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CEZ to Scale Back Investments on Power Outlook, Trading Director Says
CEZ AS, the Czech Republic’s largest power producer, will scale back investments next year as it is not clear that electricity prices will continue to rise, Trading Director Alan Svoboda said.
A lack of transparency in commodity prices makes a return on investment difficult to predict, Svoboda said yesterday in an interview in his Prague office.
“Some experts expect a rapid rise in prices, others think commodity prices, and especially electricity, can stagnate or fluctuate wildly,” he said. “We have to adjust our ambitions for further growth and investments accordingly.”
He declined to offer specific forecasts for how much CEZ may adjust its investments. The company spent 57 billion koruna in 2009 ($3 billion) on costs associated with such projects as expansion and modernization, according to CEZ documents, the most since at least 2005.
State-controlled CEZ has been expanding in central and eastern Europe to boost revenue and compete against other utilities such as E.ON AG and RWE AG. The company made three foreign acquisitions last year, purchasing power producers in Turkey and Romania and coal miner Mibrag AG in Germany.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ladka Bauerova in Prague at lbauerova@bloomberg.net
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