ACEA S p A : Price sensitive press release

PRESS RELEASE

ACEA'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS APPROVE RESULTS FOR H1 2022

• Revenue€2,348m (up 29% versus H1 2021)
• EBITDA€682m (up 10% versus H1 2021)
• EBIT€348m (up 12% versus H1 2021)
• Group net profit€183m (up 10% versus H1 2021)
• Capex€462m (€474m in H1 2021)
• Net debt€4,212m (€3,988m at 31 December 2021)

2022 EBITDA guidance raised, Capex and net debt guidance confirmed:

• EBITDA growth of +4%/+6% compared with 2021 (previous guidance +2%/+4%);
• capex broadly in line with 2021
• net debt within range of €4.2bn and €4.3bn

Acea has committed to set near-termcompany-wide emission reductions in line with climate science with the SBTi

Rome, 27 July 2022 - The Board of Directors of ACEA, chaired by Michaela Castelli, has approved the interim report for the six months ended 30 June 2022.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

(€m)	H1 2022	H1 2021	% change
Consolidated revenue	2,348	1,824	+29%
EBITDA	682	619	+10%
EBIT	348	310	+12%
Group net profit (after non-controlling interests)	183	166	+10%

	(€m)	H1 2022	H1 2021	% change
	Capex	462	474	-3%
	(€m)	30 June 2022	31 Dec 2021	% change
	Net debt	4,212	3,988	+6%

Giuseppe Gola, ACEA's Chief Executive Officer, said: "The results for the first half of the year display a a growing performance compared with the same period of 2021. All our areas of business delivered solid results despite the challenging context. We continued to deliver on our sustainable growth plan in the first half, focussing on renewables, with the go-liveof a plant in Basilicata with capacity of 20MW and the approval for construction of an 85MW plant in Sardinia, which will be one of the biggest in Italy. We have also strengthened our position in circular economy with the acquisition of waste treatment infrastructure in Abruzzo. Despite the complex scenario, we expect to continue delivering results in the second half of 2022, enabling us to raise our EBITDA guidance for the current year.

ACEA GROUP'S RESULTS FOR H1 2022

Consolidated revenue reaches €2,347.7m, up 28.7% compared with H1 2021.

Consolidated EBITDA increases to €682.5m in H1 2022, growing €63.7m (10.3%) compared with the €618.8m of H1 2021. This reflects positive performances in the following areas:

• Water, which also benefitted from the recognition of the bonus for technical quality;
• Environment, reflecting the change in scope and higher margins earned on the sale of electricity produced by WTE plants due to the growing energy prices, as well as the release of the Terni plant from its obligation to purchase CO2 allowances;

1

• Generation, reflecting energy prices1.

The Energy Infrastructure segment performed in line with the previous year, despite the negative impact of the reduction in the WACC for electricity distribution.

Excluding the impact of the technical quality bonus, the release of the Terni plant from its obligation to purchase CO2 allowances, the change in scope and the reduction in the WACC for electricity distribution, EBITDA is up approximately 5%.

The contributions of the operating segments to consolidated EBITDA are as follows: Water 52%; Energy Infrastructure 26%; Generation 8%; Commercial & Trading 6%; Environment 8%. The contribution to EBITDA from the Overseas and Engineering & Services segments and from the Holding Company is broadly neutral.

Over 78% of EBITDA is generated by regulated businesses.

• WATER- EBITDA reaches €353.7m, up €27.5m (8.4%) compared with the same period of 2021. The growth is mainly driven by the performances of ACEA ATO2, thanks to improved operating efficiency and the recognition of the technical quality bonus for the Water segment (ARERA Resolution 183/2022). The bonus awarded to the ACEA Group's fully consolidated water companies amounts to €26.9m. The positive performance of the segment's EBITDA also reflects the weaker performance at Gori due to increased sludge disposal costs and the absence of a tariff increase.
  The contribution to EBITDA from the water companies accounted for using the equity method totals €13.9m.
• ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE- This segment's EBITDA, amounting to €181.1m, is broadly stable compared with the previous year. The result reflects a 70-basis point reduction in the WACC allowed by the regulator for 2022, which has declined from 5.9% to 5.2% (ARERA Resolution 614/2021). The reduction was offset by the positive impact of the resilience plan, lower operating costs and an increase in connection fees.

OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS (GWh)	H1 2022	H1 2021	% change
Electricity distributed	4,560	4,275	+6.7%

• GENERATION- EBITDA growth is strong, rising 47% compared with H1 2021 and reaches €52.0m, on the back of higher energy prices and despite a reduction in hydroelectricity produced as a result of low rainfall during the first half of the year. The contribution from photovoltaic production is down €0.6m, primarily due to the impact of the sale to Equitix of a majority stake in ACEA's existing photovoltaic assets or and those in the process of being connected to the Italian national grid. The sale was completed at the end of March 2022.

OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS (GWh)	H1 2022	H1 2021	% change
Hydro + thermo + cogeneration	313	381	-17.8%
Photovoltaic production	64	33	+93.9%
Total electricity production	377	414	-8.9%

• COMMERCIAL & TRADING- EBITDA from this segment is €38.4m in H1 2022, decreasing marginally compared to €40.4m recorded in H1 2021. The performance reflects a reduction in margins on the free and enhanced protection markets and the loss of customers following the outcome of the auctions for "small" and "micro" businesses served by the enhanced protection market. The decrease was partially offset by a reduction in external expenses and increased revenue from energy efficiency projects.

	H1 2022	H1 2021	% change
OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
Free market	3,044	3,165	-3.8%
Enhanced protection market	762	966	-21.1%
Electricity sold (GWh)	3,806	4,131	-7.9%
Gas sold (million m3)	131	124	+5.6%
NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS ('000s)	H1 2022	H1 2021	% change
Free market	493	476	+3.6%
Enhanced protection market	672	730	-7.9%

1 At the end of March 2022, ACEA closed the sale to Equitix of a majority stake in the holding company to which ACEA's photovoltaic assets were transferred.

2

Total electricity customers ('000s)	1,165	1,206	-3.4%
Total gas customers ('000s)	228	230	-0.9%

• ENVIRONMENT- The segment's EBITDA has almost doubled with respect to the same period of 2021 to €58.3m. The result reflects the higher margins earned on the electricity produced by the WTE plants and the release of the Terni plant from its obligation to purchase CO2 allowances (approximately €11m). The growth in EBITDA also takes into account the reduced contribution from Demap due to the shutdown of the plan in December 2021. The plant started operating again in February 2022.
  The change in the scope of consolidation (the acquisition of Meg and Deco in late 2021 and S.E.R.Plast at the beginning of 2022) contributed to EBITDA for €7.6m.

OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS	H1 2022	H1 2021	% chang
Treatment and disposal ('000 tonnes)	1,093	859	+27.2%
WTE electricity sold (GWh)	167	164	+1.8%

• Other businesses and Holding Company- The contribution to EBITDA from the Overseas and Engineering & Services segments and from the Holding Company is broadly neutral.

EBIT grows to €348.3m, up 12.4% compared with the €309.8m of H1 2021, reflecting the positive operating performance, partially offset by a 10% increase in depreciation and amortisation.

Net finance costs are stable at €43.7m. At 30 June 2022, the ACEA Group's all-in cost of debt is 1.40% (1.43% at 30 June 2021 and 1.42% at 31 December 2021).

Group net profit is up 10.4% to €183.0m (€165.8m in H1 2021). The result benefits from recognition of a capital gain of €18.8m on the sale of a majority stake in ACEA's photovoltaic assets, and is negatively impacted by the windfall tax recognised in income tax expense for the period (the windfall tax introduced by art. 37 of Law Decree 21/2022), amounting to €28.5m. A first instalment of 40% of the above tax was paid on 30 June, whilst the balance of 60% is due by 30 November 2022.

The tax rate is up from 29.8% at 30 June 2021 to 38.8% at 30 June 2022. The normalised tax rate, excluding the impact of the above windfall tax, is 30.0%.

