Profit growing and guidance confirmed for Enel. At the end of the day, the data from the main Italian utility arrived. Net profit at 5.8 billion, driven by renewables.
Enel ended the first nine months of 2024 with a profit up 16.2% compared to the same period of the previous year. Renewable energy is driving the results. Core EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) reached 17.45 billion euros, marking an increase of 6.5% compared to last year and exceeding the market expectations set to 17.3 billion. This improvement was possible thanks to the growing production from renewable sources, which more than offset the decline in retail energy prices in Italy.
Also on the liquidity front, Enel recorded positive signs, with net debt reduced to 58.2 billion euros, down 3.3% compared to the end of 2023. This result, according to the Director of Administration, Finance and Control Stefano De Angelis, was facilitated by the operating cash flows and proceeds deriving from strategic divestments, in line with the group’s geographical rationalization plan.
Revenues, however, fell by 17.1%, from 69.5 billion to 57.6 billion euros, mainly due to the reduction in demand for thermoelectric energy and sales of electricity and gas on end markets, compared to of a decreasing price dynamic. However, Enel was able to count on the strong growth of renewables and the resilience of the distribution networks, supported by a greater volume of investments in this area.
The group confirmed its estimates for 2024, with an expected EBITDA between 22.1 and 22.8 billion euros and a net profit between 6.6 and 6.8 billion euros, together with the announcement of an interim dividend of 0.215 euros per share, payable from 22 January 2025.
And again today the news that Enel is also moving on the nuclear front, launching a study, in collaboration with Ansaldo and Leonardo, on the feasibility of small-scale modular reactors. “At this moment I am not confirming anything. I confirm that there is talk, that there is a point of convergence with subjects who can participate. If and when we reach a conclusion at that point we will draw the sum on which subjects participate”, commented the Minister of ‘Environment Gilberto Pichetto Fratin
