Derivatives plunge to 26 bln eur, from 216 bln last year
Gas price fall dissolves loss provisions
Shares up 5.3

FRANKFURTDUESSELDORF, Oct 31 Reuters Germany39;s Uniper, which was bailed out during Europe39;s energy crisis, swung to a ninemonth net profit of 9.77 billion euros 10.35 billion, boosted by falling gas prices that mean the group no longer expects to make a loss on its purchases.

The result reported on Tuesday compares with a net loss of 40.3 billion euros in the same period last year, when ballooning costs to replace Russian gas triggered a crisis that required the company to be rescued by the government.

Uniper was the biggest European corporate casualty of the energy crisis, caused by the suspension of Russian gas deliveries via the critical Nord Stream pipeline, which was later sabotaged.

Shares in the utility and gas trader, a longtime client of Gazprom before Russia39;s invasion of Ukraine, were up 5.3 at 0853 GMT.

The results come a week after Uniper detailed its outlook for 2023, expecting adjusted operating profit EBIT of 6 billion to 7 billion euros and fullyear adjusted net profit of 4 billion to 5 billion euros.

This result and the outlook are literally extraordinary, and I don39;t expect that we39;ll see earnings figures of this magnitude in the next few years, although we39;re looking ahead with optimism, finance chief Jutta Doenges said.

The strong ninemonth results are essentially due to the markdown of derivatives Uniper uses to…