Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the conference call held to discuss the financial results of the PGNiG Group for the first quarter of 2021. The meeting is hosted by Przemysław Wacławski, Vice President for Finance, is accompanied by our investor relations and performance teams. Let us begin with a presentation of the financial results, and then we'll proceed to our customary Q&A session. The most important event in the first quarter of 2021 was the conclusion of a conditional agreement for the purchase of PGNiG Upstream Norway from the INEOS Group of all assets of its Norwegian subsidiary, INEOS E&P Norge AS, holding interest in 22 licenses and the Nyhamna gas processing plant on the Norwegian continental shelf. Following the transaction, the PGNiG Group's annual gas production volumes in Norway are expected to reach 4 billion cu m by 2027. The total documented hydrocarbon reserves to be acquired as a result of the transaction by PGNiG S.A. subsidiary amount to 117 million bbl of oil equivalent. Also worth reminding is the approval of the new distribution tariff for the Polska Spółka Gazownictwa, with increased fees for distribution services by 3.6%. The new distribution tariff is effective from February 1st, 2021. In the first quarter of 2021, the US dollar depreciated by 15 groszy year-on-year to PLN 3.78, while the euro appreciated to 22 groszy year-on-year to PLN 4.55.. The average oil price in the quarter rose by approximately 20% year-on-year to over $60.7 per bbl. Translated into the Polish złoty, the quarterly oil price rose by 15% year-on-year. The group's results were achieved in an environment with a weighted average price of gas under contracts traded on the Polish Power Exchange based on maturity dates at approximately PLN 81, down by over 3% year-on-year. During the quarter, the day-ahead market average prices rose by as much as 79% year-on-year to PLN 93 per MWh. Prices on foreign commodity markets also increased rapidly as gas fuel contracts on both TTF and GASPOOL doubled year-on-year. In the first quarter, the group posted record EBITDA of PLN 3.4 billion, representing a significant improvement on PLN 2.1 billion reported for the same period last year. The PGNiG Group's aggregate revenue was close to PLN 14.6 billion, up by about PLN 800 million or 6% from the first quarter of 2020. Revenue from sales of gas increased 2% year-on-year, with a 6% year-on-year increase in sales volumes, which amounted to 11.3 billion cu m. Operating expenses, excluding depreciation and amortization, were PLN 11.2 billion, down 4% year-on-year, mainly due to reversal of impairment losses on property, plant and equipment under construction of approximately PLN 280 million in the quarter of 2021, compared to PLN -760 million of write-downs in the first quarter of 2020. Looking at the performance of segments, the Upstream's EBITDA was approximately PLN 1.3 billion compared with mere PLN 70 million the year before. The year-on-year improvement was attributable to gas and crude oil prices on commodity markets. The Upstream segment reported an increase in revenue from sales of gas by more than 70% year-on-year to nearly PLN 0.5 billion more than in the previous year. Sales of crude oil rose by nearly PLN 40 million, with the average quarterly oil price in U.S. dollars higher by 20% year-on-year and stable oil production volumes at 228,000 tons. In the Trade & Storage segment, revenue grew by 4% to PLN 11.5 billion, with operating expenses, including depreciation and amortization, up by nearly 9%. The results are attributable to higher hydrocarbon prices and the hedging policy. The result on settlement of hedging instruments designed for hedge accounting was negative at PLN -175 million in the first quarter of 2021, was lower than the result achieved in the first quarter of 2020, which was a gain of approximately PLN 820 million. The result recognized in gas inventory as reduction of procurement cost was PLN +172 million compared with PLN -250 million recorded in the first quarter of 2020. In the first quarter, the reversal of gas inventory write-downs was only PLN 9 million, compared with approximately PLN 255 million reversed in first quarter of 2020. Lower temperatures resulted in the increased volumes of gas sales to households by nearly 20% year-on-year to almost 2 billion cu m. The segment's reported EBITDA came in at PLN 500 million, and was approximately 46% lower year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2021, the Distribution segment's revenue went up 19% year-on-year to PLN 1.67 billion. The segment's results benefited from a 3.6% year-on-year increase in the distribution tariff, effective from first February of 2021, and the average temperature in the quarter, which was down by -2.8 degrees Celsius, leading to a 15% year-on-year increase in gas distribution volumes. As a combined effect of these factors, the segment's EBITDA for the quarter rose by 31% year-on-year to over PLN 1 billion. The generation segment posted a 23% year-on-year increase in revenue from sales of heat for the first quarter of 2021. Due to lower temperatures, heat volumes increased by 6% year-on-year. Revenue from sales of heat was supported by higher tariffs, particularly the heat generation and transmission tariffs applied by PGNiG TERMIKA. In the first quarter of 2021, revenue from sales of electricity from own sources fell by 14% year-on-year, primarily due to lower sales volumes. In the first quarter of 2021, the segment's depreciation amortization expense increased by 8% year-on-year to almost PLN 290 million, including amortization of CO2 emissions at the TERMIKA Group of close to PLN 206 million. Overall, the segment's EBITDA amounted to PLN 463 million, up 11% year-on-year. Thank you for your attention. We'll be happy to take your questions now. