PrepayPower’s parent company, Yuno, posted a 23 per cent increase in sales last year as it passed on wholesale energy price increases to households and entered the pay-as-you-go market with a new brand, Yuno Energy.
Turnover reached €376.1 million for the year. At the end of 2023, Yuno was supplying 192,222 homes with energy, up 9.5 per cent on the year and driven by the launch of Yuno Energy in the second half of the reporting period.
While profits rose by 49 per cent on the year to €3.1 million, co-founder and chief executive Cathal Fay said that they remained at a low absolute level amid a challenging international wholesale market. The company began to cut gas and electricity prices last November, in line with the wider sector, even if the declines lagged those seen in wholesale markets.
“We are conscious of the continuing cost of living challenges facing customers and will play our part to keep energy costs as low as possible,” said Mr Fay. “Across our businesses, we help our customers save on energy usage by sharing insights into what they use and when.”
Looking ahead, Mr Fay said that the outlook for wholesale energy prices for the coming months is “challenging”.
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“With the ongoing war in Ukraine and the Middle East and recent adverse weather conditions in Europe, we are seeing significant increases in wholesale energy prices which we expect to continue for the coming months,” he said.
“Last winter, the pressure on prices was reduced as a result of higher gas storage levels and a relatively mild winter in Europe, so temperatures will continue to be a key factor in what happens to prices in the coming months.”
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Mr Fay began the business with PrepayPower in 2009. That is now the biggest prepaid energy business in the Republic.
The group launched Yuno Energy as a bill-paying electricity supplier in August last year. The company also provides broadband and oil to domestic customers.
In October, Yuno confirmed it had bought Firmus Energy (Supply) Ltd in Northern Ireland from the Firmus Group, marking its first move across the Border, for a price said to be in the region of €40 million.
The enlarged group’s annual turnover is about €600 million and its all-island customer base stands at more than 400,000, it said.
Yuno paid €1 million in dividends to shareholders in 2022 but did not make any such distributions last year. Shareholders include Mr Fay, serial entrepreneurs Ulric Kenny and Andrew Collins, who were early backers of the company, and senior company executives David Grindle and Maurice McGonagle.
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