Dear ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Uniper Analyst and Investor Conference Call Full Year Results 2022. At our customer's request, this conference will be recorded. As a reminder, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions by styli-dialing star one one on your telephone. May I now hand you over to Stefan Jost, who will start the meeting today. Please go ahead.
Good morning, dear analysts and investors. I would like to welcome you to this morning's conference call on Uniper's 2022 results. Our CFO, Tiina Tuomela, is here with me today to share the key events and financial numbers on an exceptional year, focusing on the financial stabilization of the company. I'm also pleased to welcome Sebastian Veit as Uniper's new head of investor relations, succeeding our great colleague, Adam Strzyz. For a number of years, Sebastian successfully led Uniper's governmental relations team, and he's known as an exceptional leader with great communication skills. Please welcome Sebastian in his new role. There will be plenty of occasions in the future for a get to know. As usual, we will have a Q&A session at the end, and I hand you over to Tiina, please.
Thank you, Stefan. A warm welcome from my side. Before I turn to the numbers, allow me a few personal remarks. This is my last analyst and investor call for Uniper before returning to Fortum in April. Dear analysts and investors, I would like to thank you all for your strong commitment to Uniper. I also take the opportunity to especially thank the entire team at Uniper for their relentless work. Supported by the financial commitment of the German government, Uniper has the basis to take its future into its own hand with a new senior management. 2022 was a real watershed year for Uniper. With major effort and the EUR 1 billion stabilization package agreed between the German government, Uniper, and Fortum, a successful turnaround has been initiated. At year-end 2022, the German government held a 99.12% stake in Uniper.
In return, the state injected fresh equity totaling of EUR 13.5 billion in December 2022, and moreover, bought the Uniper shares from Fortum. Let me guide you through the elements which stabilized Uniper's financial base at the end of the year on the next slides in a moment. The primary headline results for 2022 financial year were already published in the ad hoc release on February 1st, 2023. The final figures now look slightly different, as we had to conclude a loss of control over Uniper meanwhile. Hence, Russian power generation is no longer included within our continuing operation, but reported as discontinued operations. The profit or loss, as well as cash flow and KPI figures for the previous year were restated as discontinued operations.
Adjusted group EBIT in fiscal 2022 totaled a loss of EUR 10.9 billion compared with a positive result of EUR 955 million in the prior year period. Adjusted Net Income also slipped sharply into negative territory. These result figures include about EUR 13.2 billion of realized additional costs for procuring replacement gas volumes due to Russian curtailments. Excluding this dominating effect, Uniper's underlying business performance in this extraordinary market situation was strong overall. The total losses from gas replacement procurement recalculated in the annual financial statements 2022 now stand about EUR 19.1 billion instead of about EUR 40 billion as reported in our Q3 results, driven by significantly lower market prices as compared to the end of September. The 2023 financial year will be a transition year for Uniper.
At the top of the agenda is to push ahead with financial stabilization and portfolio rotation. The latter is crucial to comply with the remedy measures of the EU Commission. First steps are already underway, as demonstrated by the swift sale of Uniper's stake in the BBL gas pipeline and United Arab Emirates-based crude oil processing and marine fuel trading business. What I like, Uniper retains the integrity and a well-balanced portfolio and significant financial firepower to invest into its transformation. Let us now take a look at Uniper's current situation and where we stand with our stabilization. The equity position shows a significant improvement since the end of Q3, and even returned to positive territory at EUR 4.4 billion at the year-end 2022. This turnaround has two main drivers.
First, the cash capital injection of EUR 8 billion by the German government, and then an initial drawdown of EUR 5.5 billion from the newly created authorized capital in December 2022, following approval by Uniper shareholders at an extraordinary shareholders meeting and following the state aid approval by the EU Commission. Second, significant reversal of provisions were made in the balance sheet for the full year 2022, in particular, as a result of the remeasurement of provisions for the expected additional costs for procuring replacement gas volumes based on significantly lower market price at the end of December compared to end of September. Please continue to the next slide. The agreement with the German government stipulates that the additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes for the period until 2024 will be absorbed through equity injections.