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question at this time, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. Please make sure the mute function on your phone is switched off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. Again, please press star one to ask a question. Our first question comes from Piotr Dzięciołowski from Citibank. Please go ahead. Hi, good morning, everybody, thank you for a quick presentation. I have two questions. The first one is on the dividends. When somebody looks at your balance sheet is very strong, it's not to say not efficient. How do you think about the dividends in the current year, and would you be willing to share a lot of your profits with the shareholders? That's the first question. And then the second question, can you tell me, as PKN talks about taking over PGNiG, what is the company approach towards this idea? Do you see any synergies with the combination of the two, and if so, what are the synergies? That's the first question, how you think about the merger overall, and then what are you going to do to protect minority rights in this process? Good morning, Przemek Wacławski, CFO, PGNiG. Thank you for these questions. With respect to the dividends, we as a management board have not made our final decision as to the recommendation, but this shall come in the next days. Most probably, next week, we will come with a recommendation. As you correctly stated, of course, our balance sheet is very strong, and we still hope and plan to be the dividend-paying company, but this decision is going to most probably be announced next week. As to the second question, of course, that's the main topic in the last days. First of all, I will refer maybe to our approach as to this takeover. We got clear information from our main shareholder as to the decision and direction the Ministry of State Assets wants to take in terms of building one big company energy concept in Poland. We are, we have recently signed the cooperation agreement, four-side cooperation agreement between us, Ministry of State Assets, PKN ORLEN, and LOTOS. Under this agreement, the expected way of the transaction is set, but this is under the conditions. We are now going to analyze the details of the potential outcomes of transaction, and only after this analysis, we'll be able to say something more. As we all know, the decision is to make the transaction through the merger, but through incorporation of PGNiG S.A. For sure, this transaction is going to be a unique transaction on the Polish market. That's why it's very difficult now to say for anyone, I think, not only for us in PGNiG, but maybe also for our colleagues in PKN ORLEN, and maybe also for the Ministry, how should the details of this transaction look like. For sure, we know that there is going to be a merger plan to be prepared. This merger plan is going to be approved at the shareholders meetings of each of the parties. We, the role of the leader is taken by PKN ORLEN. This is the decision of the Ministry, and it's difficult for us to comment. As to the synergies, it's also a bit difficult for us to comment on that now. For sure, the transformation in Poland will require a lot of very significant investments, and the company at the size of the potential, like PKN ORLEN plus PGNiG plus LOTOS, for sure will have bigger financial possibilities and investment possibilities as each of the companies separately. We- concluding and maybe coming also to the very important point about the minority rights. I'm talking on my behalf, but I'm sure I'm also talking on the behalf of the managing board of PGNiG. Of course, we understand the decision of the main shareholder, but we understand also our role in the process. We know that we are the managing board of PGNiG, and of course, we will look at the transaction from PGNiG side, taking into consideration, of course, the rights of all shareholders, not only of the main shareholder, but also of the minority shareholders. However, it is very difficult now to say how this process shall look like because we are at the beginning of the process of analyzing the details, and I think that shall come in the next weeks and months. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. And as a reminder, to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one. We will pause for just a moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal for questions. There are currently no further questions in the queue, and as a final reminder, to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one. As there are no further questions in the queue, I would like to hand the call back over to Marcin Piechota for any additional or closing remarks. Ladies and gentlemen, our conference call is coming to an end. Thank you very much for your participation in today's event. If you have any additional questions regarding Q1 results and other developments of PGNiG's operations, please contact our IR team. Thank you for your attention and have a nice day. Goodbye. Thank you. That will conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, ladies and gentlemen. You may now disconnect.
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