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Capex at 413 million euro, up 5% on the record levels of 2019 (394 million euro)
EBITDA at 822 million euro, a decrease of 64 million euro on the first nine months of 2019 (-7%)
Net of non-recurring items, Ordinary EBITDA was 818 million euro, down 42 million euro (-5%)
The effects of COVID-19 mainly affected the Generation and Trading BU (-44 million euro) in connection with the energy scenario
Group net profit amounted to 219 million euro (250 million euro at September 30, 2019)
NFP at 3,381 million euro.
Excluding change in perimeter, the NFP amounted to 3,249 million euro (3,154 million euro at December 31, 2019)
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Milan, November 12, 2020 – At today’s meeting of the Board of Directors of A2A S.p.A., chaired by Marco Patuano, the Board examined and approved the quarterly Financial Information as at September 30, 2020.
The A2A Group closed the first nine months of the year with appreciable results, despite operating in a highly complicated context, characterised by the continuation of the health and economic emergency following the COVID-19 pandemic.
"In evaluating the results of these first nine months” – Chief Executive Officer Renato Mazzoncini comments – “we are particularly satisfied with operational results: despite the emergency and the difficulties caused by the pandemic, we have been able to ensure continuity and quality of our services, guaranteeing the protection of our employees’ health and laying the foundations for future development through capex higher than those realised in the first 9 months of 2019.
The economic and financial results achieved in an unprecedented context confirm the solidity of the Group and its resiliency. The decline is mainly due to the Generation and Trading BU, significantly affected by an extremely weak energy scenario, whose impact has been mitigated not only by the multiple sources of production but also by a wise hedging activity carried out during the previous months. In spite of a declining gas and energy prices scenario” – Mr Mazzoncini continues – “the Group draws its strength from the differentiation of its businesses and the close tie with the territories, which allow us to look to the coming months without undue concern".
The emergency situation has had major impacts on the world economic and financial situation, albeit with a different degree of intensity over the months.
The epidemiological curve and related containment measures have, in fact, in the period in question, had a direct impact on the economic scenario: a major decline in spring when the suspension of economic activities was set, followed by a slight recovery in the summer months. More specifically, in the third quarter, the Italian economy recorded a strong recovery in the manufacturing segment and shy signs of improvements in exports, which fostered an improvement in certain consumer and price indicators, with partial recovery and in any case lower than last year.
As regards energy consumption in particular, the net demand for electricity in Italy during the first nine months of 2020 was 225,154 GWh, showing a decline of 6.9% on the volumes recorded for the same period of 2019 (81,640 GWh in the third quarter of 2020, -3.1% on the same period of 2019); during the first nine months of this year, moreover, the gas demand dropped by 8% on the same period of 2019, coming in at 49,567 Mcm (13,722 Mcm in the third quarter of 2020, in line with the same period of last year).
During the first nine months of 2020, the decrease already in progress of energy commodity prices was accentuated by the health emergency: the PUN (single nationwide price) recorded extremely low values, with all-time lows for both May, with a list price of 21.79 euro/MWh and June with 28.01 euro/MWh, before then starting to rise, in September reaching a value of 48.80 euro/MWh. During the nine months, the Base Load PUN declined by 33.8%, coming in at 35.6 euro/MWh as compared with 53.8 euro/MWh in 2019; declining average list prices were also recorded for the price in peak hours (-32.2% for the Peak Load PUN, which came in at 39.9 euro/MWh). The average gas price to the PSV in the period in question amounted to 9 euro/MWh, down by 45.6% compared to the same period the previous year.
In this context characterised by highly critical consumption and price dynamics, despite the signs of recovery seen in the third quarter, the A2A Group has managed to achieve satisfactory economic-financial results, limiting the reduction in margins and guaranteeing a level of capex even higher than the previous year, which had already booked record values for the company, with high quality of services supplied and safety for its employees.
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