Uniper will make an own contribution of 30% per year from its adjusted EBIT between 2022 and 2024. Additional losses from the gas replacements costs are excluded from these numbers. The realized additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes in fiscal 2022 amounted to about EUR 13.2 billion. At the year-end 2022, the provisions for anticipated future additional costs for procuring replacement gas volumes was recalculated and reduced sharply to EUR 5.9 billion. On this slide, you can see schematically how much the potential losses would swing with different gas prices on the market. Of the equity shield backed by the federal government, up to EUR 33 billion, EUR 19.5 billion is still accessible. Against this background, the remaining amount of the newly created authorized capital is considered sufficient in most gas price scenarios.
On the next slide, you can see another facet of how Uniper is in the process of improving its financial position. Cash margining requirements from forward sales via commodity exchanges or bilateral sales under margining agreements were significantly lower at the end of 2022 than in recent quarters. Lower commodity market prices were the main factor contributing to the sharp recent decline in liquidity requirements. Uniper also been actively working to reduce the margin on forward deals through a prudent hedging strategy. Not to forget the usual positive seasonality effect with more delivers in winter. There are less liquidity reserve required to serve margining needs going forward. The financing headroom at the end of 2022 is a consequence of the successful implementation of the stabilization, including the equity measures.
The main purpose of the KfW facility is to provide a bridge financing for gas replacement costs until these costs get compensated by the state via equity injection under the newly created authorized capital. This protection against losses from Russian gas flows also provided a strong signal of governmental support for the banks, supporting renegotiation of credit lines and help to normalize day-to-day operations in Uniper's other businesses. Moreover, the credit rating agency Standard & Poor Global had recently reaffirmed an investment-grade rating for Uniper. Going forward, the issue of gas replacement costs will be overcome latest by the end of 2024, and therefore, the extraordinary financial support from the state via equity injection and also via KfW credit facilities to support liquidity needs will be phasing out over time.
In a first step, the EUR 18 billion KfW facility has been reduced to EUR 16.5 billion for 2023, and will be gradually reduced further in the subsequent years. All in all, financing stabilization has taken a huge step forward so far. Portfolio rotation with a specified disposal list required under the state aid approval of the EU Commission is high on the management radar. The deadline to deliver on the commitment by 2026 gives Uniper sufficient leeway. Overall, the future portfolio will be more focused on Uniper's core markets in Northwestern Europe, which keeps the potential for synergy effects. What are the most prominent candidates on the disposal list? To start with our Russian shareholding, Unipro has been put up for sale internally since 2021 as communicated before.
A transaction has been agreed with a Russian buyer in 2022, but the political approval for the transaction is still outstanding and highly uncertain. Further Russian sanction legislation has further impaired Uniper's ability to exercise control as a major shareholder. As a result, Unipro was deconsolidated at a significant loss at the end of fiscal 2022 and is now reported as discontinued operations in our annual report 2022. On the power generation side, the disposal list consists of Datteln 4 coal-fired power plant in North Rhine-Westphalia and gas-fired power activities in Hungary. For sale are certain gas pipeline interests, which are less of strategic relevance than in the past. They're off our 20% pipeline participation in the U.K. Dutch Gas Pipeline, BBL, was already being sold. There are also market share limitations in the gas sale business in Germany.
All in all, it is substantial list of remedy commitments. At the same time, it allows Uniper to implement its strategy and transformation path. On to the figures from 2022 financial statements. Let's start with the overview of Uniper's main operating indicators. Physical gas storage levels at the year-end in 2022 in Europe were unusually high, driven by revised regulatory framework, strong LNG imports, and coupled with demand reductions and thanks to mild temperatures. This certainly took a lot of the jitters out of the market. Gas storages in the EU were nearly 85% full at the end of December 2022. Uniper storage level as of the reporting date was even a tick higher than Germany's overall fill level of 90%.
