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Hera Group approves results as at 31/12/2023

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26/03/2024
Hera Group approves results as at 31/12/2023

The year closed with main financial indicators rising and the targets included in the strategic Plan to 2026 exceeded three years ahead of schedule

Financial highlights

  • Revenues at 14,897.3 million euro
  • Ebitda* at 1,494.7 million euro (+15.4%)
  • Net profit* for shareholders at 375.2 million euro (+16.5%)
  • Gross operating investments at 815.8 million euro (+15.0%)
  • Net financial debt improves to 3,827.7 million euro (-10%), with Net debt / Ebitda* at 2.56x
  • Proposed dividend rises to 14 eurocents per share (+12%)


Operating highlights

  • Strong performance from internal growth with contributions coming from acquisitions
  • Significant contributions from the energy area, growth in the waste management sector, and network resilience pending the adjustment of the tariff return effective from 2024
  • Consolidation of ranking as Italy’s first operator in the waste management sector, second in water and third in energy
  • Shared-value Ebitda rises sharply to 776.0 million euro (+16%) and shared-value investments amount to 558.4 million euro (69% of total investments)

The Board of Directors of the Hera Group, chaired by Executive Chairman Cristian Fabbri, unanimously approved the consolidated financial results as at 31 December 2023 and the Report on remuneration policy and compensation paid, as well as the Sustainability report.

Record year for the Group, that continues to create value for stakeholders and increase its scope of operations
Thanks to effective choices made by management and the numerous development actions implemented, which also made it possible to seize market opportunities, the Hera Group closed the 2023 financial year with main operating results showing strong growth compared to the previous year. In particular, the Group leveraged its financial flexibility to successfully participate in recent last resort market tenders, and to acquire strategic assets in the waste management area.
In a year characterised by an international geopolitical situation that remained unstable, with high energy market volatility in the first half of the year and prices that have not yet returned to the levels seen prior to the crisis, as well as a series of extreme weather and climate phenomena that affected the areas served, the Hera Group has continued to ensure service continuity and quality and the creation of value for all stakeholders. This concrete and transparent value was quantified through shared-value Ebitda and investments, with the data in question subjected for the fifth consecutive year to an external auditing company in order to validate these distinctive aspects of the Group’s reporting to all stakeholders. Hera pursued corporate growth and, at the same time, sustainable development, as shown by the increased investments in innovation and resilience of the assets managed, the circular economy and the energy transition, with concrete projects consistent with major national and international policies.
In addition to internal growth, in 2023 Hera continued to expand its scope of operations through external development, with the aim of providing its customers with increasingly innovative and competitive solutions.

 

Cristian Fabbri, Executive Chairman of Hera Group:


“We closed 2023 with record performance in our main operating and financial indicators, achieved within a macroeconomic environment that was volatile and uncertain. Ebitda reached almost 1.5 billion, net profit attributable to shareholders grew by 16.5% and investments were up by 15%, exceeding 800 million euro. As a result, the economic value distributed to stakeholders in the areas in which we operate reached 2.3 billion euro, up 36%. We achieved these results mainly thanks to the contribution coming from the waste management and energy areas. In the energy area in particular, we achieved significant growth supported by commercial development, last resort markets and energy efficiency services. At the same time, debt fell by 10%, bringing us to a Net debt / Ebitda ratio of 2.56x, allowing the Board of Directors to propose a 12% increase in dividends, equal to 14 eurocents per share. The 2023 results thus confirm the validity of our Group’s strategic vision and constitute the solid building block of our new business plan, approved in January.”

 

 

Orazio Iacono, CEO of the Hera Group:


“In 2023, Ebitda exceed the targets set in the previous Plan to 2026 three years ahead of schedule. The normalisation of energy prices made it possible to reduce net working capital achieving a significant financial structure and a Net debt / Ebitda ratio of 2.56x. The Group thus regained its usual financial flexibility and can continue to seize further growth opportunities in its reference markets, still highly fragmented. Evidence of this lies in the transactions carried out in 2023, which also confirm our focus on generating sustainable growth in the local areas served. This commitment was confirmed by the increase in both shared-value Ebitda, up by 16% to 776.0 million euro, 52% of overall Ebitda, and in CSV investments, which amounted to 558.4 million euro in 2023, approximately 69% of total investments. Finally, we proved our ongoing commitment to sustainable finance, a driving force for our investment plan and confirmation of our desire to create value in the areas served, with particular attention going to objectives including decarbonisation, circular economy, innovation and resilience, consistent with our corporate purpose and the path set out by the Business Plan.”.


