Axpo: first half down sharply

Axpo, the Aargau power company, recorded a sharp drop in profits for the first half year 2015/2016, which ended in March, net profit amounted to 350 million francs, a -18%. Revenue fell by almost 5% to 3.04 billion. The statement today indicates that the company has continued to suffer the repercussions of low energy prices in the wholesale.

Negative impacts came from market distortions caused by subsidies granted by Germany to energy production, the weakness of international coal prices, oil and gas, as well as the decommissioning of one of the reactors at Beznau nuclear power plant, which will not be reactivated before the end of the year.

On the operational side EBIT amounted to 372 million francs, down 40% from the same period last year. The energy group renounces formulating forecasts for the year as a whole, merely stating that it will publish the company's results on December 21.