Power production in our European Generation segment recorded a decrease in power generation of 7%, but only a small decline adjusted for disposal effects. Uniper's outright fleet, with its Hydro and nuclear power generation, recorded a slightly lower output overall. While the hydropower plants in Northern Europe delivered more electricity, the German power plant suffered from a severe drought last summer. Higher volumes and nuclear were held back by extended outages at our Oskarshamn three power plant and at the Ringhals four power plant participation. Output at our fossil power plants was satisfactory against the background of weak overall demand for electricity in Europe. Overall, we recorded a slight drop, which was far more than offset by our higher spreads.
The output of our coal-fired power portfolio was supported by a temporary return of the 875 megawatt Heyden four power plant to improve security of supply in Germany, which has been scheduled for closure. Another positive factor, we were allowed to fully run Dutch power plant Maasvlakte three after the cancellation of the output cut as a consequence of Dutch security of supply measures. Output from our gas-fired power plants in 2022 was slightly down. The U.K. remains the far most important market for gas-fired power generation for Uniper. Carbon emissions of European Generation and Global Commodities decreased by 7%, in particularly because no more lignite has been burned since October 2021 following the disposal of our one lignite plant. European Generation's carbon intensity fell slightly below the rate of 400 grams per kilowatt hour.
Let's now move on to our key financials for the 2022 financial year. As said before, the comparison numbers for 2021 were adjusted for discontinued operations of our Russian power business. The operating results marked the bottom and a turning point for Uniper. Uniper's key financials have been significantly impacted by the additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes also in the Q4 of the 2022 financial year. This masks a very solid underlying result. Looking at adjusted EBIT and adjusted EBITDA for the 2022 financial year, the figures are highly positive if the realized additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes of about EUR 13.2 billion are isolated. I'll get to the key result drivers on the very next slide. The Operating Cash Flow clearly reflects the high realized additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes.
There was a considerable increase in working capital as a result of the sharp year-on-year rise in commodity prices paired with higher gas injections and a raised coal stock. With regards to Adjusted Net Income, the realized loss was partly offset by corresponding positive tax effects. Group net income and economic net debt were weaker than prior year, but significantly better than in the last nine months report. The group published net income for 2022 of -EUR 19 billion was materially up versus Q3 2022, with a reported net loss of EUR 40.3 billion. The difference between Adjusted Net Income and published net income is mainly driven by non-operating accounting effects relating to the Russian business, as well as the results from discontinued operations.
First, a provision of EUR 5.9 billion in our segment Global Commodities for the anticipated additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes. Second, asset and goodwill impairments totaling EUR 3.1 billion, including a Nord Stream 2 loan impairment of EUR 1 billion. Third, another major impact stems from the deconsolidation of Unipro, leading to a deconsolidation loss of EUR 4.4 billion. Economic net debt at the end of the year showed a significant recovery compared to Q3 numbers as a result of the cash equity injection of the German government in December 2022. On the next slide, I would like to dive into the key drivers of adjusted EBIT. This slide clearly shows how the additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes completely dominate Uniper's performance in the 2022 financial year.
In contrast, for other activities have been able to contribute positively to the company's earnings development. In general, it shows that Uniper is capable of generating additional earnings in a volatile market environment. In the Global Commodities segment, the earnings contribution of the commodity gas activities remained healthy as a result of successful optimization business, including the optimization of our storages capacities. The Global Commodities sub-segment International reported an EBIT loss in the mid three digit million EURO range. The result was dented by a loss of deliveries of contractually secured LNG cargos due to a fire at the U.S. LNG liquefaction terminal Freeport. Missing volumes had to be procured alternatively on the market at the higher cost.
The commodity power business with optimization and power trading made an unexpectedly strong year and spurt and delivered its highest contribution to date to the earnings of the Global Commodities segment. The European Generation business achieved a substantially improved operating result overall in the 2022 financial year. The fossil portfolio converted elevated spread into higher margins. This effect was particularly evident in Q4 2022. Adjusted EBIT was additionally driven by the reversal of the intra-year carbon pacing in Q4. Earnings drivers at fossil power portfolio were hard coal-fired power plants in all European markets we operate in. Rising spreads had an increasingly positive margin impact here over the course of the year, and were only partly burdened by higher costs from the diversification of coal procurement contracts away from Russian sources. The gas-fired power plants repeated a good prior year performance in 2022.
