It is a very ambitious plan, even spread over a 10-year period, that presented by A2a, the Lombard utility led since 2020 by the former CEO of FS Renato Mazzoncini. Particularly significant were the investment and financial objectives, which in fact immediately convinced investors, with the A2a stock which by mid-morning was among the best in the Ftse Mib, with a gain of around 3% in the 1,36 euro per share area .
The company intends to become a "life company" and will invest as much as 16 billion for the energy transition and the circular economy (10 and 6 billion respectively): the new course should yield, according to plan estimates, an Ebitda more than doubled to over 2,5 billion (2020 will close at around 1,18 billion), a net profit growing by over 8% on average per annum with a landing value in 2030 of more than 650 million from 300 in 2020, and a minimum dividend growing by an average of 3% per year, with that for 2020 equal to at least 8 cents per share (from the previous 7,7 cents) .
At an industrial level, the new ten-year plan will lead to a 47% reduction in the CO2 emission factor, and will tripled the installed capacity from renewable sources, reaching 5,7 GW thanks to 4 billion investments, focusing in particular on solar and wind with an M&A component in the first years of the plan. A2a also plans to double its electricity and gas customers on a national scale (from 2,9 to 6 million) and to become a "player of European importance" in the environmental sector, increasing the differentiation in the territories served to 76%. All of this will bring forward the exit from coal by a good three years, expected in Italy in 2025 but which A2a expects to complete as early as 2022. One of the most significant commitments will be the electrification of the car market, through three objectives to be achieve by 2030: the installation of over 6.000 charging points for electric vehicles, “to become a leading infrastructure manager in historic territories”; the activation of 200 contracts for top-up services, to become one of the leading Mobility Service Providers; the sale of over 50 domestic charging points for domestic use.
Even on the employment front, CEO Mazzoncini wanted to give a strong signal: over the period of time of the plan, albeit very long, 6 direct hires are expected, while confirming a "focus on a balanced capital structure", even if the significant investment plan concentrated above all in the early years is expected to increase net financial debt, "which will then go down". To achieve these objectives, A2a said it wanted to "introduce a new operating model that provides for simplification, a lighter corporate, decentralization, development of skills and digitization". The main change is the reduction of the Business Units from 5 to 3, "which will allow on the one hand to focus the business areas towards a European domestic market, on the other, with the creation of the Energy business unit, to better face the challenges posed by the energy transition, characterized by distributed generation and consumers who actively participate in the energy markets”.
