRAGUE (Reuters) -The adjusted earnings of EP Infrastructure, which owns firms like Slovakia’s Eustream that is a main transporter of Russian gas to Europe, climbed 14% in 2022, as price swings in gas storage were used to compensate for lower flows from Russia.
The company, majority-owned by Czech energy group EPH, said on Tuesday that adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 1.46 billion euros. EPH is owned Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.
Its gas transmission segment recorded a drop of 155 million euros in EBITDA as Russian gas flows shrank 55% overall to the European Union and Britain. Volumes through Eustream fell 37%, EP Infrastructure said.
“The Gas Storage segment played the most essential role from a diversification perspective, as gas delivery insecurity and highly volatile commodity prices contributed to the outstanding Gas Storage performance that almost fully offset the Gas Transmission underperformance,” EP Infrastructure (EPIF) said.
The gas storage business increased EBITDA by 200 million euros last year. EPIF said unusually high gas spreads in the market in the second half of 2022 enabled sales of short-term capacity at high prices.
EPIF, in which Macquarie funds acquired a 31% stake in 2017, said it remained resilient to global frictions in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, although it was monitoring risks.
It said a large part of its revenue was dependent on pre-booked capacities, like ship-or-pay or store-or-pay contracts.
The group generated adjusted free cash flow of 750 million euros in 2022, a touch below the previous year.
EPIF has four outstanding bonds worth over 2.35 billion euros, according to its website.
(Reporting by Jason Hovet, editing by Jan Lopatka and Bernadette Baum)