President and CEO Markus Rauramo:
From January-June 2026 Half-year financial report
"During the second quarter of 2026, Fortum took a significant strategic step by announcing the intention to launch a recommended, conditional voluntary cash tender offer for all shares in the Norwegian electricity retail company Elmera Group ASA. For Fortum, the proposed transaction supports growth of our Consumer Solutions business to strengthen our Nordic footprint and scale. We expect the combined business to deliver meaningful cost efficiencies and operational synergies to the benefit of Nordic consumer and enterprise customers. The transaction remains subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals, and we will provide full details in the formal offer document.
During the quarter, Nordic spot prices more than doubled compared to a year ago, driven by notably lower hydro reservoir levels, low spring floods, and strong Continental power prices. Nordic power demand was marginally above the five-year average and broadly in line with last year’s second quarter. In June, improved wind conditions and high precipitation softened Nordic weather-driven fundamentals, leading to lower spot prices, especially in the northernmost areas. Towards the end of June, prices rebounded, supported by stronger Continental European power prices amid the extreme heat wave and higher gas prices.
Our second-quarter results for the Group and the Generation segment decreased from last year, reflecting the lower achieved power price and higher fixed costs. The achieved power price decreased, mainly due to lower physical value creation. Extended nuclear outages and low spring floods increased the realised hedge ratio, limiting our ability to benefit from higher spot prices. Due to higher power prices in the beginning of the year, part of the hydro volumes was allocated already during the first quarter.
Our financial position continues to be robust following the dividend payment of EUR 664 million. Our leverage for Net debt-to-Comparable EBITDA was 1.4 times at the end of the second quarter. During the quarter, we signed a new EUR 2.7 billion revolving credit facility, which replaces the previous one.
In June, we announced our decision to end coal-fired power generation in Finland by closing and dismantling the Meri-Pori coal power plant, Fortum’s last coal-fired plant in the Nordics. This is part of our commitment to exit coal-based energy production by the end of 2027 and to reach net zero by 2040, in line with our SBTi-validated climate goals. The Meri-Pori plant will be permanently closed as of 1 March 2027. Fortum and the City of Pori are pursuing new growth potential in the Meri-Pori Tahkoluoto area together with other industrial operators, and the area will be developed into a nationally significant clean transition industrial zone.
Despite uncertainty in the operating environment, we continue to see robust underlying customer demand from various industrial sectors, which we believe reflects the long-term power demand growth. With our ability to partner with industrial customers, our flexible hydro power and baseload nuclear fleet as well as our renewables development portfolio, Fortum is uniquely positioned to capture upcoming growth opportunities. We see the data centre sector remaining very active, particularly in Finland, where we are advancing the development of sites to enable new investments and meet future customer needs."