Private profits, public losses
Much of the EP Energy profit from last year seems to be on deals made with CEZ. What does this tell us about CEZ? And about relations between it and EPH?
EP Energy, a part of EPH, reported net profit of Kc 8.5 bn for the first three quarters of 2012 on revenue of Kc 27.5 bn. Lenka Zlamalova notes in Lidove noviny this morning that half of this profit is derived from deals with CEZ (Energotrans and Mibrag), and asks why EPH is allowed to earn so much money at CEZ’s expense.
Maddeningly, she makes no attempt to answer her own question. This might be because she intends to leave this to her colleague, David Tramba, who is the business editor of the newspaper and a prolific (and much admired) writer on the Czech energy sector. Or it might be because she knows that another colleague, her editor-in-chief, Dalibor Balsinek, cannot tolerate such subjects being explored too deeply in his newspaper. I say ‘his’ newspaper because Mr Balsinek sits on the board of the media group that owns Lidove noviny and we may suppose him to be a shareholder in the commercial venture he edits.
Fortunately, I suffer from no such inhibitions. I shall now apply myself to the question posed by Ms Zlamalova, and let you know the answer soon.
EP Energy, a part of EPH, reported net profit of Kc 8.5 bn for the first three quarters of 2012 on revenue of Kc 27.5 bn. Lenka Zlamalova notes in Lidove noviny this morning that half of this profit is derived from deals with CEZ (Energotrans and Mibrag), and asks why EPH is allowed to earn so much money at CEZ’s expense.
Maddeningly, she makes no attempt to answer her own question. This might be because she intends to leave this to her colleague, David Tramba, who is the business editor of the newspaper and a prolific (and much admired) writer on the Czech energy sector. Or it might be because she knows that another colleague, her editor-in-chief, Dalibor Balsinek, cannot tolerate such subjects being explored too deeply in his newspaper. I say ‘his’ newspaper because Mr Balsinek sits on the board of the media group that owns Lidove noviny and we may suppose him to be a shareholder in the commercial venture he edits.
Fortunately, I suffer from no such inhibitions. I shall now apply myself to the question posed by Ms Zlamalova, and let you know the answer soon.