EDF warns could miss 2022 financial targets

French power utility EDF said on Monday it could miss its financial targets for 2022 due to selling power at below market prices and a lower nuclear output.

The company said that it now sees its earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) at around 10.2 billion euros for 2022, in comparison to more than 8 billion in a previous estimate.

“The scale and variety of the risks the Group is facing, particularly in an extremely volatile market context, and the analyses and works the Group has to perform on the French nuclear fleet in relation to the stress corrosion phenomenon recently identified, are likely to impact the Group's capability to achieve these objectives,”  said the state  funded company in a  statement on Monday. 

“Moreover, in the current situation, the impacts of the Ukrainian conflict and associated geopolitical tensions on all-kind risks are difficult to quantify,” they added.

EDF said it maintained its objectives at the end of 2023 of net financial debt / EBITDA of around 3 times and adjusted net debt / adjusted EBITDA of 4.5 to 5 times.

The company said that a government decree dated March 11th, agreed that the company has to sell additional 20 TWh of ARENH volumes for 2022.