Our U.K. gas-fired power plants in particularly contributed to the business success thanks to high spreads. Earnings at outright were significantly lower than a year earlier. Earnings of our Swedish Nuclear activities slipped more sharply than planned into the red zone. Swedish Nuclear was mainly impacted by inflation-related higher additions to the provision for decommissioning and dismantling obligations and unplanned unavailability. By contrast, Hydro's earnings were slightly higher year-over-year, thanks to an excellent final quarter in fiscal 2022. In view of improved availability in Q4, additional spot volumes were sold at high prices, especially in the Nordic markets. This also compensated the supply restriction resulting from the low water levels in Germany last summer and deteriorating EPAD, i.e. electricity price area differentials in Sweden. We remained cautious in hedging our outright position given the margin requirements involved.
A positive trend in hedge prices was visible in the year-end number compared to locked-in prices back in September. The operating results as well as the deconsolidation loss of Russian Power Generation, namely Unipro, is now reported within the line item income loss from discontinued operations in our profit and loss. Following a round-up of the key operating earnings drivers, I would now like to turn to operating cash flow, which was also the focus of our recent ad hoc announcement. Coming to the operating cash flow, which came in at minus EUR 15.6 billion. Besides of the recorded operating loss, the main driver here was the sharp increase in working capital requirements. Significant increases in commodity purchase prices contributed to this.
At the same time, we increased cash inventories in our storages and coal supplies at our power plant site due to political requirements and an improved market environment and all at higher purchase cost. In addition, there was a base effect resulting from liquidity optimization measures in 2021, with OCF being shifted at the expense of the year 2022. Now to the latest figures on Uniper's net debt. At year-end 2022, economic net debt stood at EUR 3 billion, which is EUR 2.7 billion higher compared to the end of 2021. At the end of the Q3 of fiscal 2022, economic net debt still amounted to EUR 11 billion as a result of the realized additional cost for procuring replacement gas volumes due to Russian curtailments.
Although the continued accumulation of losses further deteriorated operating cash flow through to the end of the year, the equity injections of EUR 13.5 billion by the German government in December marked a significant turnaround in Uniper's net financial position. At EUR 0.6 billion capital expenditure in at the lower end of the planned. Here, we had to put the brakes on our growth plans, in particular due to uncertain development. In 2022, growth investment amounted to just under EUR 0.2 billion. Lower pension provisions were supportive for Uniper's net debt, reflecting higher interest rate. The discount rate for German pensions rose to 3.7%, for the U.K. even to 5%. This was offset by higher provisions for asset retirement obligation, mainly as a result of higher allocation to the Swedish nuclear provisions.
I would like to conclude my presentation with an outlook of the key earnings drivers for fiscal 2023. The financial impact caused by the replacement of Russian gas supplies will remain the decisive swing factor for Uniper's group earnings development in 2023. This means that Uniper is unlikely to have sufficient control over earnings development in 2023 due to commodity price fluctuation that continue to be difficult to predict. Today, we can provide an outlook for 2023 with a qualitative direction compared to 2022 actuals. Based on the current commodity spot and forward market prices for gas for 2023, the adjusted EBIT and Adjusted Net Income for the group would turn out about prior year levels. It should be a good year for the European Generation segment. The generation portfolio should benefit from a fundamentally higher average price level.
We also expect year -1 of effects, i.e., G from the absence of the switch in our coal procurement mix last year. Moreover, such high allocation to provision with respect to nuclear power generation should not repeat again. For the Global Commodities segment, lower burdens from the replacement procurement of Russian gas could likewise result in a earnings improvement. Finally, a few closing remarks. Uniper has a strong operational core base, which has to be further developed for the future and a changing energy market. The first step, stabilization through the strong financial commitment of the German federal government, has been successfully put us back on track. The group's net debt and return to positive equity at the year-end 2022 are clear evidence of the turnaround achieved. A new management board team will set the new targets in close consultation with the new supervisory board.
