Gas trader VNG expects profits again after crisis

Leipzig-based gas trader VNG expects to return to profit this year after the severe crisis in 2022. "We are healthy. In all likelihood, we will achieve a very solid result again this fiscal year, in other words, make a profit," CFO Bodo Rodestock told the Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper (Thursday). Until 2035, VNG wants to invest about five billion euros, especially in the hydrogen business, in the infrastructure and also in biogas plants.

2022 VNG had faltered due to the stop of Russian gas supplies and had to be rescued with the help of the federal government and a capital increase. The majority shareholder is the energy supplier EnBW from Baden-Württemberg. Eight eastern German municipalities, which also hold shares in VNG, did not participate in the capital increase. As a result, ownership has shifted further in favor of EnBW.

Rodestock nevertheless expects the gas trader to keep its headquarters in Leipzig. "The location is secure. VNG's DNA is East German and will remain so," he said. He said he is optimistic that VNG will remain an important employer in Leipzig.