Snam's shareholders' meeting approved Snam's 2017 financial statements, which closed with a net profit of €677,3 million. Green light also for the distribution of a balance on the dividend of 0,1293 euro per share, which raises the total amount of the annual coupon to 0,2155 euro.
Furthermore, the authorization for the purchase of treasury shares was approved, to be carried out on one or more occasions. The operation must be concluded within 18 months with a maximum outlay of 500 million, in any case without exceeding 6,50% of the share capital.
As regards the acquisition in partnership with the Spanish Enagas and the Belgian Fluxys of 66% of the Greek Desfa, a public gas operator, "it is a long privatization that is coming to an end: we are very satisfied with how it is going and we hope to arrive soon to closing”, said Marco Alverà, CEO of Snam.
It is an operation “of interesting financial value and very interesting strategic value, because Greece is a transit country. Like Snam and as a country system, we want Italy to become a gas hub to increase the security of supplies and to reduce the price of the bill".
Alverà then defended the split that brought Italgas to the Stock Exchange in November 2017: "The evening before the operation, the old Snam was worth 4,58 euros, today the sum of Snam and one fifth of Italgas is around 4,86 euros, 6% more, not taking into account the dividends paid since then", explained the CEO, underlining that Snam's total shareholder return since then has been 9%, in line if not higher than its main European competitors.
As for Italgas, "we like the performance of the Stock Exchange a lot as shareholders (Snam holds 13,5%, ed): what we hope for from a demerger has happened, that is, a different business has been pulled out of the perimeter and is valued".
