Enel cuts debt by around 10 billion, revenues break through 140 billion – Corriere.it

Expectations were focused above all on debt, Enel’s problem which, with the plan to 2025 which provides for the sale of assets in non-strategic countries for around 21 billion, the group is trying to reduce. Well, the preliminary annual accounts announced on 9 February with the markets closed revealed a surprise: debt at the end of 2022 of 60.1 billion, about ten billion less than the 69.7 billion as at 30 September 2022. According to the plan , with divestitures it should fall in a range of 51-52 billion by the end of 2023. A week ago Fitch confirmed its rating at BBB+ with a stable outlook on expectations that Enel will be able to reduce its net debt. Thanks to the efficient financial management and the execution of the strategic plan presented to the markets – commented the CEO Francesco Starace – the group’s net financial debt decreased significantly in the last quarter of the year and will continue to decrease substantially also in the course of 2023, further strengthening our financial solidity. This will allow us to continue implementing our investments in renewable generation and networks to support the transition towards increasingly sustainable energy sources and promote energy independence in the countries where we operate.

In the year of gas prices at their highest, turnover leaps by 63.9% and breaks through 140 billion. The change – reports the note – mainly attributable, in a context of rising average prices, to the greater volumes of energy produced and traded, to the greater quantities sold (above all in Italy and Spain), to tariff adjustments in Brazil, to the greater electricity distributed in Latin America, to the positive effect of exchange rates. Revenues include the non-ordinary proceeds from the sale of the transmission business in Chile, equal to 1.1 billion, and the ordinary proceeds from the partial sale of the investment held in Ufinet and in Gridspertise and from the sale of some companies to Mooney Group. Ordinary Ebitda amounted to 19.7 billion, up by 0.5 billion compared to 2021 and higher than the guidance communicated to the financial markets of 19-19.6 billion. The improvement in the margin deriving from thermal generation and from trading activities – explained the group – compensated for the significant decrease in hydroelectric production, linked to the low hydraulicity of the year recorded in Italy and Spain, and made it possible to absorb the negative change, on end markets in Europe, connected to higher procurement costs not fully passed on to customers. Furthermore, the growth in ordinary Ebitda was affected by the positive performance of the networks, mainly in Latin America, as a result of tariff adjustments and the evolution of exchange rates. The preliminary results of 2022 – added Starace – demonstrate the resilience of the group and this despite the adverse geopolitical, energy and economic context. The profit will be announced on March 16 with the annual financial report.