From here, Uniper can once again look to the future with more confidence. This brings me to the end of our presentation today. The floor back to you, Stefan.
Thank you, Tiina. Dear listeners, we can begin our Q&A session now. As always, please try to stick to the two questions only. Operator, handing it over to you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Jost. Now we will begin our question and answer session. If you have a question for our speakers, please dial star one one one your telephone keypad now to enter the queue. Once your name has been announced, you can ask the question. One moment, please, for the first question. The first question comes from James Brown from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. thanks for the presentation. I've got three questions, but maybe I'll come back for the third in the queue. Firstly, there was some comments earlier from Tiina that the business now had very significant firepower to invest in the business. You also showed, in the sensitivity slide on gas losses that basically there aren't, you know, gonna be any or aren't gonna be many losses, given, you know, where the gas price is at the moment. Should we take that as a sign that you don't need any more equity injections from the German state? That's question number one. Secondly, on the tax losses.
I see that your deferred tax assets have only gone up about EUR 800 million or so to EUR 2.8 billion. I was wondering whether you could just talk through a bit the thinking there. You know, why you felt like you couldn't access most of the tax losses that could have been crystallized this year? Whether there are any other ways that you can access those losses? Thanks.
Thank you. Thank you, James, for your questions. The first one relates to the future of the gas losses and potential need for equity injections. As stated, there is quite big volatility what comes to the gas prices and therefore I think it is very uncertain to say exactly what are the numbers and need for additional equity injection. I think with the current prices, clearly, significant improvement if we compare to September prices, clearly positive trend. I think we are cautious and therefore we look at quarter by quarter and see that how the situation developed.
Therefore, we are pleased that we have the authorized capital of EUR 25 billion, where we have already used EUR 5.5 billion to secure in case there are in a way further gold payment costs. Your second questions are related to tax losses. The taxes really developed quite interestingly this year. First of all, if we look at the tax rate on our adjusted and net income, that increased to 32%. This is due to the high losses in Germany, namely these replacement gas losses. However, what we did, we in a way impaired and derecognized them in our net income statements.
The reason being that because the gas replacement costs were so high, we saw that it's not certain if we can use those in the coming years, therefore we only partly recognize this under IFRS.
What would the gross tax losses be, please?
Thank you.
Sorry, James, what was that? The question again. We didn't get that.
Sorry. I was just asking, what would the gross tax losses be, please?
Sorry. Still, it didn't come through.
Okay. I'll follow up with IR.
Yeah, makes sense.
We're now going over to our next question. Our next question comes from Sam Arie from UBS. Please go ahead.
Hello. I think that's for me, it's Sam from UBS. Morning, everybody. Two questions. I think, Tiina, you said something interesting about the Russia disposal, that you have a transaction set and a buyer and so on, but you're just waiting for the political approval. If I understood that right, can you confirm for us what's the valuation on the assets that you're seeking approval for? I think that'd be very helpful information. My second question was just, maybe into a bit of detail, but obviously there was a negative in the nuclear that you've reported this morning. Sorry, you said that was due to outages and additional provisions. I just wondered if you could just clarify for us how much those negatives are related to Ringhals versus Oskarshamn?
My assumption is it's probably mainly a Ringhals effect, and Oskarshamn was okay. Can you walk us through that? Thank you.
Hello. Good morning, Sam. Starting with the Russian disposal. As stated, we started the sale process internally already in 2021. Last year we made the agreement with the Russian buyer. Naturally, unfortunately, the valuation is confidential for the transaction. However, we see that we need to seek the approval from this presidential approval, and currently, as stated, we see that very uncertain. The question about the nuclear. The result was negative, and I would say that half of the change was coming from the unplanned outages.
