Norlys has been hit by growing pains in recent years, as the energy and telecommunications group has continued to acquire and invest. This was also the case in 2024, when the company, among other things, completed the acquisition of Telia's Danish mobile business.
The many investments are intended to future-proof the company's operations, but are having a cost here and now on the bottom line. This can be seen in the annual accounts for 2024, which were published on Friday. Norlys ended up with a loss after tax of DKK 60 million. However, this must be seen in the light of one-off costs for the integration of Telia Denmark's mobile business, which amount to more than DKK 400 million.
Looking at operations alone, the year's profit before depreciation, amortization, tax and interest has grown from DKK 1.9 billion to DKK 2.2 billion. However, not all business lines are making money. The company's internet and TV business generated a three-digit million loss last year, as did the energy trading business, Norlys Energy Trading.
Energy trading was the reason for a record-breaking Norlys profit in 2022, but two years later it went the other way.
- While the Telia business is delivering on budget with more customers and greater customer satisfaction than expected, other parts of our customer business are challenged.
- The internet and TV business is characterized by a market with fierce competition, while we are in the process of replacing several core systems, explains Gert Vinther Jørgensen, CEO.
Norlys' revenue has grown from 12.4 billion. DKK to 14.3 billion. Norlys is the result of the merger between the energy companies Eniig and SE in 2020.
The company is owned by the cooperative Norlys, which in turn is owned by the more than 800,000 energy customers. The company has more than 4,500 employees. Norlys owns the electricity grid company N1 and is a co-owner of Eurowind Energy, which operates a number of wind farms.
The TV and internet business is based, among other things, on the defunct Stofa, which was acquired by SE in 2019. The latest major acquisition is, as mentioned, Telia Danmark's mobile business, which will permanently change its name to Norlys on May 5.
jel /ritzau/
