Response to recent Hungarian media allegations

In the last few days, MET Group has been the subject of multiple press and blog articles in the Hungarian media. These articles make reference to a natural gas transaction entered into in 2012 between MET Group and MVM, the state-owned national electricity producer of Hungary.  The articles allege that MVM was financially damaged and that MET Group significantly benefited from the transactions. These articles further allege that MET Group’s shareholders have helped the Group gain political and financial favor with the Hungarian government. 

The referenced allegations are false and seriously misinterpret the actual content and the business value of the agreements to both MVM and MET Group. All agreements were entered into on market terms, following competition between MET Group and other market participants, which also signed contracts with MVM on similar conditions. As a result of the agreements, MVM was able to achieve a profit on its natural gas activities, where it would have likely faced a loss if no commercial partner had been available. 

For MET, the total value of the referenced contracts made up only 7% of the Group’s sales revenue at the time, and an even smaller portion of its profit. 

MET Group does not maintain political relations, nor has it achieved its results or benefitted from any advantages through its ownership structure. 

MET Group is open to professional debate, supports the correct interpretation of facts, and does not wish to participate in political disputes. 

The basis of the company’s success has – at all times since its founding – been its highly qualified professionals and its commitment to understand its counterparts' needs and to quickly structure attractive tailor-made business solutions. 

Less than a quarter of MET Group’s sales revenue comes from transactions related to Hungary. Group-level sales revenue, which exceeded EUR 3,6 billion in 2014, comes from thousands of commercial transactions.

About MET Group  

MET Group is a Switzerland-based international energy sales and trading group. It is an active participant in the European natural gas, power, and oil markets and has a significant retail presence in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Croatia.

MET Group is present in eight countries via our subsidiaries, more than one dozen European national gas markets and trading hubs, and multiple power markets and trading hubs. We are a leader in the Central European natural gas and power markets, and an active participant in natural gas, power and oil trading across Europe. Our positions are optimized and commodity risk is managed on our trading floors in Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

MET Group operates the Dunamenti power plant, the largest combined cycle gas turbine plant in Hungary, helping to ensure security of supply for millions of households.

MET Group has grown rapidly since its founding in 2007, and presently has about 300 employees from 22 different countries.  The group’s success is based on its highly qualified professionals and its commitment to understand its counterparts' needs and to quickly structure attractive tailor-made business solutions.

MET Group’s mission is to become a leading market player by implementing innovation in the traditional European energy markets.

1 Excluding Dunamenti power plant

2 Preliminary result, not audited