UPDATE: PGE power to publish strategy in mid-June

"We will be announcing the strategy in mid-June, so we will probably say more about it in that document," deputy CEO Jastrzebski told the conference, when asked when PGE could return to paying dividends.

"(...) We seem to have some pretty good investment ideas today. (...) There will be a buckle that will summarise our plans for what we would like to do in the coming years in terms of development investments. It will show that the picture is quite complete," PGE's deputy CEO Maciej Gorski added.

The deputy CEO reported that the project to acquire the gas project from listed power group ZE PAK is progressing according to plan.

"We are after the due diligence stage. (...) We want to develop in the area of gas power generation. This is an important value-building direction for us and we therefore continue to maintain our interest in pursuing this transaction," Gorski said.

"I hope that at the next opportunity we will be able to provide more specifics on how this transaction will be structured and the subsequent timetable for completion," he added.

Asked whether the coal assets' spinoff was still necessary, he pointed out that when it comes to the question of the future of coal-generated power in Poland, it was not just a decision of the power utilities or Poland's grid operator PSE, but a joint decision that would be taken with the participation of the Ministry of Industry (MP) and the Ministry of State Assets (MAP).

"Today we see that this is a more complicated topic than just the NABE [National Agency for Energy Security - MI ed.] slogan," PGE's deputy CEO said.

"We have been very active in trying to participate in the preparatory work carried out by MAP in recent months, we have provided the necessary information on how we manage coal and lignite-based assets," he added.

As Gorski pointed out, initiatives are being taken to make these assets more flexible and to enable them to generate revenues from new areas such as the balancing services market.

Asked about work on the nuclear project, he stressed that PGE's involvement in the analytical and preparatory work on potential sites for a second nuclear power location in Poland is currently at a very early stage.

"As of today, we are absolutely not talking about the PGE's involvement in the construction of a nuclear power plant, because we are in no way designated to carry out such activities and it is a very distant future, today there is no such discussion on our agenda at all," the deputy CEO added.

pel/ ao/