Into the future with a new strategy

In 2015, Repower realigned its strategy in response to radical changes in the energy environment. The cornerstones of the realigned strategy are a closer focus on services and sales, concentration on the Swiss and Italian markets, 100 per cent renewable generation, and the delisting of Repower's securities from the stock exchange.

The world of energy has changed radically in recent months and years, and continues to do so. Efforts to shift from nuclear power and fossil fuels to renewable energy resources, years of declining energy prices, the digital revolution and changing customer needs are all confronting energy companies with new challenges. Added to this are influencing factors that are affecting the entire business world, such as the generally poor development of the economy and the removal of the floor on the EUR/CHF exchange rate. Repower's 2025 strategy and the repositioning it entails are the response to these far-reaching changes. The company will be gearing itself even more closely to the market, focusing its energies, and remodelling the organisation. The strategy will be put into practice in the coming months.

Sales and service organisation

Repower will be systematically realigning its business model with the aim of repositioning as a sales and service organisation. This will involve drawing heavily on the company's core competencies in generation, grids, trading and sales. Even in the past Repower has exploited its know-how in these areas to provide services to third parties, and in the future will specialise even more closely in these strengths to target other energy providers and large customers in particular. Repower's aim is to pursue a nationwide reseller strategy in Switzerland.

It will be driving ahead with efforts to develop innovative, needs-based products and services. The focus will be on products and services adding value for customers by harnessing market and technological trends around decentralised generation and storage, control, electric transportation and data management. This way Repower will be able to augment its portfolio of classic energy services and progressively reduce its dependence on the absolute price of electricity.

To implement this new business model, Repower plans to forge strategic partnerships. In this connection it is currently examining potential cooperations.

Focus on Switzerland and Italy

Repower will be focusing its activities on its two key markets, Switzerland and Italy. In both countries it intends to expand its offering of energy management, safety, efficiency and electric transportation services and reinforce its sales operations. In Italy it will also be extending its network of agents. Given that its operations in these countries complement each other, Repower will be seeking to generate synergy between the two markets.

Following the decision to focus efforts on Switzerland and Italy, Repower is currently looking into the sale of its business in Romania. The company continues to operate, albeit without a physical base, in Germany, supplying German municipal utilities and large customers with customised energy solutions out of Zurich (the so-called origination business).

100 per cent renewable

More than 55 per cent of the electricity generated by Repower at its plants comes from renewable resources, with tried-and-tested hydropower accounting for the lion's share.

In the future the company will be generating 100 per cent renewable energy. To this end Repower is currently looking into the sale of its nuclear power interests and its majority holding in the Teverola combined-cycle gas turbine plant in the Campania region of southern Italy.

Repower also intends to consolidate and develop its portfolio of hydropower assets, still the backbone of its own generation capacity, adapting it to profit as much as possible from subsidies under the Swiss feed-in remuneration at cost (KEV) scheme.

Delisting of securities and introduction of standard registered shares

Two classes of Repower equity (bearer shares and participation certificates) are currently listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Given the tighter regulation, this state of affairs no longer matches Repower's needs. Not only that, but it creates disproportionately high costs. For this reason the Board of Directors has decided to delist Repower securities; SIX Swiss Exchange has approved delisting at the end of April 2016. Following delisting the company will organise off-exchange trading in Repower securities.

Repower's Annual General Meeting on 12 May 2016 will also vote on a motion to convert the existing bearer shares and participation certificates one for one into standard registered shares. This will harmonise and simplify the company's capital structure.

The changing market environment is creating opportunities for innovative companies able to reduce their dependency on the absolute price of electricity by successfully adopting new business models and providing new sales, trading, generation and grid solutions. Repower intends to systematically build on its strengths and seize these opportunities. The company is convinced that the strategic realignment and the new business model will create a solid foundation to successfully reposition Repower for the future.