On April 12, the shareholders' meeting of Prysmian will meet in extraordinary session to deliberate on the proposal share capital increase for a maximum value of 500 million euroincluding any surcharge. The operation, explains a press release, will have to be carried out "by July 31, 2019, divisible, by issuing ordinary shares” to be offered as an option to shareholders holding ordinary shares and holders of convertible bonds, subject to the closing of the acquisition of General Cable Corporation (Gcc).
“The capital increase – continues the press release – is aimed at rebalancing and, in this way, optimizing the financial structure of the Prysmian Group following the closing of the Gcc Acquisition; compared to the moment immediately following this closing, the transaction would in fact allow the Prysmian Group to reduce its net debt as well as improve its financial leverage ratios”.
In the increase, Prysmian is assisted by an in-house team led by Ennio Bernasconi and also made up of Giovanni Villa and Massimo Malossi, supported by Orsingher Ortu-Avvocati Associati, with a team led by Mario Ortu, Nicola Barra Caracciolo and Stephen McCleery and also composed by Francesca Flego, Gaia Sansone, Enrica di Cagno and Alessandro Negri.
Furthermore, during the meeting, the distribution of a dividend of 0,43 per share, for a total amount of approximately 96 million. The dividend will be paid from 25 April.
The Board has also decided to ask the Assembly for authorization to start a program for the purchase and disposal of treasury shares, subject to revocation of the previous resolution adopted by the Shareholders' Meeting of 12 April 2017. The program envisages the possibility of proceeding with the purchase, to be carried out in one or more tranches, of a number of shares which does not exceed a total of 10% of the share capital social.
As regards the accounts for the last financial year, Prysmian has closed 2017 with a net profit of 227 million of Euro, down by 7,9% compared to the 246 million euro of the previous year. Revenues in the period amounted to 7,901 billion, -0,1% on a like-for-like basis and net of changes in the price of metals and exchange rates.
The group reported a Adjusted Ebitda up to 733 million euros compared to 711 million in the previous year (+3,1%), "despite the negative impact of the exchange rate trend for 11 million, compared to 2016". As explained by the company in a press release, the greatest contribution came from the profitability of Energy Projects and Telecom. In particular, the adjusted ebitda/revenue ratio of Energy Projects improved to 17,8% (compared to 15,9% in 2016) while the margin of the Telecom segment rose to 17,0% (compared to 14,0% in 2016). XNUMX).
Also noteworthy is the improvement in the margins of the Oil&Gas segment, with an adjusted ebitda/revenues ratio of 3,4% (2,7% in 2016), while Energy & Infrastructure decreased (to 4,0% from 5,1% of 2016) and Industrial & Network Components (up 7,9% from 9,5% in 2016). Ebitda reached 657 million compared to 645 in 2016 (+1,9%), including net charges related to corporate reorganisations, net non-recurring charges, other net non-operating charges and costs and accessories for the acquisition of General Cable to 76 million (66 million in 2016).
