The Government of France intends to take control of 100% of the share capital of the energy company Électricité de France (EDF) with the aim of reinforcing the French country’s energy independence, as confirmed by the French Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne , during a speech before the National Assembly.
“I confirm to you today that the State intends to control 100% of EDF’s capital,” said Borne, exposing the priorities of the French government, which currently controls 83.88% of the power company’s capital.
The renationalization of EDF will mean fulfilling one of the promises made during the campaign for his re-election last March by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who had defended the nationalization of the company to reinforce French energy independence and as a pillar of the strategy to achieve the ambition of zero emissions by building new nuclear plants.
“We will be the first great ecological nation”
“We will be the first great ecological nation to get out of fossil fuels,” said the French prime minister, for whom the climate emergency requires forceful and radical decisions.
We need to be in full control of production and our energy future, Borne added, stressing that the pandemic has shown excessive dependence on foreign industries. “We can no longer depend on Russian oil and gas,” he added.
Last April, EDF completed a capital increase of 3,150 million euros, in which the State subscribed some 2,700 million equivalent to its weight in the company, in order to finance the Group’s development operations between 2022 and 2024; strengthen the credit rating and its access to financing markets; and more generally, to strengthen the financial flexibility of the electricity company.
An attributable net profit of 5,113 million euros
The utility French obtained in 2021 a net attributable profit of 5,113 million euros, which is practically eight times more than the result of 650 million euros recorded the previous year, while the gross operating result (Ebitda) increased by 11.3% , up to 18,005 million.
Likewise, during the past year the company reached a turnover of 84,461 million euros, 22.3% above the revenue recorded in 2020. However, EDF’s net financial debt increased to 43,000 million euros .
EDF shares, which during the first half of the session had traded in negative, reacted with strong increases to the French Prime Minister’s announcement and ended the day on the Paris Stock Exchange with a rise of 14.53% to close at 8 .98 euros, its best price since last April. Even so, so far this year, EDF shares are down more than 11%.
The electricity company began trading on the Stock Exchange in 2005 and reached a historical maximum price of over 75 euros in November 2007, compared to just under 9 euros today.