Snam closes a growing 2015 balance sheet, improved both from a financial point of view and from an industrial point of view. And it is preparing to separate from Italgas with the launch of the feasibility study towards a proportional demerger from the subsidiary. In the meantime, the meeting for the renewal of top management will be held in April, thus postponing the new industrial plan to July.
THE BUDGET
The numbers for 2015 are all positive: total revenues at 3,649 billion (+2,3%), gross operating margin at 2,799 billion (in line with last year) and net profit at 1,238 billion (+3,3). If you then look at theadjusted net profit (which excludes extraordinary items such as charges for closing the Gas Fund, the adjustment due to the cut in IRES with the Stability Law and the Robin Hood Tax) the increase compared to 2014 is 12,2% to 1,209 billion against a net cash flow from operating activities of 2,054 billion and technical investments of 1,27 billion. In terms of profits, this is the best performance since Snam took on its current configuration in 2009 by incorporating Italgas and Stogit. The this year's proposed dividend to shareholders is 25 cents, in line with last year.
A NEW SUMMIT
The next appointment for Snam isassembly on April 27 that will have to renew the summit and which will in all probability mark the departure of Carlo Malacarne from the position of managing director, a role he has held since 2006 and therefore with three mandates already concluded. Malacarne accompanied Snam in the historical separation from ENI and projected the group towards a European dimension, working to create that "reverse flow" which can guarantee Italy the best opportunities in the gas hub strategy which the country can aim for given the unique location in the center of the Mediterranean. This is how the acquisition of the 20% stake in Tap, the gas pipeline that will bring gas from Azerbaijan and which is under construction, should be seen.
Therefore understandable the satisfaction with which Carlo Malacarne commented on the 2015 results: “They confirm the solidity of our growth strategy for an increasingly efficient and interconnected infrastructure system, capable of generating further benefits for the country. The cash flow generated by the operating activity – specified the top manager – made it possible to finance the growth and the dividends distributed to the shareholders, maintaining a net financial debt less than 13,8 billion“. The gas introduced into the transport network amounted to 67,25 billion cubic meters (+8%).
THE SEPARATION FROM ITALGAS
The new open challenge is therefore the separation from Italgas. Snam, in the press release on the 2015 financial statements, specified that "it has identified an opportunity to start a feasibility study on a possible industrial and corporate reorganization operation for the separation of Italgas from Snam, which could be achieved through the partial and proportional demerger of Snam having the object, in whole or in part, of the investment in Italgas". In this way, the current shareholders of Snam (Cdp, private investors and savers), will keep the same proportion of capital also in Italgas, once the operation (partial or total) is completed. The decision to formalize the feasibility of the operation now rather than after the fact, on the one hand meets the market by freezing at the moment the rumors on the possible acquisition by 2i Rete Gas (controlled by the F2i fund); on the other, it places itself with an eye towards the new Board of Directors which will take office in April. The names should not be long in coming: if Malacarne's role has not yet been defined (he could perhaps remain as chairman with powers), for the CEO the most likely name is that of Marco Alverà, who became general manager of Snam in January of this year .
THE NEW STRATEGIC PLAN
Snam expects "to submit the results of the feasibility study for approval by the board of directors - continues the press release - and therefore to approve and illustrate the 2016-2019 strategic plan to institutional investors and financial analysts by July 2016 instead of the next 29 and 30 March”.
