Investments and revenues grew, Enel’s profits and margins fell in the first nine months of the year. Guidance and dividend policy confirmed. The group led by CEO Francesco Starace will distribute an interim payment of € 0.19 per share on the 2021 coupon to shareholders, to be paid from January 26, 2022. The total dividend will be € 0.38 per share. Pending the accounts, the stock remained stable, closing at € 7.25.
Enel closed its accounts as at 30 September with revenues of approximately € 58 billion (+ 17.1% year on year). The increase is due to all business lines, in particular, to Thermoelectric Generation and Trading, Enel Green Power and End Markets for the higher quantities of energy sold, to Infrastructures and Networks for the higher quantities transported, and to Enel X. Together they more than offset the negative exchange rate trend in Latin America, which instead weighed on ordinary EBITDA, which fell to 12.6 billion euros (- 3.9%), also due to other non-recurring events, such as the modification of the energy discount in Spain.
These impacts, explained by Enel, “were only partially offset by the operating growth of the period, driven by investments in Enel Green Power and by the improvement in the margin in the Final Markets and in Enel X, as well as by the payment of an indemnity relating to emission rights. of CO2 assigned free of charge in Spain in Thermoelectric Generation and Trading “. The decline in adusted EBITDA was more marked, at 11.3 billion euros (- 11.2%). The slowdown in EBIT to 6.2 billion euros (-10.3%) is also double-digit.
As a result, the group’s ordinary net result fell to approximately 3.3 billion euros (-8.5%), and the net result to 2.5 billion euros (-14.2%). Net financial debt, on the other hand, rose to € 54.4 billion from € 45.4 billion at the end of 2020 (+ 19.8%). The cause is to be found in the increase in investments in the period, in the acquisition of an additional stake in Enel Americas and in the negative exchange rate effect, “partially offset by the positive cash flows generated by operations”.
Investments recorded a considerable increase of over 20% to € 7.9 billion, mainly attributable to the growth of those in Infrastructure and Networks, Enel Green Power, in the End Markets and Enel X. Recorded a new record in green energy . The production of electricity from renewable sources has grown by 35%. Production with zero emissions has now reached 61% of the total generation of the group. The long-term goal remains the complete decarbonisation of the mix by 2050.
“In the first nine months of 2021 we continued our path of industrial growth, recording an improvement in operating performance in all our business lines”, and the comment to CEO Francesco Starace, who continues: “We have increased investments by over 20% compared to the same period of the previous year, investments that will allow us to support growth and seize the opportunities of the ongoing recovery. Based on these premises, we confirm for 2021 the financial objectives of ordinary EBITDA and ordinary net profit presented to the markets on the occasion of the latest Strategic Plan. We also confirm the dividend policy which sees an increase of approximately 9% of the interim dividend that will be distributed in January 2022 ”. The new strategic plan 2022-24 will be presented on November 24th. (All rights reserved)
