The turnover for 2019 was slightly lower than expected. This was entirely due to lower prices on the energy markets. Contracted volumes were actually higher than expected. The net result was over 40% higher than in 2018.
Growth across all services
Electricity and gas supply is still Scholt Energy's core business, but the company's strong growth is also due to related activities. For example, they supported nearly 200 SDE+ subsidy applications, and 60 project agreements were concluded for large-scale solar projects.
Hundreds of energy scans were also conducted to support customers in terms of energy savings and insight. Scholt also manages dozens of assets such as energy storage systems, which provide flexibility in markets for reserve capacity (balancing supply and demand). Scholt's personal approach offers an economical integrated solution for the business energy market.
Forecast 2020
Turnover in 2020 is expected to grow to EUR 600 million (+30%), most of which is already fully contracted. Frank van Gastel (CFO) “The coronavirus pandemic has made the market situation more challenging, but the excellent results in 2019 give us a sound basis for continued strong growth in the Dutch, Belgian and German markets. In addition, the market situation creates new opportunities, because our flexible product range enables business customers to benefit directly from the current lower energy prices.”
Coronavirus crisis
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, electricity and gas consumption across the portfolio temporarily fell by 10%, due to (partial) closures in various sectors as a result of government measures. At the same time, energy prices fell to historically low levels, with customers benefiting directly thanks to Scholt Energy's purchasing concept. As Scholt managed to let 130 employees work from home within a short period of time, the company's daily operations were not affected.
Workforce
The number of employees grew to almost 140. Scholt Energy currently has 15 vacant positions.
