E.ON declines comment on media report it will post record annual loss

DUESSELDORF (Reuters) - German utility E.ON (EONGn.DE) said it would not comment on its expected financial results for 2016 after German paper Handelsblatt reported the company was set to post another record loss this year.

"We are not commenting on the figures," a spokeswoman told Reuters on Wednesday.

Handelsblatt, in a story published on its website on Wednesday and citing unnamed sources at E.ON, said the utility faced additional costs and writedowns that would tip it over 2015's record loss of 7 billion euros ($7.7 billion).

In August E.ON reported a first-half net loss of 3.03 billion euros. It faces further writedowns after a spin-off of power plant and energy trading firm Uniper, which it had valued in its books at around 12 billion euros, but is currently trading at a market capitalisation of 4.4 billion euros.

It will also face further costs due to a German law forcing utilities to pay into a fund for nuclear waste storage.

E.ON is due to publish its third-quarter results on Nov. 9.

($1 = 0.9120 euros)

(Reporting by Tom Kaeckenhoff; Writing by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Susan Fenton)