The Group invested a total of €461.8m in the first six months of 2022, marking a slight reduction (2.5%) compared with the €473.7m of the previous year. Capital expenditure breakdown per segment is as follows: Water €251.2 (net of grant-funded investment), Energy Infrastructure €135.9m, Generation €19.5m, Commercial & Trading €20.6m, Environment €18.5m, other businesses and the Holding Company €16.1m. Approximately 84% of total capex is invested in regulated assets.

The Group's net debt is up by approximately €224m from the €3,988.4m of 31 December 2021 to €4,212.1m at 30 June 2022. The performance of debt is influenced by:

• the positive impact of the sale of a majority stake in ACEA's photovoltaic assets (approximately €150m) and recognition of the technical quality bonus for the Water segment (€26.9m);
• the negative impact of an increase in working capital, due primarily to an increase in turnover at Acea Energia, linked to the sharp increase in the single national price, and the elimination of general system costs, imposed by the Government to ease the impact of rising energy prices on the public.

At 30 June 2022, the net debt to EBITDA LTM ratio is 3.2x (in line with 31 December 2021). 84% of medium/long-term debt is fixed rate and has an average duration of 4.9 years, protecting the Group from the impact of potential interest rate rises.

KEY EVENTS DURING THE PERIOD AND AFTER THE END OF H1 2022

12 January 2022: Gaia Rating assigned ACEA a score of 82 out of 100 following an assessment of the Company's overall ESG performance. ACEA's score has improved for four years in a row, confirming its position as one of best-performingcompanies in terms of sustainability.

26 January 2022: ACEA improved its ranking in the Bloomberg Gender-EqualityIndex (GEI) 2022, obtaining a score of 80.67, more than ten points higher than in 2021 and ranking well above the average for the utilities sector (71.21) and the survey sample (71.11).

3

22 March 2022: Acea closed an agreement with the UK investment fund, Equitix, for the sale of a majority stake in the ACEA Group's photovoltaic holding company to which ACEA's photovoltaic assets have been transferred. The assets are already in operation or are in the process of being connected to Italy's national grid. The closing of the transaction means that the newly established company, AE Sun Capital Srl, 60% owned by Equitix and 40% owned by ACEA Produzione SpA, has acquired a portfolio of photovoltaic plants with total installed capacity of 105 MW, including 46 MW qualifying for various feed-intariffs and 59 MW represented by newly built plants already connected or in the process of being connected to the national grid.

30 March 2022: ACEA and Suez signed an agreement to set-up a commercial partnership for development of a next-generationsmart water metering system and subsequent production and commercialisation in Italy and overseas.

1 April 2022: The Consortium established by Ascopiave, ACEA and Iren closed the agreement with the A2A Group for the acquisition of a number of assets relating to natural gas distribution concessions.

The assets involved in the transaction include approximately 157 thousand end users across 8 Italian regions, forming part of 24 ATEM (minimum concession areas) and consisting of approximately 2,800 km of network.

26 April 2022: ARERA approved Resolution 183/2022/R/IDR "Application of the incentive mechanism for regulating the technical quality of the integrated water service for the years 2018 and 2019. Final outcomes".

27 April 2022: The Annual General Meeting of ACEA SpA's shareholders approved the separate financial statements and presented the consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2021 and the Consolidated Non-financial Statement, prepared in accordance with Legislative Decree 254/2016 (the 2021 Sustainability Report).

The Meeting also elected the new Board of Statutory Auditors and, as proposed by the shareholder, Suez International SAS, the Director, Francesca Menabuoni.

13 May 2022: publication of the first Green Bond Allocation & Impact Report for the years 2019 and 2020, relating to the green bond issue worth €900m.

15 June 2022: ACEA and NTT DATA Italia presented "Waidy@ Management System (WMS)", a native cloud solution for protecting water resources.

27 June 2022: Opening of the largest photovoltaic plant in Basilicata, the 20MW "Piana di Santa Chiara" plant in the municipality of Ferrandina (Matera). The plant was built by ACEA Solar and is owned by AE Sun Capital (60% Equitix and 40% ACEA Produzione).