We, as you said, we had the outages in Oskarshamn 3, but I think the bigger impact came from the Ringhals 4, where we have the participation, so we are not in operating the plant, but of course, get the power. The outage has taken longer time and is actually still continuing. That will impact us, that we have less power and partly we have hedge, so we need to buy the power from the market. The other part of the reduced nuclear profitability comes from the asset retirement obligation.
This was the year when we updated the plan for the local authorities. With the current inflation environment, so the costs for the decommissioning and the nuclear waste costs increased and therefore, when discounted to today's value, so the provision increased, and that had a negative impact to our profitability. This year, this impact should not occur again. It is the kind of the one-time impact and also what comes to the production volume. We expect more normal operations once the Gonyu repair has been finalized.
Okay, thank you. That's really helpful. On the nuclear, I think that's clear. Just a quick follow-up, if you'd forgive me on Russia. I understand you're not going to disclose the valuation, but just help us out, broadly speaking, should we think of it as a fair value that you've negotiated and you're waiting for approval on? Or should we think of it as a sort of rock bottom knock down price in order to, you know, just get out of the Russian exposure at least, you know, hopefully at some positive number?
Thank you. Thank you, Sam. I fully understand the interest for the number. Unfortunately I'm not able to disclose any number. That would be a few, in a way, speculation at this moment. Clearly, I think positive thing, agreement in place, but asset very uncertain in this political environment.
Okay, excellent. Well, thank you very much. Thanks for your presentation and, you know, good luck also to you, Tiina, with everything that comes next.
Thank you very much, Sam. That's very kind of you.
Thank you.
We are now going over to the next question. Our next question comes from Louis Bourgeat from ODDO BHF. Please go ahead, sir.
Yes, good morning. Thank you for taking my question. Two on my side, maybe the first one coming back on the tax loss. I understand that part of it can, might not be recovered in the future, but maybe, knowing that most of it came from Germany, could you let us know how long are you going to be able to recover the tax loss in Germany in the future? At what time it will not be possible anymore to recover this loss, and they will be loss for you. The second question would be regarding the graph that you provided to us on the slide page five. We understand of course, that close to EUR 50 per megawatt-hour, there is no more loss to be expected on your portfolio.
However, the question would be the following. What happens if the gas prices had to drop below EUR 7? Does that mean that you will be able to capture the better margins and to keep it, or will you have to pass it through your customers? If we have a stable price on the gas, let's say for instance at EUR 75 per megawatt-hour in the next two years, does that mean that we should recognize two-third of the loss in 2023 and one-third in 2024, considering that the volumes fade away going forward? That would be my question on this slide. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you for Louis, for your questions. Basically what comes to the tax losses, as far as I know, there is no restriction how to use it. Basically it is for the future. It's more we took the very prudent view to the how much we recognize and therefore we embed part of the deferred tax asset. What is left, no limitations. Your second questions was about the gas requirement cost and what happens if the in a way, prices get in a way lower than what we have sold to the market. Of course, we would benefit from the situation.
I think how the stabilization package, first of all, has been in a way planned that we get the additional equity only for the incurred costs. Then our own share to participate to this replacement cost is 30% of our EBIT, which excludes the gas procurement costs. This is done in a way, checked on the yearly level. In case there is in a way lower needs, so we will, we would distribute the in a way, in one way or other, the kind of the benefit to the back to the German government. This is clearly something, of course, what we need to work with the German government, how the formula works.
The plan is that we only get the compensation for the realized losses, including then our own contribution from the EBIT, excluding the procurement costs.
Thank you. With regards to the assumptions in terms of volume impact, is it correct to consider on a stable gas price environment that more or less two-third of the expected loss would be recognized this year and one-third, in 2024? Or is it half?
All right. Yeah. Basically if I give a very rough estimate, I would say that most, maybe even 85%, is coming 2023, and then remaining 15% in 2024. Mostly, this year.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Yeah. We are now going over to our next question. Our next question comes from Anna Pugh from UBS. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you very much for the presentation and for taking my question. Two from me. Firstly, you mentioned the sale of the, your stake in the BBL pipeline, but I saw that Enagás announced they're canceling that transaction after the current shareholders exercised their right of first refusal. I guess now you have to look for a new buyer for that. Do you have any insight into why the existing shareholders have exercised that right? From what I understand, Enagás didn't see that as likely. Do you foresee difficulty in completing this transaction? Is there a risk you have similar difficulties with the other divestment that you're required to complete? That's the first question. If I could clarify on the equity injections.
