Holding & Services Segment

Business development in the Holding & Services Segment

Sales revenues in the Holding & Services Segment in the reporting period were EUR 258.1 million; this is equivalent to a decrease of 6.0% compared with the previous year (EUR 274.7 million). The reduction in sales revenues and EBIT in the Holding & Services Segment was prompted by the transfer of the Metering Services operational unit, which was transferred from Telekom GmbH to Netz OÖ GmbH as part of an organisational change with effect as of 1 October 2021.

The EBIT of the Holding & Services Segment increased from EUR 28.1 million in the previous year to EUR 46.6 million in the fiscal year 2021/2022. The positive development of the operating result in the reporting period primarily resulted from the measurement of the share in BBOÖ Breitband Oberösterreich GmbH in the amount of EUR 37.0 million. Beyond this, a reversal of impairment of EUR 3.5 million was recorded for Wels Strom GmbH, which is consolidated using the equity method, while the EBIT of the previous year included a reversal of impairment in the amount of EUR 15.4 million for Wels Strom GmbH. The Energie AG’s service companies allocated to the Holding & Services Segment declined slightly overall, while the Telecommunications business area’s remaining activities in the segment showed a slightly positive development in the reporting period.

Strategic focus in the telecom sector

For Telekom GmbH, the 2021/2022 fiscal year was characterised by restructuring and process realignment.

Following the completion of the mass smart meter rollout, the “Metering Services” operational unit was already merged with the affiliated Netz OÖ GmbH at the start of the reporting period.

Wide-ranging structural adjustments were made (with retrospective effect on the balance sheet as of the beginning of the 2021/2022 fiscal year) in April 2022. Due to the bundling of broadband activities with the Province of Upper Austria to leverage synergy potential in the fibre-optic rollout, the FTTH unit of Telekom GmbH was spun off into BBOÖ GmbH. The Province of Upper Austria brought Fiber Service OÖ GmbH into the joint venture. For further details see the section Changes under corporate law.

At Telekom GmbH, the focus in the second half of the reporting period was primarily on strategic realignment due to the new situation, and on revising the processes and designing the newly created interfaces.

In the future, Telekom GmbH will focus on expanding its position as a strong partner for future-orientated communication and control solutions. Specific development measures and innovative customer offerings were elaborated for the company’s two main pillars “Fibre Wholesale” and “Control Solutions”.

Length of fibre-optic network

in km

In the Fibre Optics business area, Telekom GmbH offers carriers a specific range of services relating to data transport on the backbone network and layer 2 technology (signalling technology – data link layer). Besides this, Telekom GmbH acts as a wholesale partner for internet service providers (ISPs) and Group affiliate Vertrieb GmbH, to connect additional locations and business customers to its own fibre-optic network and therefore to further boost the capacity utilisation of the network and generated value.

In the backbone and wholesale area, the length of the fibre-optic network remaining in the Group was 5,820 km (previous year’s figure: 7,021 km). The decrease compared with the previous year’s figure is attributable to the spin-off of the FTTH area to BBOÖ GmbH.

Other activities in the telecommunications area in the reporting period included providing internal communications and control solutions within the Group, for example, data provisioning and connecting the Group’s own facilities (control system support).

Strategic investments

The at-equity consolidated companies Wels Strom GmbH and Salzburg AG, as well as further minority holdings complete the business portfolio of Energie AG.

Wels Strom GmbH, in which Energie AG holds a 49% participating interest, is the integrated electricity supply company of the city of Wels. Other business areas include services relating to electric mobility and energy systems for key account customers.

In the last completed fiscal year (1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021), the electricity sales volume to customers increased to 742 GWh (2020: 692 GWh), 15% of which was covered by own production, mainly from hydroelectric power. Some 48% of the electricity distribution was generated outside the grid area of Wels Strom GmbH. The volume increases in the electricity grid are attributable in part to the fact that the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 resulted in greater volume reductions than were experienced in 2021.

In the scope of an extensive strategy project that started in 2020, the owners of Wels Strom GmbH – eww ag and Energie AG – realigned the supply of heat and energy to the Wels area in cooperation with the subsidiary. The aim was to leverage synergy potentials and improve service quality. The operational implementation steps of this comprehensive future initiative started in 2021 and will continue until the end of 2022.

Salzburg AG für Energie, Verkehr und Telekommunikation (Salzburg AG), in which Energie AG holds a 26.13% participating interest, has consistently pursued the forward-looking growth strategy adopted in the summer of 2020 on the path to a greener future, despite the challenges posed by COVID-19. This meant that Salzburg AG was geared even more strongly for growth, innovation and customer orientation in terms of content and organisation, and its reorientation from an infrastructure company to a “green tech company” was pushed forward.

Investments continued along the previous path, consistently pushing forward with the expansion of green energy with simple products and innovative solutions, in the photovoltaics and e-mobility sectors for example. There will also be substantial investment in broadband expansion, with more than EUR 100.0 million to be invested throughout the state of Salzburg by 2025. Beyond this, Salzburg AG is pursuing an innovation strategy that strengthens its core business with digital solutions and forward-looking ideas while focusing on new markets and business areas. Cooperation with start-ups is part of this strategy.

