2018 was a difficult year for Atlantia, with the tragic collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa costing the lives of 43 people.
The company released today, Thursday 7 March 2019, its accounts for last year, in which it also included the acquisition of Abertis, following which the Group manages 14.000 kilometers of toll motorways in 16 countries around the world and the airports of Rome in Italy and Nice in France which together serve over 60 million passengers a year.
From a financial point of view, 2018 closed with operating revenues up 16% to 6,916 billion euros (+2% excluding the contribution of the Abertis group) and EBITDA up 2% to 3.768 billion.
The company does know that charges and provisions associated with the demolition and restoration of the Polcevera viaduct in Genoa, as well as the total of the other related interventions affected the ebitda for 513 million.
Profit attributable to the group fell by 30% to 818 million euros (-2% on a like-for-like basis), while operating investments at 21 December amounted to 1,125 billion euros.
As regards the dividend, the board of directors has decided to propose to the shareholders' meeting scheduled for next April 18, a coupon of 90 cents per share, down by 26% compared to the previous year. The dividend will be distributed in May.
In the press release on 2018 results, Atlantia recalls "the potential risks deriving from the communication from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport to Autostrade per l'Italia dated 16 August 2018 of the launch of the dispute of alleged serious breach of contractual obligations in relation to the collapse of the Polcevera viaduct" . The company recalls that it has provided its counter-arguments, disputing any charge regarding the failure to comply with the contractual obligations and also noted the inadmissibility and ineffectiveness of the aforementioned communication. Subsequently, with a letter dated 20 December 2018, the minister supplemented the letter of objection and, as part of the conventional procedure, requested further counter-arguments in this regard, assigning a deadline of 120 days.
As regards motorway traffic, in 2018 the network of Autostrade per l'Italia and its subsidiary concessionaires recorded an increase in traffic volumes of 0,2% compared to the previous year. The result, Atlantia underlines in a note, was affected by the negative effect of the heavy snowfalls in February and March 2018. Without this effect, Autostrade per l'Italia traffic in 2018 would have recorded an increase of 0,5%.
Speaking of foreign motorway activities, traffic grew by 4,6% in Chile, 0,7% in Brazil and 5,2% in Poland.
Airports chapter: the Roman airport system handled around 49 million passengers, recording a 4,2% growth of Aeroporti di Roma (AdR) compared to 2017. The EU segment, equal to 50% of total traffic, is growing by '1,6% compared to 2017, while the non-EU segment shows a positive change of 14,1%, mainly attributable to long-haul flights. Lastly, the domestic segment is in line with 2017. In 2018, Nice airport handled 13,9 million passengers, recording a 4,1% increase in traffic compared to the previous year.
For 2019, the company expects an overall positive economic performance for the various operating platforms of the group with stronger growth for assets abroad and for airport activities, while substantial stability is expected for the Italian motorway sector (excluding postal due to the collapse of the Genoa viaduct).
At Piazza Affari, the stock dropped 0,46% to 21,79 euros.