30 June 2022: ACEA, through the subsidiary, ACEA Ambiente, won the auction for the sale of the "Polo Cirsu" business unit operating in the waste treatment and storage sector in Abruzzo.

***

5 July 2022: Standard Ethics upgraded Acea's Outlook from "Stable" to "Positive" and affirmed its ''Corporate Rating'' as "EE''.

6 July 2022: Fitch Ratings affirmed ACEA's Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) as "BBB+" with a "Stable" Outlook and the Short-Term IDR as "F2". It also affirmed the Long-Term Senior Unsecured Rating as "BBB+".

18 July 2022: ACEA SpA's Board of Directors appointed (art. 2386 of the Italian Civil Code and art. 15 of the Articles of Association) Massimiliano Pellegrini to the Board as a non-executive Director of the Company replacing Giovanni Giani who resigned on 28 June 2022. The Board also appointed Massimiliano Pellegrini as a member of the Nominations and Remuneration Committee and Francesca

4

Menabuoni as a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Ethics and Sustainability Committee. Ms Menabuoni has also been appointed a member and Chair of the Committee for the Region.

19 July 2022: ACEA Solar (a wholly-owned subsidiary of ACEA Produzione) announced that it had received the "Environmental Impact Assessment" and "Single Consent" from Sardinia Regional Authority necessary for construction of a photovoltaic plant in the Ottana industrial zone in the municipality of Bolotana (NU) to proceed. The largest in Sardinia and one of the biggest in Italy, the plant will have installed capacity of approximately 85MW and will enter service in the first half of 2024. Annual production capacity is expected to be approximately 170 GWh, equal to over 70,000 tonnes of avoided CO2 emissions per year.

25 July 2022: With the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), Acea has committed to setting short-term science-basedtargets for cutting emissions, above all in line with the guidelines established by the IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).

The Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) is a partnership between CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), the UN Global Compact (UNGC), the World Resource Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The organisation urges businesses to take action to align their strategies with the goals set in the Paris Agreement and supports them through the process of setting science-based emissions reduction targets. Over 3,000 companies throughout the world are working with the initiative and have committed to ambitious climate action.

By signing the commitment letter, Acea acknowledges the need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to prevent the worst impacts of climate change and the vital role that businesses must play in achieving decarbonisation goals.

OUTLOOK

ACEA confirms its business mission as an infrastructure operator through the deployment of significant investment in infrastructure, with a positive impact on the Group's operating and financial performance, whilst preserving the Group's strong financial structure.

2022 EBITDA guidance raised, whilst Capex and net debt guidance confirmed:

• EBITDA growth of +4%/+6% compared with 2021 (previous guidance was +2%/+4%);
• capex broadly in line with 2021
• net debt within range of €4.2bn and €4.3bn

The conflict in Ukraine is continuing to have a serious impact not only at a humanitarian level but also on the economy, with effects on the global financial markets.

The ACEA Group does not have operations in Russia, Ukraine or in countries that are politically aligned with Russia and does not have direct relations with Russian- and Ukraine-registered companies affected by the conflict. With regard to the Group's retail companies, direct commodity price and volume risk is managed in accordance with our commodity risk management policy. However, if the current crisis continues, it cannot be excluded that there could be further tensions in the electricity market that could drive energy prices even higher, above all in the enhanced protection market exposed to spot market price movements. This may result in a potential deterioration in the companies' receivables collection. Overall, based on the assessment conducted, the ACEA Group does not expect the current macroeconomic situation and, above all, the crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine to have a major impact on its businesses in the short term.

BOND ISSUES NEARING MATURITY

On 8 February 2023, the €300m bond issue, paying a gross annual coupon equal to 3-month EURIBOR plus a spread of 0.37%, will reach maturity.

The results for the six months ended 30 June 2022 will be presented during a conference call with analysts and investors to be held at 5.00pm today (Italian time), 27 July. The call will also be available via a webcast in "listen-only" mode in the Investors section of the website at www.gruppo.acea.it, where back-up material will also be made available at the start of the conference call.

5