WWZ Group defies the pandemic
The WWZ Group was able to keep its sales in 2020 at the previous year's level. Compared to the previous year, however, compromises had to be accepted in terms of operating profit and net profit. In the year under review, the group also expanded its district heating network.
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According to a statement from the WWZ Group , the Zug-based energy, telecommunications and water supplier generated total net sales of CHF 227.6 million in the 2020 financial year. In a year-on-year comparison, this corresponds to a marginal decrease of 0.3 percent.
"Despite the corona pandemic, WWZ was largely able to achieve its goals," CEO Andreas Widmer is quoted as saying in the press release. "Although energy sales fell as a result of the lockdown and the warm weather, we were still able to keep net sales at the previous year's level." In addition, the group has pushed ahead with "expanding our strategic growth areas", explains Widmer.
The CEO particularly points out the area of district heating. In the year under review, the group's flagship project, Circulago, put the first district headquarters into operation. Circulago uses the energy of the Zug lake water to generate heat and cold.
In the year under review, WWZ invested a total of 87.0 million francs in maintaining the infrastructure and expanding district heating and telecommunications networks. As a result of these high investments and increased depreciation, the operating result at EBIT level fell by 10.8 percent year-on-year, explains WWZ. Specifically, an operating result of 37.4 million francs was achieved. At 39.0 million francs, consolidated profit was 19.1 percent lower than in the previous year.
For the current year, the group assumes that investments, operating costs and depreciation will remain high. "The transition from fossil natural gas to renewable district heating and the establishment of further growth areas will temporarily burden the income statement," explains WWZ CFO Andreas Ronchetti Salomon. However, the group is well equipped to continue its strategic development “even under difficult conditions”.
