EDF and Areva on the alert
Less than four months after the catastrophede Fukushima, Germany decided to phase out nuclear power within ten years. A few days ago already, Switzerland announced the non-replacement of its nuclear plants, which meant the arrest of Atomic Energy in 2034. But this Monday is a heavy sounding the end of a business. Of its 17 reactors, eight have been stopped since the nuclear accident in Japan and will not be reactivated, and most will no longer be in service by the end of the year. As for operators of these reactors is anger. German groups RWE, EnBW and E. ON, and the publicly owned Swedish Vattenfall, challenge this decision, particularly because of the continued consideration of a tax on nuclear fuel, while it was intended to remove it.The two main actors, RWE and E. ON – which operated 13 reactors – dropped by 2.07% to 19.60 euros and 40.18 euros at 2.06% shortly after the opening of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. For Bernhard Jeggle LBBW analyst, their profits will plunge by 6 to 11% per annum for the next few years.
Thus, Germany must find ways to cover 22% of its electricity needs are currently covered by its atomic plants. Already, from Fukushima and stopping, a total of eight power stations, Germany has had to draw electricity from abroad. Thus, since mid-March, electricity imports from France have doubled. In this context, EDF is positioning itself quite well.Certainly, last December, the electrician had to leave Germany by selling its 45% equity stake in EnBW, but at its last meeting, a few days ago, Henri Proglio insite on strategy internationalization of the group, with a significant increase in installed capacity of 200 GW (gigawatts) in 2020 – against 132 GW Gross in 2011.
A decision "purely political"
Except that the French group, which intends to become the first French electric utility in the world by 2020, intend to achieve by building in easy payday loans… nuclear. However, the German decision is a strong message against nuclear energy. And if France does not seem to lead to a shutdown of Atomic Energy – the G8 in Deauville, France has sought to weaken the safety tests in Europe – the pressure on the government could still rise.Echoing the lack of visibility facing the sector, EDF shares were down 0.67% in early trade on the Paris Stock Exchange on Monday morning. At GDF Suez, the title lost 0.49% at 25.30 euros in a market uptick (+0.15%) and displays with EDF, one of the largest decreases the Cac 40.
Finally Areva, the beginning of the session was extremely volatile for the first day of trading in its shares. President Anne Lauvergeon, whose term expires at the end of June and that the issue of succession is not always avoided, says the German decision is "totally political" and did not rule out a reversal of situation by the deadline. Meanwhile, Areva has suspended its quantified for the year 2012, ie a turnover of 12 billion euros and an operating margin in double digits, after the nuclear disaster in Japan.But "the group could benefit from stress testing of units in operation worldwide, investments to improve security that plant operators will be obliged to fund," according to analysts at Natixis, and that new contracts related to the closure of units across the Rhine, or even new orders for third-generation reactors.
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