E.ON is one of the world's largest investor-owned power and gas companies. At facilities across Europe, Russia, and North America, our more than 72,000 employees generated more than EUR132 billion in sales in 2012. We have an ambitious objective: to make energy cleaner and better wherever we operate. Going forward, we intend to expand our business outside Europe. Our new strategy, whose motto is cleaner & better energy, will transform E.ON into a global provider of specialized energy solutions. The new E.ON will benefit our employees, customers, and investors alike.

Led by Group Management in Düsseldorf, the E.ON Group is segmented into global units (by function) and (by country). Five global units manage our generation portfolio, renewables business, optimization and trading, new-build projects and innovative technology, and exploration and production business. Eleven regional units manage our retail operations, regional energy networks, and distributed-generation activities in Europe. We're also engaged in power generation and wholesale power marketing in Russia, a special-focus country. We created a new unit, E.ON International Energy, to expand our business outside Europe. It will leverage our expertise in conventional and renewable power generation to regions where energy demand is growing rapidly. Group-wide entities deliver support functions like IT and procurement.

The main task of Group Management in Düsseldorf is to oversee and coordinate this business. Its tasks includes charting E.ON's strategic course and providing direction to the global and regional units. It also secures financing, manages risk, and continually optimizes the Group's business portfolio.

Our Generation global unit oversees and coordinates the operations of our generation portfolio in Europe. It groups our power plants into four fleets by fuel type and manages these fleets across national boundaries. This functional setup significantly enhances our ability to share best practices, increase efficiency, and reduce costs.

Our generation fleet is one of the biggest in Europe. We have major asset positions in Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy, Spain, France, and the Benelux countries. We also have one of the broadest and most balanced fuel mixes in the industry.

Our Renewables global unit plays a key role in expanding renewables capacity across Europe and North America. Renewables are good for the environment and have great potential as a business. That's why we're steadily increasing renewables' share of our generation portfolio by investing in wind, solar, biomass, biomethane, and marine energies. Our objective is to be a global leader in renewables.

The New Build & Technology global unit brings together our project-management and engineering expertise to support the construction of new power plants and the operation of existing plants across E.ON. It also oversees our entire research and development effort.

Our Exploration & Production segment is a growth business with good prospects for the future. It is active in four focus regions: the U.K. North Sea, the Norwegian North Sea, Russia, and North Africa.

As the link between E.ON and the world’s wholesale energy markets, our Optimization & Trading global unit buys and sells electricity, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, oil, coal, freight, biomass, and carbon allowances. In addition, it manages and develops assets at several stages of the gas value chain, including pipelines, long-term supply contracts, and storage facilities.

Our Germany regional unit is responsible for power and gas distribution, energy sales, and distributed generation in Germany. It also serves as an important partner of our global units, particularly the Generation unit.

E.ON Vertrieb Deutschland (E.ON Sales Germany) manages our energy sales business in Germany for all customer segments, from residential to industrial. Regional sales companies give us a strong presence in our customers' communities, while E wie Einfach (E like Easy) markets affordably priced power and gas service nationwide.

Our eight network companies operate a total of 455,000 kilometers of power lines and 65,000 kilometers of gas pipelines. They deliver energy safely and reliably to about 9 million people across a large area of Germany. E.ON Netz's high-voltage network serves as the link between the trans-European power transport system and regional energy networks. Through several subsidiaries, we provide a broad spectrum of distributed-generation solutions for the German market: micro combined-heat-and-power units for homes, biomass-powered heating units for manufacturers, and larger units for industrial enterprises.

Our U.K. regional unit is a leading power and gas retailer in Great Britain. We supply energy to 5.3 million homes and businesses across the country. We're also the U.K. market leader in combined heat and power.

Our Sweden regional unit supplies a total of about one million customer accounts, mainly in south and east-central Sweden. We also market power, gas, and heat nationwide and provides a full range of energy services. The unit also has responsibility for E.ON's businesses in Finland, Denmark, and Norway.

E.ON Italia, the lead company of our Italy regional unit, is headquartered in Milan. Among the highlights of 2010, our energy retailer in Italy grew its customer base to nearly 900,000 accounts and now ranks among the country’s top four suppliers in terms of sales volume. It also added innovative renewable-energy products and continued its successful customer-loyalty program, which promotes energy efficiency and conservation.

Our Spain regional unit is engaged primarily in power distribution and retail. Our retail businesses supply electricity to 600,000 homes and businesses nationwide. Our objective is to build on this position to become one of Spain's leading energy players.

Our France regional unit sells power and gas to industrial and wholesale customers. This unit also plays a key role in supporting the Generation and Renewables units in the operation and development of our conventional and wind, solar, and hydro capacity in France.

Our Netherlands regional unit markets power and gas to residential, business, and industrial customers in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Our Hungary regional unit is primarily engaged in power wholesaling and power and gas distribution and retail. We supply energy to about three million customers (2.5 million power, 0.5 million gas).

Our Czechia regional unit operates a power and gas business. With 1.4 million electricity customers and 110,000 gas customers, we are the biggest integrated energy supplier nationwide.

Our Romania regional unit is engaged in the downstream power and gas business, both distribution and retail. We serve a total of 2.7 million customers (1.3 million gas, 1.4 million power).

In 2011, we will be the first integrated power and gas supplier in Romania.

Our Slovakia regional unit is active in the Slovak electricity market. We operate a power distribution network and provide energy services to all customers segments, from residential to industrial.

Our business in the focus country Russia is all about power: generation, sales to industrial customers, and wholesale marketing. Our Russian generation fleet - the third-biggest in our company after Germany and the U.K. - consists of a strong and regionally diverse portfolio of gas-fired and coal-fired power stations with a total capacity of 8.3 GW. They're located in several key industrial regions: Central Russia, Ural, and Siberia. This gives us a superb platform with significant potential for value creation in the world's fourth-biggest electricity market. Our multi-billion investments in new generating capacity are aimed at making Russia's electricity supply more reliable, efficient, and climate friendly.

Several entities perform valuable support functions for our core businesses wherever we operate. These functions (IT, procurement, insurance, business processes) will be centrally organized so that we pool professional expertise and leverage synergies.

The word aeon has Greek origins, and means 'a new epoch', 'age', or 'infinity'. Eon is the English spelling. At E.ON, the unusual spelling symbolizes energy ('E') and illumination ('ON') for the future. A period has been inserted to create a visual separation between the two ideas.

E.ON currently employs more than 72,000 people around the world.

E.ON has been supporting and sponsoring valuable projects, associations and institutions of various fields in many countries and helping them in achieving their goals for many years. E.ON is very serious about providing funding for cultural and social projects. The company is a part of a public-private partnership with the city of Düsseldorf which provides support to the museum kunst palast.

Renewable energies make an essential contribution to future power supply - for increased climate protection, greater supply security and the protection of our planet's limited resources. For this reason, we are constantly seeking suitable locations around the globe where we can exploit inexhaustible resources such as wind, water, biomass and solar efficiently and without damage to the environment.