Jan 26 (Reuters) - Germany's biggest power producer RWE on Friday said that earnings next year would come in at the lower end of its previously disclosed outlook range, citing a major drop in wholesale energy prices.
RWE, at its capital markets day in November, said adjusted core earnings (EBITDA) would come in at 5.2 billion to 5.8 billion euros ($5.65 billion to $6.3 billion) in 2024.
"In light of the significant drop in energy prices on the European wholesale markets over the last weeks", RWE expects to hit the lower end of that range, it said on Friday.
Shares hit a three-month low on the news and were down 5% at 1210 GMT at the bottom of Frankfurt's blue-chip index.
The company also published preliminary results for 2023 that it said would exceed its outlook, boosted by a strong performance in its hydro, biomass and gas business as well as supply and trading segments in the fourth quarter.
RWE expected adjusted EBITDA to come in at 8.38 billion euros in 2023, compared to its earlier forecast range of 7.10 billion to 7.70 billion euros. Adjusted net income for the year reached 4.54 billion, above RWE's target of 3.3 billion to 3.8 billion, it said.
RWE, which is set to publish its final full-year figures on March 14, still targets a dividend of 1.00 euro per share for the 2023 fiscal year.
($1 = 0.9200 euros)
Reporting by Linda Pasquini and Christoph Steitz, Editing by Rachel More
Source: Reuters