German financial regulator to audit Baywa’s 2023 annual report

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From pv magazine Germany

Germany’s financial regulator, BaFin, is auditing Baywa AG’s 2023 financial report due to evidence of potential accounting issues. BaFin reportedly aims to assess the accuracy of BayWa's risk and financial disclosures.

BayWa has released updated figures for the first three quarters of 2024, reporting €16 billion in sales and a €77.6 million EBIT loss, expanding to €299.8 million when including impairments, especially in renewable energy. In 2023, BayWa reported €18 billion in sales and positive EBIT of €214.6 million.

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November’s Africa-focused edition of pv magazine looks at the prospects of ‘Made in Africa’ solar panels and novel approaches to involve PV companies in funding grid infrastructure and to make buying domestic solar electricity as simple as getting the groceries. Elsewhere, we consider intercontinental interconnectors and India’s nascent green hydrogen industry.

However, overcapacity and price drops in the PV market led to high inventory writedowns and revenue challenges in energy trading. Delays and reduced income from energy projects contributed to the losses, with BayWa re’s renewable energy sales dropping from €4.3 billion to €2.9 billion and a drastic decline in EBIT from €105.8 million to a €164.8 million loss.

For BayWa’s energy sector, sales slightly declined from €2 billion to €1.9 billion, with EBIT falling from €13.5 million to €4.5 million due to weakened demand for new heating systems amid Germany’s energy policy uncertainty.

Sales in the energy segment dropped year over year from €2 billion to €1.9 billion. EBIT decreased from €13.5 million to €4.5 million, and with impairments factored in, it fell further into the red at -€0.2 million.

“The reason for the drop in operating earnings was ongoing uncertainty surrounding Germany's Building Energy Act and the resulting dampened willingness to invest in new heating systems such as heat pumps and pellet heating systems,” said the company.

 

Baywa re plans to publish a final restructuring report this year. The first draft, prepared by Boston Consulting Group in October, highlighted positive future prospects if specific restructuring measures are implemented.

“The core of the planned measures is a stronger focus on the business areas that have a positive market forecast and in which Baywa re already has a good competitive position,” it says.

The strategic goal is to create a focused project developer for solar, wind, and battery storage solutions while continuing operations as an independent power producer (IPP).

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