The year closed with a 4% increase in net profit attributable to shareholders and a 20% rise in investments. Value creation for all stakeholders and a solid capital structure once again confirm the Group’s ability to combine business growth with sustainable development. The proposed dividend increases to 16 euro cents per share, up 6.7%
Economic and financial highlights
- Revenues at €12,812.2 million (-0.6%)
- EBITDA at €1,537.2 million (-3.2%)
- Net profit attributable to shareholders at €464.3 million (+3.9% on a like-for-like basis compared with FY2024, which benefited from extraordinary items of €47.8 million)
- Gross operating investments of €1,028 million (+19.5%)
- Net financial debt slightly down to €3,944.4 million, with net debt/EBITDA at 2.57x
- ROI at 9.6% and ROE at 11.6%
- Proposed dividend increased to 16 euro cents per share (+6.7%)
Business highlights
- Around 4.4 million energy customers, with over 7.5 million citizens receiving at least one service from the Group
- Innovative initiatives continued to support the communities served in the ecological transition and strengthen the resilience of managed assets, in line with the Business Plan and the Net Zero target by 2050
- Shared-value EBITDA rose to €915.6 million (+7%), while shared-value investments amounted to €810.9 million (78% of total investments). 64% of investments are aligned with the European Taxonomy.
- Economic added value distributed across the areas served exceeded €2.1 billion
The Board of Directors of the Hera Group, chaired by Executive Chairman Cristian Fabbri, unanimously approved the Annual Financial Report as at 31 December 2025, including the Sustainability Reporting pursuant to Directive (EU) 2022/2464 (CSRD), containing the information necessary to understand the company’s impact on sustainability matters and how those matters affect its performance and results. In 2025, the Hera Group continued along its path of industrial growth, with investments up by almost 20%, increasing across all businesses and particularly in the environment and integrated water cycle areas. The Group’s commitment to combining business growth and sustainable development, fully in line with the strategic pillars set out in the Business Plan, was confirmed. The economic and balance sheet results in fact highlight the value creation capability underpinning the Group’s growth.
Cristian Fabbri, Executive Chairman of Hera Group:
“The positive results achieved in 2025 bring to a close the three-year term of office of the Board of Directors, a period marked by strong geopolitical instability and extreme weather events, which also had an impact on the businesses we manage. Despite this context, we accelerated industrial growth by investing almost €3 billion, 43% more than in the previous three-year period, improving the resilience of our assets and our contribution to environmental sustainability. We achieved significant results, confirming the validity of the direction taken by our Group and demonstrating that business growth, value creation and sustainable development can go hand in hand. Over these three years, EBITDA has grown by almost 20%, while net profit attributable to shareholders has grown continuously, up 44% overall. The cash flows generated enabled us to reduce debt and improve financial leverage. Total Shareholder Return increased overall by 77%, supported by 27% growth in dividends. At the same time, the economic value distributed to our stakeholders also increased significantly, exceeding €2.1 billion in 2025. In light of the positive results achieved and the financial strength of our Group, we will propose to the Shareholders’ Meeting the distribution of a dividend of 16 euro cents per share, up 6.7% on the last dividend paid. This increase will feed through to our dividend policy over the coming years, up to a dividend of 19 euro cents in 2029, as set out in our Business Plan.”
Orazio Iacono, CEO of the Hera Group:
"In 2025, against a complex macroeconomic backdrop, the Hera Group continued along its industrial development path, increasing investments by 20% to €1.028 billion, the highest level in Hera’s history. These investments were fully self-financed thanks to the significant cash generation achieved during the year and provide a solid foundation for the future development of our Group. At EBITDA level, which reached €1.537 billion, 2025 demonstrated our ability to turn the extraordinary opportunities of previous years into structural and sustainable growth. Net finance costs decreased compared with the previous year, confirming our ongoing commitment to the efficient rationalisation of financial resources. Accordingly, in 2025 as well, the Hera Group confirmed its ability to create value, reporting net profit attributable to shareholders of €464.3 million (+3.9%). In summary, the year closed on a positive note, with a further strengthening of our financial and economic solidity, as evidenced by a net debt/EBITDA ratio of 2.57x, which provides us with significant financial flexibility to pursue effectively the objectives set out in the Business Plan. A recent example is the acquisition of the Sostelia Group, a company with more than 1,200 customers, which positions us as a leader also in the market segment for the treatment of civil and industrial wastewater, further expanding our range of services in support of Italy’s industrial fabric".
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Hera Group and Saipem's CO₂ capture project will receive nearly €24 million from the EU Innovation Fund
It will be the first industrial-scale example of CCS applied to a plant of this type in Italy. The project is one of the main decarbonization levers in the multi-utility's Climate Transition Plan to reduce internal emissions
Capturing carbon dioxide emitted from the waste-to-energy plant’s chimneys and storing it in depleted natural gas fields, thereby significantly reducing plant emissions while contributing to the decarbonization of local areas. This is the goal of the pioneering project for the Ferrara plant - proposed by Hera Group, as the lead partner, in collaboration with Saipem - that has been selected to receive funding under the fourth call for mid-scale projects from the EU Innovation Fund. Once the allocation is finalized, the funding for the CO₂ emission capture project will amount to nearly €24 million.
This industrial CO₂ capture project is the first of its kind in Italy designed for waste-to-energy plants and among the first in Europe. It involves the application of Bluenzyme™️, Saipem's proprietary and modular solution based on “CO₂ Solutions”, an innovative enzymatic technology for capturing carbon dioxide in industrial processes of small and medium emitters.
The initiative was selected by European authorities for its high level of innovation, and its potential replicability in other waste-to-energy plants and other hard-to-abate industrial sectors in Italy, and more generally across Europe. The European Funds will cover a significant portion of the €53 million planned for the construction of the CO₂ capture plant. Depending on opportunities arising from changes in the regulatory framework, the plant is expected to be operational by 2028.
The project will fully abate CO₂ emissions from the Ferrara waste-to-energy plant
CO₂ capture is a crucial decarbonization tool for waste-to-energy plants, and for now, the Herambiente plant in Ferrara has been identified as the most suitable. The project will enable, in fact, the capture of approximately 90% of the emissions from one of the plant's two lines, amounting to 64 thousand tons of CO₂ per year (equivalent to the annual emissions of around 37 thousand cars), which represent the entirety of the CO₂ emitted, making the entire energy production from the waste-to-energy process sustainable. The remaining share of the CO₂ emitted by the plant is biogenic in nature and therefore environmentally neutral. The captured CO₂ will be transported via pipeline and stored in the depleted gas fields of the Northern Adriatic. The new CO₂ capture plant will ensure high standards of safety and innovation, while maximizing energy efficiency. It will be entirely green, as it will exploit renewable energy, both generated from the waste-to-energy plant itself and from geothermal heat delivered through the multiutility’s district heating network. The enzymatic capture process, with a low environmental impact, can be powered by low-temperature heat, such as geothermal heat. Further CO₂ emissions will therefore be avoided.
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