,French utility Engie said on Tuesday it would accelerate plans to withdraw from some markets and leave more than 25 countries by 2021, while shrinking its client solutions division, which the coronavirus crisis has hit hard.
Engie, whose operations span the globe and include nuclear and gas, posted a 3.7% fall in first-quarter revenue to 16.5 billion euros ($17.85 billion), hurt partly by unseasonably warm weather which lowered energy demand, according to Reuters.
The novel coronavirus outbreak began to feed through to sales by the end of March as lockdowns were enforced in Europe, Engie said, adding its client solutions unit, which provides companies with heating and cooling systems for instance, was affected the most.
Engie’s operating income fell 2.1% on a comparable basis to 1.9 billion euros, while areas including renewable energy and nuclear performed well, it said.