Record Dividend to Follow 2005 Record Profit

Karlsruhe. Thanks to the excellent profit achieved in the year 2005, the board of directors and the supervisory board of EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG are to propose a record distribution of dividends at the annual general meeting amounting to €0.88 per share. This would mean an increase in dividends of over 25 % and would represent the highest dividend in the history of the company for the second time in a row. "We are happy to be able to repay the trust put in us by our shareholders with this extremely pleasing development in our business. We have been able to raise our earnings before taxes (EBT) by 42.4 % for the year 2005, breaking the one billion Euro mark for the first time. In addition to this unprecedented pre-tax result we have also been able to significantly increase EnBW's profitability yet again. We are also very pleased with the positive performance of the EnBW share price," says EnBW CEO Prof. Dr. Utz Claassen. "I would like to explicitly thank everybody involved and all EnBW employees for this excellent team accomplishment," he continued.

According to the proposed and approved consolidated accounts, EnBW achieved a result before interest, EBT and earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 2.054 billion Euros. The earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased by 6.1 % over the previous year*, from 1.243 billion Euros to 1.319 billion Euros. The EBT increased by 42.4 % in 2005, reaching 1.081 billion Euros. The company profit increased by 64.1 % to 521.6 million Euros.

EnBW was also able to further reduce its debt in 2005. The EnBW equity ratio also increased from 10.0 % as of 31st December 2004 to 13.2 %. The net debt was also further reduced, from 3.94 billion Euros at the end of 2004 to only 3.28 billion Euros at the end of 2005, representing a decrease of 16.6 %.

EnBW also recorded a clear increase in sales. The company turnover increased in 2005 by 18 % to a total of 10.77 billion Euros. This increase is due to increased sales in the EnBW trading company, among other things.

EnBW invested a total of 547 million Euros in intangible assets and tangible fixed assets in 2005, which represents an increase of 31 % over the previous year. Around 65 % of this investment was made in the electricity sector, in particular in upgrading power stations and distribution plants. Expenditures in the areas of research and development increased from 7.5 million Euros to 22.3 million Euros in 2005. The main emphasis in the research and development activities were measures to increase power station efficiency and reliability, further development of fuel cell technology, participation in geothermal projects and the realization of innovative projects under the banner of the government-driven initiative "Partners for Innovation".

In 2005, EnBW was also able to increase its equity in the EVN Energieversorgung Niederösterreich Aktiengesellschaft (Lower Austrian Energy Supply Company plc.) from around 13 % to almost 30 %. Through the acquisition of RWE Energy AG's 15 % stake in the Czech Pražská energetika Holding a.s. EnBW increased its share in Pražská energetika Holding a.s. from 34 % to 49 %. With a share of 51 % the Pražská energetika Holding a.s. is the majority shareholder in the Prague energy company Pražská Energetika a.s.