OREANDA-NEWS. E.ON today reported nine-month earnings that were in line with its expectations. It therefore continues to anticipate full-year 2014 EBITDA of €8 to 8.6 billion and underlying net income of €1.5 to €1.9 billion. Nine-month EBITDA declined by seven percent year on year to €6.6 billion. The absence of earnings streams from divested companies and adverse currency-translation effects were the main factors. On a like-for-like basis-that is, adjusted for portfolio changes and currency-translation effects-E.ON's EBITDA was above the prior-year level.

EBITDA at the Renewables segment is growing continually and this year has again surpassed €1 billion. Renewables' share of E.ON's total EBITDA, which was 17 percent at nine months, is rising. The Generation segment, which encompasses conventional and nuclear power generation in Germany and other European markets, posted higher EBITDA thanks to non-recurring effects such as the savings in nuclear-fuel taxes resulting from the planned early decommissioning of Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power station. Earnings were also higher at the Exploration & Production segment, which delivered EBITDA of €0.9 billion.

"Our nine-month results have us on course for our full-year forecast," E.ON CFO Klaus Schäfer said. "We're working continually to improve our performance and to optimize our portfolio. Our cost-cutting program is making very good progress, and we've already met our full-year target of achieving €1.2 billion in lasting savings. At the nine-month mark we also reduced our debt by €1.2 billion, in particular because of the positive development of our operating cash flow."