German utility giant Uniper posts record 40 billion euro loss as Russia's gas shutoff 'scars' its results

• Germany's Uniper posted a record 40 million euro ($39.3 billion) loss for the first 9 months of 2022.
• Russia choked off gas flows to Germany, forcing the utility giant to buy new supply at higher prices.

German energy giant Uniper has posted a record 40 billion euro ($39.3 billion) net loss, one of the steepest in corporate history, after taking a hit from Moscow's moves to choke off its natural gas supplies to Europe.

The Düsseldorf-based company was forced to pay significantly more for natural gas to replace the lost imports from Russia, it said in a financial update Thursday.

"To ensure customers' supply security, Uniper has for some time been procuring gas at significantly higher prices and, as is well known, has thus recorded considerable losses because the replacement costs of procuring new gas aren't being passed through to consumers," Uniper CFO Tiina Tuomela said in the statement.

"Our half-year numbers already indicated that this has left massive scars in our financial results," she said.

The energy group reported net losses of 40.4 billion euros for the first nine months of 2022, compared with a 4.7 billion loss in the same period a year prior. Uniper shares were down 3% in Frankfurt trading on Thursday.

Germany has taken the brunt of Russia's retaliation against Western sanctions over the Ukraine war. State-run Gazprom's gas supplies via the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline have been cut to a trickle in what some European leaders have described as Moscow's "weaponizing" its energy exports.

That raised worries about an energy crisis in Europe, forcing Germany and other countries to scramble for alternative sources of supply before winter sets in. Gas storage targets have been hit, relieving that pressure for now.

As Uniper struggled, German government said in September it would nationalize the utility giant in an 8 billion euro deal, with details yet to be finalized.

Uniper said it expects a significantly negative full-year of net income for 2022, at levels below those of 2021.

"Given the high degree of uncertainty regarding gas volumes actually received in the future and the relevant price levels for purchases of replacement volumes, a more precise earnings outlook cannot be provided at present and for the foreseeable future for the full fiscal year 2022," it said.