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Report of the month

May 2009
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Vattenfall

Stockholm, Sweden



Report Facts

Company name: Vattenfall AB (publ)
Fiscal year end: December 31, 2008
Report title: Making electricity clean
Chairman of the Board: Lars Westerberg
President and CEO: Lars G. Josefsson
Number of books: Two
Report length: 128 + 84 pages
Auditors: Ernst & Young AB, Per Redemo
Production: Vattenfall & Intellecta Corporate
E-mail: info@vattenfall.com

Report Rating

4.5/5

(Rating scale below)

Profile-Products (Excerpts, as from the report)

Vattenfall is Europe’s fifth largest generator of electricity and the largest producer of heat… Vattenfall works in all parts of the electricity value chain: generation, transmission, distribution and sales. Vattenfall AB is 100%-owned by the Swedish state. Electricity generation (TWh): 163.1.Heat sales (TWh): 35,6. (Annual Report source) (Italics are own company’s words)

Key Figures

Net sales: SEK 164,549 million
Operating income: SEK 29,895 million
Net income (after tax): SEK 17,763 million
Earnings per share: SEK 129.80
Return on equity: 13.6%
Return on assets: 15.1%
Equity to total assets: 31.6%
Number of employees (fte): 32,801
(Source: 2007 figures sourced from the annual report)

Competitors or Rivals

  • Fortum
  • E.ON
  • RWE
  • EDF
  • GDF Suez
  • Dong
  • CEZ
  • Iberdrola
  • ENEL
 

Triple A

> Making electricity clean is the theme, strongly sustained, substantiated and plainly explained throughout.
> Vattenfall at a glance highlights plenty of indicators in the inside cover.
> Vision and ambitions qualitatively explained but also translated into goals and long-term targets.
> Broad picture of the operating environment and price and market trends.
> Outstanding -and rarely reported- comparison of selected European energy utilities (Selected Page below).
> Risks and risk management well introduced and developed.
> Alternatives for seven sources of new energy generation and developing technologies made clearest in CSR Report, with advantages, disadvantages and cost estimates.
 

Double A

> Well-structured Administration report.
> Corporate governance made as transparent as some listed companies – with matters handled by the Board.
> Substantial first CSR Report now published in conjunction: rich in facts and figures, yet not always best structured. The notes about performance go further than many.
> Most useful glossaries in both reports. And key ratios are calculated for the reader.
 

Simple A

> What is important to stakeholders pushed too late (CSR Report p 40).
 

B Sides

> Why featuring the same thing -just with slightly different angles- for the two books and the six covers (the report is packed)? Isn’t there a lot more to show about (clean) energy?
> Design, layout and organization not most optimized for flicking and reading through: these remarks also apply to CEO and Chairman messages, and a profile disclosure oddly buried in CSR Report p 44.
 

How does the company report in key areas? What are the main report pluses and minuses? The Report Scan gives an overview of strengths and weaknesses, and scores each item.
Contact e.com@reportwatch.net

 

Selected Page

(p 12 of Vattenfall Annual Report 2008)
p 12 of Vattenfall Annual Report 2008
Rating Scale
5
First-Rate
4.5
Excellent
4
Very good
3.5
Sound
3
Average
2.5
Uneven
2
Common
1.5
Substandard
1
Poor
0.5
Uncompetitive
The rating is based on ReportWatch internal desk research and does not take into account the independent Rating Panel’s judgment.