Media: German Uniper does not plan austerity measures and job cuts

BERLIN, Sep 9 – PRIME. German energy company Uniper is not planning any austerity measures or job cuts, German business publication WirtschaftsWoche reported.

“To date, there is no job-cutting or group-wide austerity program,” a company spokesperson said. At the same time, according to him, Uniper is currently preparing “an energy saving concept for all facilities.”

According to the publication, despite the fact that the company was on the verge of bankruptcy and was able to avoid it thanks to government assistance, Uniper last week acted as one of the sponsors of the world’s largest gas exhibition Gastech, which was held in Milan, the event was attended by Indian energy ministers , Egypt and the UAE, as well as the former Federal Minister of Economics and Foreign Affairs of Germany, Sigmar Gabriel (SPD).

Earlier, the company reported that from June 14, it receives from Russia only a part of the gas supplies agreed under the contract. To ensure the security of supply for its customers, Uniper purchases the missing volumes on the market at significantly higher prices. Because Uniper has so far incurred higher procurement costs alone, it is now accumulating cash losses of more than €100 million a day, it said.

It was also reported that on July 8, Uniper requested state support from the German government, citing a reduction in supplies from Gazprom. Later, the main shareholder of the company, the Finnish Fortum, announced that an agreement had been reached with the German government on a comprehensive package of measures to stabilize the financial condition of Uniper. In particular, the German government will acquire a 30% stake in Uniper, provide it with additional capital of up to 7.7 billion euros as needed, and the German state bank KfW will expand the credit line for the company to 9 billion euros from the initial 2 billion euros.