For further information
Press release 
Investor Relations web area
2023 Sustainability Report Highlights 

Interactive 2023 annual report
​​​​​​​2023 Sustainability report

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Hera Shareholders Meeting: 2023 financial statements approved and dividend increased to 14 cents

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26/03/2024

Hera Group approves results as at 31/12/2023

The year closed with main financial indicators rising and the targets included in the strategic Plan to 2026 exceeded three years ahead of schedule

04/03/2024

The passing of Hera S.p.A.'s Vice Chairman, Mr. Gabriele Giacobazzi

We hereby inform you that on March 3, 2024, the Vice Chaiman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Gabriele Giacobazzi, passed away.

04/03/2024

Hera Group and Panasonic Industry together for the diffusion of NexMeter on the national market

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Over 1 million new electricity customers as of 1 July

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25/01/2024

Hera Group expands in the industrial waste sector with TRS Ecology

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24/01/2024

Hera Group presents Business Plan to 2027

Development, resilience and creating shared value for stakeholders are at the heart of the Group’s new strategic document, which foresees investments totalling 4.4 billion to speed up the ecological transition and enhance asset resilience to climate change

18/01/2024

Top Employer for the 15th Consecutive Year

Once again in 2024, we confirm our position among the best performers in human resources management, thanks to substantial investments in welfare, training, and skill development

Search Results

26/06/2019

Hera: new 500 m€ green bond

sede_berti_110 The Hera Group aims to continue in its role as a reference point for sustainable finance in Italy and, five years after issuing the country's first "green" bond, it is now launching its second. The bond is being announced at the end of a road show in Europe's main financial centres, aimed at illustrating the structure of the transaction to investors and analysts, in addition to the way in which the resources will be allocated, i.e. by investing in environmental sustainability projects in the waste, water and energy sectors. Considering that it also launched Italy's first ESG-linked revolving line of credit last year, Hera is carrying on with its activity in identifying and implementing innovative instruments. The latter are indeed able to valorise the company's commitment and the results it has reached hereto in this area, along with its future investment policies, thus meeting the market's growing attention towards this sort of endeavour. The characteristics of the new green bond and the projects financed The second green bond issued by the Hera Group (Moody's rating Baa2 with stable outlook and Standard & Poor's rating BBB with positive outlook) amounts to 500 million euro overall, repayable over 8 years with a 0.875% coupon and a 1.084% return. The date of payment for the newly issued bond has been set at 5 July 2019. Furthermore, the new green bond is expected to have the same rating as the Hera Group. A strong demand, coming to seven times the amount offered, and the quality of the orders received have allowed the price to be fixed at an excellent level. The transaction has seen significant participation from international investors (France, Germany, United Kingdom and Holland), most of whom follow green and sustainable criteria. The bond is expected to be listed on the Irish Stock Exchange and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange's regulated markets, and on Borsa Italiana's ExtraMOT PRO. The funds will be used to finance or refinance numerous projects, already implemented or included in the Business plan to 2022, that pursue one or more of the goals in the UN's 2030 Agenda. These projects have been subdivided into 3 areas: energy efficiency (in line with SDGs 7 and 13): from installing smart metres to developing district heating networks and projects in the area of public lighting; circular economy and sustainable waste management (responding to SDG 12): innovative projects in the waste collection systems, further use of unit pricing, creating plants and structures for recycling, recovering and reusing materials, plants for biological/chemical waste treatment and plants for transforming waste into energy, similar to the Sant'Agata Bolognese (BO) biomethane production plant; water infrastructures (meeting SDGs 6 and 14): waste water management projects, sewerage and water infrastructures furthering resilience and adaptation to climate change. In order to guarantee that the funds are correctly and transparently allocated, Hera has introduced a monitoring and reporting process. The amount actually dedicated to each intervention will be published in the Group's Sustainability Report, along with data concerning the environmental performances reached. "Green Financing Framework": Hera transparent in sustainability as well The Hera Group, furthermore, is among the first companies in Europe to have provided itself with a "Green Financing Framework" (GFF). The GFF is a particularly innovative programming document, in line with "Green Bond Principles", that covers not only aspects linked to issuing the green bond, but also sustainable loans and other ESG instruments on the market. The GFF is accompanied by a "Second Party Opinion", drafted by ISS-oekom, which ranked Hera "Prime" in terms of ESG performance (sixth in a panel of 43 worldwide companies), in particular giving an excellent opinion of Hera's contribution to the water sector. sede_berti_870 20190626_Cs_Nuovo_green_bond_Hera_final_ENG.1561565634.pdf 2019-06-26 Read more bologna_berti_pichat_870_320.1561565805.jpg Strong interest shown by international investors for the multi-utility's second "green" bond, which will finance environmental sustainability projects in 3 areas: energy efficiency, circular economy and sustainable water resource management /group_eng/investor-relations/strategy/strategy-and-business-plan /group_eng/investors /group_eng/investor-relations/debit-and-rates/green-financing-framework-e-opinion Hera Group Business Plan Investor Relations Green Financing Framework e Second Party Opinion sede_berti_110
17/06/2019