Business performance in the most recently completed fiscal year (1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021) was characterised by a decline in total procurement in the electricity sector. Although electricity distribution to end customers rose slightly to 3,387 GWh (previous year: 3,304 GWh), the trading volume of 10,708 GWh was significantly lower than in the previous year (12,801 GWh). Generation from hydroelectric power fell by 9.7% compared with the previous year to 1,390 GWh (previous year: 1,539 GWh) due to below-average water levels.

Gas sales to end customers totalled 1,793 GWh; this was up on the previous year’s figure (1,606 GWh) due to growth in the key account segment. Electricity and gas grid distribution to end customers in the Salzburg Netz GmbH grid were both up on the previous year. At 976 GWh, total district heating sales including grid losses was 8.5% higher than in the previous year. Electricity and gas sales to customers were at 3,304 GWh and 1,606 GWh, respectively, which is 3.5% and 3.4% below the level of the previous year.

The telecommunications business unit has seen constant growth for years; this is also the case in Salzburg AG’s 2021 fiscal year. Customer numbers increased again in the areas of cable TV and internet. This year, internet trade magazine connect confirmed that Salzburg AG offered the best performing internet in the entire Province of Salzburg.

Additions to non-current assets totalled EUR 185.7 million (previous year: EUR 129.0 million). This includes, among other things, investments of EUR 16.1 million in generation plants (previous year: EUR 9.0 million), investments of EUR 57.7 million in the electricity grid (previous year: EUR 45.0 million), investments of EUR 38.5 million in the telecommunications sector (previous year: EUR 33.3 million) and investments of EUR 19.3 million attributable to the introduction of smart meters (previous year: EUR 13.5 million).

Shared services

The four Group-wide service companies

• Energie AG Oberösterreich Business Services GmbH (Business Services GmbH),
• Energie AG Oberösterreich Customer Services GmbH (Customer Services GmbH),
• Energie AG Oberösterreich Personalmanagement GmbH (Personalmanagement GmbH) as well as
• Energie AG Oberösterreich Tech Services GmbH (Tech Services GmbH)

are combined in the Holding & Services Segment.

These service companies provide commercial and technical services for the entire Group in accordance with precisely defined quality and safety standards. These services are guided by external market conditions for similar products and services.

Business Services GmbH bundles services for the Energie AG Group in the areas of purchasing and logistics, real estate management, information technology, accounting, and insurance and legal services. One focus of work in fiscal year 2021/2022 was the finalisation of the extension to Group headquarters in Linz in the form of an office building with an energy-efficient design. In the scope of the construction of a new office and workshop building in Gmunden, various official and award procedures were completed and civil engineering work began. Besides this, the focus was on the start of the design phase for the S/4HANA transformation of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system landscape, the implementation of various projects to enhance IT security, and the successful completion of the project to harmonise commercial sales and customer care processes. The test phase of the “Digital Driver’s Logbook” project started.

The Customer Services GmbH bundles the Group’s customer services and data protection back office, billing, provider switch management, receivables management and payment processing in customer-facing operations. In the 2021/2022 fiscal year, employees provided services for around 1.55 million customer contracts. In addition to the reliable provision of all services in the face of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021/2022 fiscal year was characterised by many projects. In the reporting period, for example, the focus was on the topics “changes in consumption data transmission”, “energy cost compensation” and “implementation of energy communities in the scope of the Renewable Energy Expansion Act package”. Customer Services GmbH was also strongly involved in the successful migration and GoLive of the project to adapt the SAP system architecture in the area of billing and customer services.

The focus of Personalmanagement GmbH’s activities is both on matters related to personnel strategy and personnel policy for the Group, governed by the Holding division “HR Strategy and Control”, and on all agendas relating to personnel and management development, personnel support, personnel accounting and apprenticeship programs. In addition to the challenges posed by COVID-19, the strategic focus in the 2021/2022 fiscal year was on employer branding activities. In addition, the focus was on management development using innovative formats and supplementary measures for the rapid and uncomplicated advanced training of employees on subjects related to digitalisation. During the reporting period, the conclusion of a company agreement on remote work took another important step forward towards making working hours more flexible. In the context of work-life balance, the opening of a company childcare facility in July 2022 is particularly worthy of note.

Tech Services GmbH is the central know-how provider in the Group’s technical services segment. These services include conceptual design, project planning, construction, maintenance and prompt troubleshooting of electricity, gas, and telecommunications infrastructures and power plants, especially in the field of hydroelectric power, heat and photovoltaics. These services were primarily provided for affiliated companies in the Group in the 2021/2022 fiscal year. To ensure capacity utilisation, numerous external customer orders were won, underlining competitiveness. In addition to the constant challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian-Ukrainian war also resulted in increasing supply issues for key material resources. One major challenge in the reporting period was the increasing order volume, particularly in the area of electricity grid expansion, and the recruitment of essential personnel. Maintaining an effective task force for troubleshooting and retaining expertise in the planning, construction and maintenance of plants in the Group’s environment with high quality and at marketable prices remain our top priorities.