Results above expectations and significant growth in production. Eni greets the quarter with a jump in adjusted pro forma operating profit (+26%) and a run (+6%) in production. And so it immediately revises upwards some targets for 2024 starting from the EBIT brought to 15 billion and the acceleration of the buyback plan compared to the April 2025 deadline.
The oil group closed the quarter with an operating profit of 4.1 billion euros, slightly down (3% compared to the previous year), but better than estimates, mainly due to the normalization of the results of the Gas division and the reduction in margins of Versalis (chemicals), affected by the general difficulty of the European market. Adjusted pre-tax profit fell by 7% to 3.4 billion euros. Adjusted net profit for shareholders was 1.5 billion euros, marking a decrease of 21%, due to an increase in the tax rate to 55% (up 8 percentage points compared to the same period last year). Adjusted proforma operating profit thus stands at 8.223 billion in the first half of the year. It is worth noting the significant growth in production, + 6% in a year, driving this. These results meant that the group’s stock closed up 3.08% on the Ftsbe Mib index.
In the second quarter, exploration and production recorded an adjusted pro forma operating profit of €3.5 billion, supported by a 6% increase in production. The GGP (Global Gas & Lng Portfolio) division achieved an operating profit of €0.33 billion, while Enilive reached €0.12 billion, thanks to bio processing. Plenitude recorded an adjusted pro forma operating profit of €0.15 billion, supported by the performance of the retail business and renewable energy. Refining recorded an adjusted pro forma operating profit of €0.1 billion, while Versalis Chemicals suffered a loss of €0.22 billion due to difficult market conditions.
In the first half of 2024, adjusted cash flow from operating activities of €7.8 billion was generated, covering investment requirements of €4.1 billion. Net debt fell to €12.1 billion, after the accumulation in the first quarter of the year due to the acquisition of Neptune (€2.3 billion), also thanks to the proceeds from disposals relating to Plenitude and Saipem for approximately €1 billion. The numbers come a few days after the announcement of Eni’s exclusive agreement with the KKR fund for the entry of private capital, similar to the operation with Plenitude.
Forecasts? The decrease in net debt leads to an estimate of leverage below 0.2 at the end of the year. Eni has revised upwards its forecasts for E&P and Ggp and confirmed the annual forecast and the increase for Enilive and Plenitude. The EBIT forecasts are also upwards to 15 billion, with an expected cash flow of over 14 billion euros. Investments from the expected 9 billion are contracted to less than 6 billion euros. And finally, the buyback plan is faster (compared to the expected April 2025) with an increase of up to 500 million euros in the repurchase of its shares.