The Hera Group and Ascopiave: a large energy partnership in North-East Italy

Hera-Ascopiave_110 Today, the Boards of Directors of Hera S.p.a. and Ascopiave S.p.a. approved the signing of a binding Term Sheet intended to develop a major entity in areas of North-East Italy, which will be able to rely on over one million energy customers, while at the same time redefining their respective activities in gas distribution. The Term Sheet, which will be finalised by a framework agreement within 31 July 2019, defines the geographical areas involved, the economic terms of the agreement and related elements of governance. The agreement reached represents an important strategic transition in the evolution of the two Groups' activity portfolios and fully respects the strategic lines of development approved by the Boards of Directors of Hera S.p.a. and Ascopiave S.p.a., as communicated to investors. More specifically, as regards the gas and electricity marketing area, the agreement calls for a single operator to be created, bringing together the respective sales operations in the Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Lombardy regions, acting through EstEnergy S.p.a., a company currently jointly controlled by Ascopiave S.p.a. and Hera Comm S.r.l., the Hera Group's sales company. EstEnergy S.p.a.'s activities in the geographical areas indicated will be considerably increased, coming to include the Ascopiave Group's sales activities carried out by the subsidiaries Ascotrade S.p.a., Ascopiave Energie S.p.a. and Blue Meta S.p.a. as well as the joint ventures Asm Set S.r.l. (49%) and Etra Energia S.r.l. (51%), in addition to the liquidating Sinergie Italiane S.r.l. (30.94%) and the company Energia Base Trieste S.r.l. (92,000 contracts managed) and Hera Comm's Veneto and Friuli customers (96,000 gas contracts and 68,000 electricity contracts). A major operator rooted in the North-East will thus emerge with a portfolio totalling over 795,000 gas contracts and 265,000 electricity contracts, based on 31 December 2018 data, which considering the joint venture pro rata component amounts to over 1 million contracts. This new entity, which will take shape through EstEnergy, when fully operational, will have a consolidated Ebitda coming to roughly 69 m€, based on 2018 data, not including the contribution coming from owned companies with minority shareholdings. 52% of EstEnergy's share capital will be held by the Hera Group, and 48% by Ascopiave. The parties involved have disclosed that the overall equity value of the new EstEnergy amounts to 864.5 m€ (with a corresponding enterprise value of 797 m€), based on 31 December 2018 data, and may be subject to standard adjustments following the closing date; of this amount, 601 m€ (543 m€ enterprise value) pertains to sales activities originating from Ascopiave and 263 m€ to activities originating from HeraComm. As regards the Hera Group, through these agreements with Ascopiave it will reach its target of 3 million energy customers (3.2, according to 31 December 2018 data) set in its business plan to 2022. This represents a further step along the path of growth in this area, that has seen the Group double its energy customer base over the last 10 years, by way of internal growth and M&As. Hera-Ascopiave_870 20190617_press_release_GruppoHera_Ascopiave.1560792483.pdf 2019-06-17 GH_ASCOPIAVE_870.1560783726.jpg The business partnership, through the joint venture EstEnergy, involves over 1 million customers, with the new entity's overall value coming to 864.5 million euro and its Ebitda amounting to 69 million euro. With this transaction, the Hera Group reaches over 3 million energy customers Read more Hera-Ascopiave_110
10/06/2019

