Annual General Meeting 2001 of EnBW Energie Baden- Württemberg AG / EnBW seeks continued growth through partnership concepts in Germany and Europe

Karlsruhe (PROTEXT/ots) - EnBW also striving for more competition in the interests ofcustomers EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG aims to continue on the pathof growth through the year 2001 - primarily through strongregional, national and Europe-wide partnership concepts. This wasaccording to Gerhard Goll, Chairman of the Board of EnBW, at thecompany's Annual General Meeting 2001, held in Karlsruhe onWednesday. "Our concern is not to sell as much electricity aspossible, but to be the most popular electricity provider withcustomers, and hence the most successful". "The market in which EnBW operates is characterized by bothobstructive and dynamic forces," is how Goll described the marketsituation, reporting that the obstructive forces had placed astrain on annual profits for the year 2000 and were expected alsoto put added pressure on profits for the financial year 2001.Goll put the figure for additional expenditure arising throughthe unjustified refusal to grant supply-access licences and thecreation of obstacles to such access as being in the region ofseveral 100 million marks. Goll asserted that the customer too was suffering from thecontinuing disputes between electricity suppliers and networkoperators. "Customers are the victims of the restrictions onaccess," stressed the EnBW Chairman. All network operators whoimpose such restrictions should consider that they too havecustomers and want to keep them. The efforts by the GermanFederal Cartel Office to combat such market restrictions arewelcomed and supported by EnBW. EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG "But there also exists a considerable dynamic since the marketis reorganizing itself," continued Goll. Thus, in 2000, EnBWEnergie Baden-Württemberg AG's sales rose by 45.8% to DM 11.4billion. Electricity consumption rose by 42.2% to a total of 77.9billion kilowatt hours (kWh). Net income for the year rose by29.8% to DM 351, while the result from ordinary activities fellby 43.7% to DM 488 million. This development has continued into 2001. In both 2000 and2001, EnBW has been able to considerably increase its customerbase, and this success is attributed essentially to compellingpartnership concepts, as the recent contract with StadtwerkeDüsseldorf AG, for instance, has shown. Here, using itsinnovative partnership concept, EnBW had managed to assert itselfagainst far higher purchase-price offers from two other bidders. EnBW reports also to have pursued a partnership concept overits commitment to the Spanish mixed group Hidrocantabrico, whereit was not EnBW, but its partner enterprise Ferroatlantica, whichacquired a majority shareholding in Hidrocantabrico. Togetherwith French partner EDF, EnBW wishes to remain active in Europeanmarket development. To date, EnBW is the only German energycompany which is able to supply its customers with electricity ona Europe-wide basis. In addition, cooperation agreements withNeckarwerke Stuttgart AG and ZEAG AG (Zementwerk undElektrizitätswerk Heilbronn AG), as well as the company's holdingin Salamander AG, have also contributed to growth. This trend is continuing. Over the current financial year,EnBW is predicting a growth in sales to DM 15 billion, and isfurther anticipating significantly higher net income for theyear, as well as a higher result from ordinary activities. Goll is convinced that the 8-times oversubscription to thecontingent convertible bond issued by EnBW in May, as well as theA+ rating given to EnBW by Standard and Poor's, both representproof of the fact that the EnBW strategy is also accepted andsupported by the capital market.

ots Original Text Service: EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AGInternet: http://www.presseportal.de

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