I think, from what I can see, the state has put in EUR 13.5 billion, and the resulting share count is about EUR 8.3 billion. If commodity prices stay at the current level, then you likely don't need more equity, but if gas prices do spike again, you could access something around EUR 20 billion more equity, which could be injected in the future. Is that a correct understanding? Yeah, just to get a bit more clarification on that'd be great. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you, Anna, for the question. To your first question, the BBL, in a way, sale. First of all, we are very pleased that we very simply could execute the deal. What comes to the inside, and the right, first right of refusal, so we don't have any insight. It is up to the parties and normal behavior of the transaction that there is this kind of rights and the other party have now exercised. For us, of course, the important thing is that the sale is signed and proceeding. What comes with the equity injection. Yes, I think you described it very correctly. Currently, we have got the EUR 13.5 billion equity injection. If more equity needed, it's roughly EUR 19.5 billion still available.
That fully depends on the gas price development. If needed, we will get the equity. If the prices remain low, not likely additional need.
Okay, great. Thank you very much.
We are now going over to our next question. Our next question comes from Piotr Dzieciolowski from Citi. Please go ahead, sir.
Hi, good morning, everybody. Two questions from me, please. The first one, I wanted to ask you if you know what is the more like a long-term strategic view of the German government, what to do with the company? Specifically, will the Nordic assets come for sale given the preemptive right of Fortum to buy these assets? Secondly, I wanted to ask you on the gas business beyond 2024, have you changed the way you conduct the business by hedging the volumes to your clients and you pass on some risk, so you would avoid a certain kind of situation that if you don't get the volumes, then you have to go back to the market. Has this business changed or this is business as in the past, and you assume that the other counterparties are reliable? Thank you.
Hello, hello, Piotr, and thanks for your questions. What comes to the German government and the future strategic view. Currently, we are working with the strategy, making good progress and also, new management board should coming to the duty. Basically, I think this is confirmed once finalized. We need to still wait for. At the moment what comes to the Nordic is not part of the obligation from the stabilization package, no indication there. I think your second question related how to conduct the business after 2024. Basically, clearly, what comes to our, in general, our hedging strategy.
We have adjusted already reacted to the situation, how do we hedge in the future. What comes to the gas particularly, so or clearly, we are also there, looking the alternative, supply sources, also alternative sales in a way, channels, and we are synchronizing these two items to balance. Clearly, I think this current situation, we have taken our lessons learned, and that will be reflected in the future hedging and the way we run the business.
Okay. Thank you very much.
We're going over to our next question. Our next question comes from James Brown from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead, sir.
Well, hello again. Just following up with my third question, if that's okay. That's the countries that you highlighted as being core and non-core. Sweden is one of them that's highlighted as being a core. There's sometimes quite a lot of speculation as to whether or not you could sell your Swedish assets to Fortum. I should say I'm not expecting you to comment specifically on that. Just in terms of your categorization of Sweden as a core market, should we take that as a sign that that would not be a country in which you would be looking to make disposals? Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you, James. I think Sweden is our core market and contributing significant earnings, particularly in the longer term when the hedge position will change. Currently, Sweden is not on the requirement to dispose from the German State, so I would not like to speculate. Currently, we take very good care of our Swedish asset and see it as a main part of our business.
Okay. Thank you very much, and good luck for the future back at Fortum.
Thank you very much, James.
We have no further question. I would like to hand the call back to our speakers.
Okay. Thank you, Steven. Thank you all. Many thanks, I think to Tiina today, yeah, and for serving Uniper and all of our stakeholders through these difficult times. Thank you all, dear listeners. We see you soon with a new CFO, latest Q1. Thank you all. Bye for now.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attendance. This call has been concluded. You may now disconnect.