By Christoph Steitz and Christian Kraemer
FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) -Bailed-out Uniper said it expects billions of euros in profits in 2023 as a result of better-than-expected gas price developments, sending the German energy company's stock up by 17%.
The company, which became the biggest corporate casualty in Europe's energy crisis last year, also said it was weighing repaying part of the state aid it received to stave off its collapse, raising hopes Berlin could pare back its 99% stake.
Germany's Finance Ministry said it had taken note of the positive developments, confirming that under EU state aid requirements Berlin would have to cut its stake to 25% plus one share by the end of 2028 at the latest.
It confirmed that Berlin was still planning to present an exit roadmap to Brussels by the end of 2023.
Uniper said positive hedging transactions in coal- and gas-fired power generation as well as gas trading, mean it now expects both adjusted EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) and adjusted net profit to reach a mid-single-digit billion euro sum in 2023, it said late on Tuesday.
It previously expected positive earnings, without specifying.
Uniper, in preliminary results for the first six months, also said it expects adjusted first-half EBIT of 3.7 billion euros ($4.1 billion) compared with its previous loss of 757 million euros.
"These very good figures are the result of a strong operational performance in a favourable market environment," Chief Financial Officer Jutta Doenges said, adding the results gave Uniper a tailwind for the implementation of its strategy.
The company, which has so far received around 20 billion euros in government equity and loans, said it would review its obligation to repay excess amounts under EU regulation, adding it was in talks with the German government over the matter.
In May, Uniper, which is due to report first-half results on Aug. 1, reported a first-quarter net profit of 6.7 billion euros following the release of significant provisions it made after Moscow's move to stop gas supplies.
Its main supplier, Russia's Gazprom (MCX:GAZP), last year suspended gas deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline, which was later damaged in an act of sabotage.
($1 = 0.9053 euro)