The news came on the back of the company's massive write-downs on its gas and coal-fired power stations, which the firm said had become unprofitable because of rapidly sinking prices at the electricity exchange.

Caused by an ongoing boom of energy generated from renewable sources, conventional power stations keep being driven out of the domestic market, with prices at the Leipzig Electricity Exchange (EEX) having been cut by half over the past four years.

Eon already booked a bottom-line loss of 3.2 billion euros last year, but said Wednesday it would be able to look at an operating profit of between 7 and 7.6 billion euros for the whole of 2015.

The Düsseldorf-based company is working feverishly to complete a planned split-up into two entities called Eon and Uniper. The latter will take over the firm's big power station business, while Eon is to focus on renewable energy projects.