The sharply rising energy prices have only ‘limited influence’ on the profitability of Dutch companies. That will be revealed on Monday an analysis from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), which developed three scenarios to predict the effect of prices on corporate performance. “Even in an extreme scenario, the negative consequences remain manageable,” writes the central bank. Therefore, according to DNB, there is no reason for government compensation for energy costs.
The higher purchase prices of energy do mean higher costs for companies, but the increase in costs remains limited. Energy suppliers do not always immediately pass on price increases to their customers, and some of the current contracts are concluded with fixed prices. ‘Transaction prices’, which companies pay for their energy contracts, therefore rise less rapidly than ‘wholesale prices’ which energy suppliers pay.
The share of loss-making companies rises in the best case from 22.3 to 25.5 percent, and in the worst case to 27.9 percent. For comparison, the Dutch Central Bank mentions the share of loss-making companies in 2009, during the credit crisis: that was 34.6 percent. A few sectors, such as metals and chemicals, are hit harder than average in all scenarios: the number of companies making losses in the metals sector would rise from 20 to 60 percent in the worst-case scenario.