Presented one of the most anticipated half-yearly of the day, that of Is in the. Six positive months for the Italian energy giant which improves both ordinary profit (+8,6%) and Ebitda (+1,2%). The company has also raised its targets for 2016.
Enel closed the first half of 2016 with revenues down by 9,3% to 34,15 billion due to lower revenues deriving from the sale of electricity in mature markets, lower trading activities, the negative exchange rate effect and the lower incidence of extraordinary items. The company points out that the revenues recorded in the first six months of the current year include, as the only extraordinary element, the capital gain realized on the sale of Hydro Dolomiti Enel equal to 124 million (recalculated in the second quarter of 2016 following the definition of the price adjustment ).
The group's net ordinary income instead rose to 1,742 billion (+8,6%), while lEBITDA is 8,053 billion euros, up 1,2% compared to the same period of the previous year. Net financial debt rose from 37,545 billion at the end of 2015 to 38,13 billion (+1,6%) due to higher investments in the period and the payment of dividends.
Based on what was communicated by the company the group's net profit stands at 1,834 billion, almost unchanged compared to the 1,833 billion recorded in the first half of 2015.
Enel's ordinary EBITDA in the first six months of this year rose to 7,929 billion from 7,688 billion euros in the first half of 2015, (+3,1%) net of extraordinary items relating to disposal transactions. Net of non-recurring items, ordinary EBITDA increased by 5,2% on a comparable basis, even after discounting the negative exchange rate effect.
EBIT stands at a rise of 2,5% to 5,21 billion. On the net result, the increase in EBIT, explains Enel, is compounded by the lower tax burden compared to the first half of 2015, mainly connected to the reduction in the tax rate in Spain, partly offset by the different weight in the two periods compared to some income elements, deriving from extraordinary operations; the lower impact of minority interests, due to the non-proportional partial demerger of Enel Green Power in favor of Enel.
Investments in the first half of 2016 increased by 628 million compared to the same period of 2015, mainly attributable to the Renewable Energy Division (+79%).
The comment by Enel's CEO Francesco Starace was satisfied: "Despite the persistence of some challenging conditions in many business areas, we are optimistic about the results we will achieve in the second half of the year and consequently we raise our targets for 2016”.
In particular, the press release highlights, ordinary EBITDA went from around 14,7 to around 15 billion euro, the Group's net ordinary income from around 3,1 to around 3,2 billion euro, operating cash flow /Net financial debt from about 23% to about 25%.
“We have achieved solid results despite the challenging macroeconomic context – continues the CEO of the company – Specifically, the markets of Italy and Latin America are showing particularly satisfactory progress. We have also made significant progress in the implementation of our strategic plan, especially in the area of active portfolio management, where we finalized over 4 billion euros in disposals, equal to approximately 70% of our five-year target. We continue to reap successes in renewables, where we can count on a solid development pipeline".
Starace's announcement seems to have positively impressed investors in Piazza Affari. After the publication of the accounts and the raising of the estimates, the share gained 1,1% to 4,068 euros.
