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TWST: Can you bring us up to date with EGL (Zurich: EGLZ.S) since we last spoke?

Mr. Höhener: EGL is an energy trader, active throughout Europe. Our main focus is still on electricity trading. We own production facilities in Switzerland, which are hydropower plants and one nuclear power plant, and we also manage these plants.

TWST: How would you assess your performance over the last 12 months?

Mr. Höhener: Our recent year starts on October 1st and ends September 30th, so we are about one month away from formerly publishing the result of the business year. But we can say that in the various markets it has developed according to our plan. We established a further subsidiary company in Spain with a Head Office in Madrid. We completed our local spending in Italy by establishing a branch office in Milano and in Rome, in addition to the Italian Head Office in Geneva. Of course, we also now have the first year of operation of our Austrian outlet in Vienna, which also proved to be successful. All-in-all we can be very satisfied with our business results -- roughly we were doubling all our respective business figures.

TWST: How does that compare to the industry?

Mr. Höhener: I would say as a benchmark within this industry it’s an exceptional result.

TWST: What does your game plan look like over the next couple of years?

Mr. Höhener: We are now active in most of the areas where we wanted to expand into, geographically. We’ve also started a further step, which is not only to be in the electricity trade but also to start in the so-called midstream gas trade, which we started in May this year.

TWST: Is that progressing in line with expectations?

Mr. Höhener: Compared to our electricity turnover, it’s still on a small scale but I would say it is promising and according to plan. For the time being it is only in Italy.

TWST: Can we take a broader look at the European electricity industry going forward? What are the important trends and developments, as you see it, that are impacting or impact this space?

Mr. Höhener: In some of the market areas in Europe there is still an overhang on the demand side. Europe is still split, even if it’s in a so-called “unified grid”. In most of western and middle Europe, there are so-called “price islands”, about five to six price islands. Of course, because of these price differences and also because of some of the capacity shortages in the transportation from one island to another, this opens up opportunities for an energy trader. So this is one trend we are seeing. Another trend is that there are more and more customers demanding a sort of cross commodity trade, be that gas against electricity, vice versa, or gas and electricity. This is one of the main reasons why we started with this midstream gas business, also lots distribution. It’s only to big consumers, large-scale distributors, which are elektrizitäts as it is in the electricity.

TWST: As a summary, when you have a chance to talk to an investor what are the three or four key points you would give for them to take a further look at EGL?

Mr. Höhener: I think, ending with what I just said, that our financial situation is more than healthy and that over the past couple of years we have given evidence that there is a fair possibility to develop this type of business. I would also emphasize that we have a very capable, very motivated, very professional team who can drive this business.