EDF Half-Year Report 2024

EDF is rolling out “Ambitions 2035”, a strategic plan for the company’s development, performance and transformation with 4 pillars: helping customers to reduce their carbon footprint, producing more low-carbon electricity, expanding the networks to address the challenges of the energy transition, and developing flexibility solutions to meet electricity system requirements. To seize the opportunities offered by the energy transition, EDF is investing in skills for tomorrow and plans a large-scale recruitment drive over the next 10 years – starting with nearly 20,000 new hires in France in 2024 including 9,500 work-study trainees and interns, promoting a good gender balance and diversity and bringing young people into the workforce. Meanwhile, the EDF foundation has defined its new mission for the next 5 years to support the ecological and social transition, with a focus on education, training, and environmentally responsible citizenship. 

Highlights

Net income

Net income excluding non-recurring items amounts to €8.4 billion. The €2.1 billion increase primarily reflects the significant growth in EBITDA, less the tax expense. The Group’s net income is €7.0 billion, up by nearly €1.2 billion year on year. Apart from the substantial increase in net income excluding non-recurring items, the principal items after tax contributing to this increase are:

• the new forecast cost estimate for spent fuel storage in France: €2.4 billion,
• the change in fair value of financial instruments: €0.4 billion,
• a provision relating to renegotiation of an amendment to the processing and recycling agreement with Orano: -€0.8 billion in 2023, no equivalent in 2024.

Cash flow

Group cash flow for the first half of 2024 amounts to €1.9 billion vs. -€1.6 billion in H1 2023. This is explained by a cash EBITDA of €17.6 billion, generated by a good operational performance despite falling market prices. Working capital rose by €0.7 billion, comprising:

• €3.8 billion resulting essentially from the higher CSPE receivable, as lower market prices led to higher support for renewable energy producers,
• -€3.8 billion due to the effect of the price downturn on trade receivables in France,
• the neutral impact of the optimization/trading activity. 

Net financial debt

Net financial debt stands at €54.2 billion, stable compared to end-2023. The favorable impact of the positive cash flow was almost fully absorbed by the announcement that the hybrid bond issued in October 2018 for a nominal amount of €1.25 billion would be redeemed and its equity content replaced by the capital increase resulting from the conversion of the Oceane bonds in 2023