Uniper swings to $10 billion net profit

STORY: Uniper has swung to a nine-month net profit of $10.35 billion.

The German energy giant was helped by falling gas prices, which meant it no longer expects to make a loss on its purchases.

Tuesday's announced results were a massive improvement on the same period last year, when the company made a net loss of $42.7 billion.

Uniper's struggles began when costs to replace Russian gas led to a crisis that forced the German government to bail it out.

The results come a week after Uniper gave its outlook for 2023.

The firm said it expected full-year adjusted net profit of up to around $5.3 billion.

The company's finance chief called the result and outlook "literally extraordinary".

The strong nine-month results are essentially due to the mark-down of derivatives Uniper uses to hedge its positions in the gas market.

A massive decline in prices has dissolved forward losses initially expected through next year.

The market developments effectively bring the size of Uniper's bail-out down to $26.5 billion in equity and government credit lines.

That's less than half the amount first expected.

The company can now focus on how to return to the market after Berlin took a 99% stake as part of the deal.

Investors liked what they heard on Tuesday (October 31), sending Uniper shares up 5.3%.