In 2022, the Columbus Energy Group generated revenues of PLN 598.1 million. Despite the negative EBITDA, the Company Management Board qualifies these results as an investment to stabilise the business for the coming years.
According to the published annual report, last year the Columbus Group revenues reached PLN 598.1 million, which was only 15 percent less than in 2021, which is considered a record year in the photovoltaic industry. The Group EBITDA result was PLN -54 million, but the adjusted EBITDA was PLN -42 million. The Columbus Management Board emphasises that the results for 2022 are heavily burdened by costs, which included, among others, interest, commissions and fees for changes in the financing structure, but also write-downs and provisions. The afore-mentioned costs reached in total PLN 62 million, which significantly affected the Group final result.
– Over the past 12 months, more than 90% companies have disappeared from the PV market or re-branded. A few larger players and a fragmented local installer market survived. Thus, when summing up the financial result, it is worth asking whether the cost we incurred in 2022 was worth getting where we are today. In other words, was it worth to invest tens of millions of Polish zloty to make 90% of our competition in the photovoltaic market disappear? We think so – says Dawid Zieliński, the President of the Management Board of Columbus Energy S.A.
Currently, Columbus holds more than 15% of the PV market share (taking into account the first quarter of 2023) and more than 30% of the home energy storage market. Thanks to the diversification of its sales structures, split between its own sales and sales by Columbus Elite and Votum Energy, the Group currently makes 700-800 installations for homes per month. According to the Company Management Board, Columbus has ambitions to double this figure in the coming months and reach a 30% share of the home photovoltaic market.
One of Columbus successes in the past year was the launch of its operations in the Czech Republic, where it offered photovoltaics, energy storage, heat pumps and electric car chargers for individual and business customers.
– Not only did we enter this market, but we are already one of the top 5 companies in the Czech market, and in 2023 we want to be on the podium. In the first quarter of 2023 alone, we will make about 300 photovoltaic installations with energy storage in the Czech market, with the estimated turnover value of PLN 30 million, with solid EBIDTA. We want to replicate the model developed in the Czech Republic to Slovakia in the second quarter of 2023 under a JV agreement with our Czech partners. We are also considering the implementation of a similar model in further countries. In Poland, we created the photovoltaic market from the beginning, going through its growth, its historic boom, then its collapse and now its stabilisation. We know how to manage each of these periods and adapt the organisation to extremely different challenges; therefore, we want to use this knowledge in other European markets – comments Dawid Zieliński.
Another major development in 2022 was Columbus entering the large-scale energy storage market. The Company has one of the largest portfolios of energy storage projects with connection conditions. The construction and management of a large-scale energy storage facility is a key competence that will be essential in the energy market of the future. Columbus is building this competence within its own structures and in the future it wants to make it a significant competitive advantage for the Group.
– The power market guarantees the bankability of projects and is able to repay most capital expenditures. Without energy storage facilities, the Polish energy market has hardly any chance of stable operation. We will need more than 10 GW of energy storage capacity to balance the structure of the country’s energy mix. Energy storage facilities around the world provide many system services on which they earn well. We have not yet made a strategic decision whether to build the storage facilities on our own or to invite a strategic investor, but investments in the three energy storage facilities exceed PLN 4 billion over the horizon of 3-5 years – claims the President of the Management Board of Columbus.
It is worth remembering that Columbus is in the final stages of transferring its listing to the main trading floor of the WSE. On 14 March, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority approved the Company prospectus. After the publication of the annual report, the prospectus will be supplemented with the annual results, and then within a few weeks a date will be set for the transfer of the listing to the main floor.
– For us, 2022 was a lesson in humility and manoeuvring between big challenges and market opportunities. We do hope that 2023 will bring stability in direct sales in Poland, the expansion of our business outside Poland, but also continued investment in photovoltaic farms and energy storage facilities. This year, we will definitely sign a contract for the construction of the first energy storage facility. After the first quarter, we may rebuild our balance sheet figures, i.e. our investment and working capital financing capacity, which in turn will bring us a breather and time to revise our strategy – adds Dawid Zieliński.