To assess whether Fortum Oyj is suitable to issue hybrid bonds, we need to evaluate its financial health, leverage, and ability to service debt, particularly focusing on metrics like interest coverage ratios, overall profitability, and cash flow generation, while also accounting for the significant impact of its Russian operations being classified as discontinued in 2022. 1. **Profitability and Interest Coverage (Continuing Operations):** Hybrid bonds require strong and stable capacity to make interest payments. Looking at continuing operations (which reflect the future going-concern profile of the company), the Comparable Operating Profit for 2022 is €1.87 billion, and Profit From Continuing Operations is €1.01 billion. The interest expense for 2022 is €179 million. The interest coverage ratio from continuing operations is extremely healthy (Comparable EBIT / Interest Expense ≈ 10.4x), indicating robust capacity to service additional subordinated interest payments from hybrid bonds. 2. **Leverage and Balance Sheet:** The massive loss reported for 2022 (€-10.29 billion) and the huge drop in equity (from €13.66 billion to €7.73 billion) are heavily skewed by the €-11.3 billion loss from discontinued operations (the unwinding of Russian assets). Adjusting for this non-recurring, non-cash impairment event, the continuing operations show solid profitability. Furthermore, continuing operations generated €2.1 billion in operating cash flow in 2022, a significant increase from €1.11 billion in 2021. This strong operational cash generation indicates the core business is highly cash-generative, a key requirement for servicing hybrid debt. 3. **Cash Flows and Liquidity:** The company’s cash flow from continuing operations (€2.1 billion) easily covers its capital expenditures (€0.53 billion), interest (€0.2 billion), and dividends (€1.01 billion). The current leverage, if evaluated on a going-concern basis (excluding the divested Russian assets that caused the massive balance sheet shrinkage), is manageable. The structure of hybrid bonds is often favored by utilities like Fortum because the optional interest deferral and equity-credit from rating agencies help manage capital structure efficiently. 4. **Dividend History:** The company has a consistent history of paying dividends (€1.14/share in 2021, proposed €0.91/share for 2022), showing prioritization of returns to capital providers, further reducing the risk of interest deferral on hybrids. While the 2022 reported net loss and equity depletion are visually alarming, they are driven by the one-off write-off of the Russian business, which is now discontinued. The remaining continuing operations represent a stable, cash-generative Nordic utility with strong interest coverage and solid cash flows, making it well-suited for hybrid capital issuance. Marginally Suitable