The number of electricity deliveries in the Consumer and Business segments decreased by 17,251 in first quarter 2021. The Consumer segment decreased by 19,150 deliveries, while the Business segment grew by 1,899 deliveries.
In Q1, the Group experienced a negative one-off effect of about 10,900 deliveries from the Innlandskraft transaction, primarily due to stop of sales activities and the termination of the Eidsiva brand. The one-off effect from the termination was expected, however, the effect was larger than anticipated.
In Q1, the Fjordkraft brand and the TrøndelagKraft brand decreased by about 6,400 deliveries.
Extended Alliance grew by 2,908 deliveries in the quarter, and number of mobile subscribers grew by 2,280, while number of deliveries in the Nordic segment decreased by 3,466.
-It has been a tough first quarter due to the market dynamics, Covid-19 and negative media attention. In a high elspot price sentiment, the customer churn increases, and normally we are able to win new customers through our physical distribution. However, the majority of our physical distribution has been shut down due to Covid 19 this quarter. That said, the development in sales figures in the Business segment, Mobile and Extended Alliance are uplifting, and we expect a positive growth in the Consumer segment once the Covid restrictions are lifted, says CEO Rolf Barmen.
-The Nordic segment is developing as planned. The decrease in number of deliveries in the quarter is related to the phaseout of tender customers with low profitability. We experience a growth in sales figures in the strategic customer segments in both Sweden and Finland, says Barmen.
The Group expects to report an EBIT adjusted of about 210 MNOK in Q1 2021 (Q1 2020: 238 MNOK), and an EBIT adjusted margin of about 41% (Q1 2020: 49%).
-As mentioned, this has been a tough first quarter. The elspot price development last year was highly favourable, giving us a historically strong start to the year, while the elspot price development this year has been a lot more challenging. This has a negative impact, mainly on the Consumer segment, while the other segments are showing a positive development, says Barmen.
The number of deliveries at the end of Q1 2021 for all brands in the Group are presented below:
Consumer: 736,154
Business: 108,876
Nordic: 160,827
Extended Alliance: 58,918
Mobile: 134,675
Queries: Rolf Barmen, CEO, + 47 900 80 950
Morten Opdal, Head of Investor Relations, + 47 970 62 526