Bad day for the Acea stock on Piazza Affari, weighed down by the Roman chaos on the water and by the half-yearly report published in the afternoon. Heavy since this morning, less than an hour after the closing, the shares dropped 3,73%.
Weighing on the prices of Acea, 51% controlled by the Campidoglio, the investigation opened by the Civitavecchia prosecutor's office on water withdrawals from Lake Bracciano which yesterday led Carabinieri del Noe to search the headquarters of Acea Ato 2, the company that manages the water service in Rome and its province, and to acquire some documents.
In the meantime, the race against time continues in the capital to avoid water rationing following the decision of the Lazio Region to suspend the withdrawal of water from Lake Bracciano from 28 July.
As regards the accounts, the board of directors of the Capitoline multiutility approved the results for the first half which closed with revenues of 1,372 billion, up on an adjusted basis by 3,7%. On the other hand, EBITDA decreased by 6,7%, settling at 414,1 million euros compared to 443,7 in the same period of 2016 (+8,9% on an adjusted basis).
Ebit fell by 28,9% to €194,9 million (+1,5% on an adjusted basis), while net profit stood at €103,5 million, down by 30,8% (+9,9% on an adjusted basis). The net financial position was negative by 2,4 billion compared to -2,127 as at 31 December 2016 and investments rose by 14,2% to 252,2 million.
“The half-year report – declared the group's managing director – is good overall, despite the presence of some exogenous items which have affected working capital, together with the slow start-up of the new IT systems implemented in 2016. However, we are confident that we will record a gradual improvement in the coming months, also in function of the actions put in place by the new Management".
“With the new Business Plan – continued Donnarumma – Acea will once again have to be the central pivot for the provision of fundamental services to the citizens served by our company. Our intention is that both citizens and Acea employees will once again be proud of this more than XNUMX-year-old asset in Rome." “If there have been any responsibilities in the recent past – concluded the CEO – these will be ascertained and whoever has to answer for them will answer for them. Now it is important to build a better future, to ensure that we no longer find ourselves living in situations like the ones we are facing these days on the water emergency front".
