RWE reported a drop in its financial performance for the first quarter of 2025, with adjusted EBITDA falling to €1.3bn from €1.7bn in the same period of the previous year. The company’s adjusted net income also decreased, reaching €498m compared to €801m in Q1 2024.
RWE attributed this decline to the normalisation of income within its Flexible Generation segment and a sluggish start in the trading business.
The offshore wind sector experienced a decline, with adjusted EBITDA decreasing to €380m from €548m in Q1 2024. This reduction was primarily due to suboptimal wind conditions and a decrease in electricity forward sales prices and margins.
Conversely, the onshore wind and solar segment saw an increase in adjusted EBITDA, rising to €496m in Q1 2025 from €341m in Q1 2024. This growth was driven by the commissioning of new plants and higher hedged electricity prices in the US, despite lower prices in Europe.
RWE continued to expand its generation portfolio, investing €2.7bn net in Q1 2025. New projects under construction have a combined capacity of 11.2GW.
The Flexible Generation segment’s adjusted EBITDA fell to €376m in Q1 2025 from €552m in Q1 2024. Electricity forward sales margins were lower than in the previous year, and additional income from short-term power plant optimisation only partially offset the shortfall. The trading segment reported adjusted EBITDA of €15m, significantly down from €251m in the same quarter last year due to weak proprietary trading performance.
As of 31 March 2025, RWE’s net debt stood at €15.9bn, an increase from the end of 2024, driven by high capital expenditure and seasonal operating cash flow effects. Despite the financial challenges, RWE plans to invest €7bn net in growth projects in 2025, which is lower than the previous year’s investments.
For the entire fiscal year 2025, RWE anticipates adjusted EBITDA to range between €4.55bn and €5.15bn, with adjusted net income expected to be between €1.3bn and €1.8bn.
RWE CFO Michael Müller said: “After a solid start to the year, we are reaffirming our full-year earnings forecast for 2025. We are making great progress in expanding our portfolio in a value-accretive manner.”
