Press releases pg. 52

INVEN CAPITAL, the CEZ Group’s investment fund that seeks out promising projects on the European energy start-up market, has acquired a minority share in German innovation company Zolar. This company provides digital solutions for rooftop photovoltaic installations and combined photovoltaic and battery systems. In addition to Inven Capital, BayWa r.e. Energy Ventures participated in this round of investment with a total volume of EUR 10 million. The existing investors Heartcore Ventures, Statkraft Ventures and Partech Ventures likewise increased their shares.

Today, CEZ officially launched the divestment process in Romania. The interest confirmed in writing by the potential investors will be followed by an invitation to submit non-binding offer. CEZ is considering selling seven companies in Romania, keeping only those engaged in energy services (ESCO) activities and part of trading. These steps are in line with CEZ Group's new strategy.

CEZ Group’s H1 operating income before tax (EBITDA) was CZK 32.1 billion, up 19% year-on-year. Net income increased by 45% to CZK 11.2 billion. The increase is primarily due to increased realization prices of generated electricity and higher revenue from commodity trading. Net income adjusted for extraordinary effects was CZK 12.0 billion.

At the weekend, Unit 2 of Temelín NPP started to produce electricity again. It has been shut down for refueling of from June 21. The outage lasted 50 days and, during it, the technicians replaced a quarter of the fuel, checked the safety systems and mastered over sixty various modernizations. The overall outage schedule included over 13 thousand activities. In the first halve of the week the Unit will achieve the full power. The Temelín's Unit 2 outage will be closely followed by Dukovany NPP Unit 1 outage. It starts on Friday, August 16.