(Alliance News) - Hera Spa reported Tuesday that it ended 2022 with a 4.3 percent year-on-year increase in net income to EUR372.3 million from EUR356.9 million in 2021.

Hera Group revenues rose to EUR20.08 billion, up sharply from EUR10.56 billion in 2021. In particular, there was strong growth in the energy sectors due to higher energy commodity prices, compounded by the expansion of the customer base and increased activities related to the sale of value-added services and solutions for energy efficiency and self-generation. Higher revenues in the environment sector were mainly contributed by power generation, new acquisitions in the industry market, and price growth in the markets covered.

EBITDA for fiscal 2022 rose to EUR1.30 billion or 6.2 percent from EUR1.22 billion as of December 31, 2021. This increase, particularly linked to the good performance of the environment area, up EUR46.3 million, and the overall contribution of the energy areas of EUR28.8 million, is more appreciable considering that it also absorbs the negative effect, amounting to approximately EUR22 million, resulting from the revision of the WACC by the Energy Networks and Environment Regulatory Authority, effective January 1, 2022.

The result of financial operations as of December 31, 2022 was EUR125 million and slightly increased by EUR5.2 million compared to the previous year. The change is mainly attributable to the increase in net financial debt generated by the gas storage business and the absorption of working capital generated by the increase in energy commodity prices compared to 2021 values.

Net income attributable to shareholders as of December 31, 2022 stood at EUR322.2 million, up 1.4 percent from the 2021 like-for-like figure, obtained by stripping out non-recurring extraordinary income items of EUR12.6 million.

In 2022, Hera Group's operating investments, before capital grants, reached EUR709.5 million, up 21% compared to 2021: the main interventions concerned plants, networks and infrastructures, to which were added regulatory adjustments mainly related to gas distribution and the integrated water cycle, respectively for the massive replacement of new-generation meters and specific interventions in the purification and sewerage areas. The RAB thus rose to EUR3.4 billion or EUR133 million over the previous year.

Hera's board thus proposed raising the dividend to 12.5 cents per share from 12.0 cents a year earlier - an increase consistent with the target of reaching 15 cents in 2026 - and with the ex-dividend date to be June 19, two days before payment.

Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano, executive chairman of the Hera Group, said, "While we have continued to invest to cope with the energy crisis and to keep all our assets resilient and performing, in order to ensure the execution of our strategic plans and the quality of all the services managed, we have also continued the company's development by external lines, with M&A transactions in the energy and environment sectors, with the aim of consolidating our position in our reference markets and further improving competitiveness and efficiency of the solutions proposed to our customers."

Hera's stock is up 0.9 percent at EUR2.50 per share.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News IS Italian Service Ltd. All rights reserved.