RWE fully achieved all its targets in fiscal 2005, the German group said. Both the operating result and net income increased year-on-year. Earnings per share rose by 4.5%. Financial discipline bore positive results for the company as well. RWE reduced net financial debt to E11.4 billion.

RWE produced further organic growth in fiscal 2005. Net of non-operating effects (ie. excluding consolidation and currency effects – the operating result rose by 8%. Even including all one-off effects, RWE increased the group’s operating result by 4% to E6.2 billion. This growth was primarily due to the good earnings performance of the continental European energy business and ongoing efficiency improvements across all divisions.

Net of non-operating effects, EBITDA rose by 5%. At E8.3 billion, including all one-off effects, EBITDA was only marginally down year-on-year.

Net income rose by 4% to E2.2 billion. Apart from the positive operating performance, net income was marked by countervailing one-off effects that almost offset each other. One of the adverse non-recurrent effects was an impairment loss of E759 million on American Water, RWE said in a statement.

More focus on energy is the title of the new chapter in the RWE company history, said CEO Harry Roels in a press conference. We will simply focus our attention even more strongly on those areas where we have achieved the highest value added over the past years, Mr Roels explained.

Right at the top of RWE’s list of priorities is electricity generation. We have embarked on a massive investment program in order to ensure that we retain this competitive edge, Mr Roels stressed. He referred to the construction of the large-scale power plants in Neurath and Hamm and added that RWE was also investing in power generation at RWE npower in the UK.

Further expansion in downstream gas is also firmly on the firm’s agenda. In gas distribution in Germany, RWE is already number two, but lagging far behind the industry leader. According to Mr Roels, there is plenty of opportunity to grow in this segment and he mentioned the example of the planned acquisition of SaarFerngas from RAG that RWE is pursuing. Mr Roels can also see RWE acquiring gas pipelines or interests in gas pipelines in central and southeastern Europe.