Communicating sustainability on the web: The Hera Group is among the eight best companies in Italy

lundquist_future_110 For a company, attention to sustainability does not incorporate only the implementation of current and future practical actions, but also the way in which these initiatives are described, for example with stories, initiatives and poignant videos. Being sustainable has always been in the Hera Group's DNA. For this reason, the multiutility is in the top eight companies in Italy in terms of on-line communication of the theme of sustainability in the ".future" research of Lundquist, the study that takes into consideration the 100 biggest Italian companies. In the Italian panorama, around twenty companies stand out for the practical and clear way in which they address the significant themes of sustainability and the attention reserved to users of digital channels. The Hera Group is among the six "Silver class" companies, alongside major names like Generali, Tim and Terna, which combine story-telling and involvement in their on-line communication. In particular, the first section of the research conducted by Lundquist, called "Substance", evaluates the sustainability strategy and the transparency of communication. Indeed in this ".future" chapter, the Hera Group distinguished itself as an "excellent example", because it presents clear and detailed information relating to the sustainability strategy and the priority company issues, relating them to the priorities of the global agenda and business opportunities". The most recent products, in terms of communication effectiveness, include the latest Sustainability Report of the Group, in which the contents focus on the creation of shared value, i.e. the multiutility's ability to meet the needs of the local area and tackle the challenges in terms of change geared towards sustainability. Furthermore, it is worth pointing out the new report of the Hera Group "Building the future together", dedicated to the initiatives in which the local community plays an active role, by creating a long-term relationship and a significant environmental impact. lundquist_future_870 2019-07-18 Read more lundquist_future_870.1560148207.1563434959.jpg The multiutility is an excellent example of the ".future" research of Lundquist, which evaluates sustainability and transparency strategy https://lundquist.it/our-thinking/future/ /group_eng/who-we-are/hera-group-strategy/shared-value Visit Lundquist.future website Find out Hera's commitment to create shared value lundquist_future_110
10/06/2019

Re-inventing the city: smartness and resilience to face new challenges

lundquist_future_110 Overview Exploring the transition that the cities of the near future will have to implement to counter the effects of climate change: a transformation that involves institutions, companies, associations and, more generally, citizens. It is the main theme addressed at the conference "Re-inventing the city: smartness and resilience to face new challenges", organized by the Hera Group in Bologna, in the multi-utility headquarters. The young actress Ludovica Nasti stepped in first, performing in a reading of the touching text "I have a dream" by the writer Stefano Massini. Regeneration of resources and sustainability as a business leverage were the focus of the opening speech by the Executive Chairman of the Hera Group, Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano, who then gave the floor to the moderator of the entire afternoon, the director of Rai News 24 Antonio Di Bella. The first intermezzo was dedicated to the video with the results in terms of sustainability achieved by the Group in 2018, and collected in the Sustainability Report. "The most important contribution to urbanization, to tackle climate change, is to improve social cohesion", said during his speech the guest of honor Paul Romer, Nobel Prize 2018 for Economics and professor at NYU Stern School of Business. Then, the other speakers of the conference took turns on the stage, from the architect Stefano Boeri to the Global Ambassador of the B Corp Marcello Palazzi, from the full professor to the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and to the IUAV University of Venice, Paola Viganò, to the former mayor of Bogotà, Antanas Mockus, and the current first citizen of Bologna, Virginio Merola. The concluding remarks were made by the Chief Executive Officer of the Hera Group, Stefano Venier, who in his speech also emphasized: "In addition to the technological upgrade, the city of tomorrow will have to be based on the circular and resilient economy, able to adapt to change climate to ensure continuity of essential services for everyone's life”. Finally, the attention of those present was all for the children’s choir "Mariele Ventre" of the Antoniano of Bologna, which performed a moving cover of "Sing For The Climate", the famous song about the environment born in Belgium, in 2012, at the initiative of environmental director and activist Nic Balthazar. Reinventing the city - Regenerating resources to move to a society based on the circular economy During the event the 2018 Sustainability Report has been presented Watch the video with the results achieved in 2018 for the benefit of the served areas lundquist_future_870 2019-07-18 Read more On the occasion of the presentation of its sustainability report, an event to discuss together with so many authoritative voices of how cities will have to change to face climate change and guarantee wellbeing to future generations. Among the guests, the Nobel Prize for Economics Paul Romer https://paulromer.net/about/ https://www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net/stefano-boeri-biografia/ https://nl.linkedin.com/in/marcellopalazzi http://www.studiopaolavigano.eu/at06/at06.html https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Di_Bella https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginio_Merola https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antanas_Mockus https://www.antoniano.it/91-piccolo_coro/ Paul Romer Stefano Boeri Marcello Palazzi Paola Viganò Antonio Di Bella Virginio Merola Antanas Mockus Piccolo coro dell'Antoniano di Bologna lundquist_future_110

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Hera SpA, Viale Carlo Berti Pichat 2/4, 40127 Bologna, Tel.051287111 www.gruppohera.it