RWE Q1 core profit triples on gas margin boost

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany's top utility RWE posted a surge in first-quarter profit on Thursday, citing soaring margins for its gas-fired power plants and a profit boost at its trading division, which was hit by Russia-related sanctions last year.

Preliminary adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were 2.8 billion euros ($3.1 billion), more than triple the same quarter last year.

Shares in RWE, which reaffirmed its 2023 guidance for core profit, were up 3.1%, at the top of Frankfurt's blue-chip index and hitting a three-month high.

The utility said adjusted EBITDA increased in all of its business segments except onshore wind and solar, which dropped by roughly 22% year-on-year to 247 million euros.

The strongest segment was hydro, biomass and gas, which posted a more-than-threefold increase to 1.18 billion euros. RWE cited "short-term power plant deployment of the international generation portfolio and higher generation margins".

At its trading division, hit in 2022 by an 850 million euro impairment in the wake of EU sanctions on Russian coal imports, first-quarter profits were 289 million euros, swinging from a year-earlier loss of 550 million.

The company maintained its dividend target of 1 euro per share for 2023 and still expects full-year adjusted EBITDA in a range of 5.8-6.4 billion euros, it said.

RWE is due to release final quarterly figures on May 11.

($1 = 0.9054 euros)

(Writing by Rachel More, Friederike Heine and Christoph Steitz; editing by John Stonestreet)