E.ON Profits Rise 46% On Purchases And Price Recovery

E.ON, Europe's second largest power company, said that first quarter operating profits rose by forty six percent as purchases in Sweden and Germany and a recovery in power prices lifted earnings at its electricity division. Internal operating profit, which E.ON defines as pretax profit including interest income, rose to 1.29 billion euros ($1.2 billion) from 884 million euros in the year earlier period, E.ON said in a statement to the German exchange. Analysts predicted a billion euros. Sales fell by thirty two percent to 14.4 billion euros. “This significant increase results mainly from sharply higher earnings in E.ON's core energy business,” the company said. The first quarter earnings reflect E.ON's transition from an industrial company with units ranging from telecommunications to glass and aluminum to a utility focusing on electricity and gas. Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Hartmann has sold assets worth twenty billion euros and has spent even more on acquisitions. Visit to

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