German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE) Thursday said that foreign exchange rate effects negatively hit its first-quarter result by around EUR70 million.
RWE's U.K. unit npower was burdened by around EUR40 million in the first three months in light of the euro's gains compared with the British pound, Chief Financial Officer Rolf Pohlig told reporters in a conference call.
RWE's U.K. market unit books its power and gas sales in British pounds but the group converts this into euros.
Pohlig also said that the upstream oil and gas unit RWE Dea also suffered from adverse exchange rate effects as U.S. dollar, the currency in which crude oil sales are denominated, declined sharply compared with the euro.
However, the negative currency effect of around EUR30 million at RWE Dea was overcompensated by rising crude oil price, which outperformed the euro's increase in value in the first quarter of the year.