The Group expands in Abruzzo

In February, “Un Pozzo di Scienza” (“A Wealth of Knowledge”), Hera’s project for schools, celebrated its 10th anniversary. Potential Park rated the group among the top-ten Italian companies chosen by recent graduates seeking work online, while the new HergoAmbiente technology won the multi-utility the Smau Bologna award. This was also a year in which Hera increased its presence in Abruzzo, acquiring Julia Servizi Più (Teramo) in April and Gran Sasso (Aquila) in October. INRETE Distribuzione Energia, a company created by Hera to manage its natural gas and electricity distribution activities, became operational from 1 July, in compliance with the requirements laid down by AEEGSI (Italian Regulatory Authority for Electricity Gas and Water). Following Rifiutologo, Hera launched a new app, Acquologo, in July, providing comprehensive information on the local water supply. Finally, HERAtech, a company that manages services including connections, technical opinions and urban developments for the multi-utility, was launched in November.

The first acquisitions

In June 2004, Hera began its territorial expansion strategy with the acquisition of the Ravenna Ecological Centre by Ambiente Spa, an Eni Group Company. The merger of the Ferrara-based company Agea with Hera was concluded in December. The same month, Hera acquired 39% of SET from Rätia Energie AG and participated in the creation and management of the 400 MWe combined cycle power plant in Teverola, near Caserta.

Two new companies in Marche

From this year, the Hera board of directors began to approve the sustainability report together with the annual financial report and present it to the Shareholders’ meeting. Hera Comm Marche was established at the end of June, following the transfer of Megas (Urbino) to Hera. The multi-utility then participated in the merger between Megas and Aspes (Pesaro) to create Marche Multiservizi. At the end of September, a new idea for more welcoming and customer-friendly help desks was implemented in Bologna, and in November, the Group received the “Oscar di Bilancio” award, assigned to companies for the transparency, promptness and quality of their financial reporting.

Hera is once again awarded the tender for waste management in Bologna

Experimenting and developing solutions for the decarbonisation of Emilia-Romagna. This is the goal for which, at the beginning of the year, Hera Group and Snam signed a letter of intent to collaborate in the development of hydrogen, starting from power-to-gas technology. Thanks to the complete, conscious integration of sustainability policies into business strategies, the multiutility was ranked first in the 2021 Integrated Governance Index, an authoritative model for analysing ESG factors. In June, the Group, with its subsidiary Herambiente, acquired 70% of Recycla, a company of Friuli that manages three platforms for solid and liquid industrial waste. This was followed shortly afterwards by the acquisition of the Tuscan company SEA Ambiente and 80% of the Vallortigara Group. The Group’s focus on sustainability has once been again recognised with its inclusion in the MIB ESG Index, the first blue-chip index for Italy dedicated to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) best practices. In November, the temporary grouping of companies (RTI) between Hera S.p.A., Giacomo Brodolini Soc. Coop and Consorzio Stabile Ecobi was awarded the tender for waste stewardship in the Bologna basin. The award comes closely after those for waste stewardship in the Ravenna and Cesena basins, in 2019, the Modena plain and mountain area, in November 2021, and the tender for the stewardship of the integrated water service in the province of Rimini. NexMeter, the Hera Group’s 4.0 gas smart meter, the first of its kind in terms of safety features, is ready for the first network experiment with hydrogen; the fact that it is produced with recycled plastic completes Hera Group’s commitment to energy transition and circularity. To celebrate 20 years in business of Webranking, Lundquist drafts a classification of the companies which have most appeared in the Italian Top Ten. Over the last twenty years, we have featured on this list 16 times, thus achieving third place in the ‘award’ ranking.

Listing on the stock exchange

The listing on the stock exchange takes place in June 2003, with a floatation equal to 44.5% of its capital.

Sustainable mobility according to Hera

Herambiente signed an agreement in January with the wine producer Caviro to provide organic matter for the biomass plant in the Caviro facilities in Faenza, with considerable savings in CO2. In September, Hera became the first company in Europe to launch various initiatives dedicated to electric cars, including “HeraMobility”. In October, the utility released a free app, the “Rifiutologo”, which converts smartphones and tablets in personal assistants for separate waste collection. In December, after a considerable period of research, HerAcademy, the Group’s Corporate University, was born.

The entry into the FTSE-MIB and the expansion in Tuscany

In March, Hera Group was listed on FTSE-MIB, the stock market index of Borsa Italiana, which includes the 40 largest stocks of Piazza Affari. In its 2019 Sustainability Report, Hera Group updated the three drivers of change: Efficient use of Energy, Efficient use of Resources, Innovation and Contribution to Development. In July, the Group acquired the company Pistoia Ambiente, in this way expanding its operations in Tuscany and consolidating its leadership in environmental services to companies. In October SCART, Hera Group’s art project for the creation of waste-art, celebrates its 20th anniversary. In November, the Group’s annual conference of its Corporate University, HerAcademy, is dedicated to “purpose”, intended as the central purpose of business activities. In December, the multiutility receives the FIRE – Energy Manager award, making it one of the Italian companies most capable of promoting the rational use of energy. Lastly, in December, the Hera Group finalises its partnership with Ascopiave in the energy business. Through EstEnergy, the Partnership between Hera Group and Ascopiave creates the largest energy operator in North-East Italy.

New acquisitions

In January, Moody’s assigned an A1 rating to the HERA Group for the first time, an assessment that reflected its financial strength. At the end of June, the Group incorporated Geat Distribuzione Gas Spa (Riccione) and, on 27 July, it purchased 2.5 million shares in Aspes Multiservizi (Pesaro). In August, Hera executed the purchase of 46.5% of SAT Spa (Modena), with the remaining portion of the share capital held by five municipalities in the province

Hera becomes the 2nd largest operator in the sector

In October, Hera launched a bond issue in the international market for a total of between €400 and €500 million to help finance the Group’s development processes, which included the integration of Meta, a multi-utility in Modena. The company’s territorial proximity and extensive business portfolio allowed synergies generating an additional €20 million per year in terms of consolidated consolidated Gross Operating Margin (EBITDA). With the merger, the HERA Group became the 2nd largest operator in the sector, with an annual turnover of around €1.8 billion.

A state-of-the-art hub for remote control

In May, Hera inaugurated its regional remote control centre in Forlì: a room almost 400 m2, with a 60 m2 giant screen, that can remotely monitor 100,000 points in real time. The Her@ Online desk was introduced in September, with new interactive services to help customers manage their transactions with the multi-utility quickly and easily, at any time of the day. At the end of the year, a new waste to energy plant in Modena was switched on for the first time, with the new system configuration becoming fully operational in in 2010.

A new company for energy efficiency

Hera Servizi Energia, a reference partner for energy efficiency services, was founded on 1 January through the merger between Sinergia and Hera Energie. On the same topic, in April, Hera received the M&A award 2015 for its integration with Amga Udine. At the end of June, operations began at the upgraded waste water treatment plant in Santa Giustina (Rimini), Europe’s largest membrane ultrafiltration treatment facility, while in October, the project was presented for the upgrading of the Servola waste water treatment plant in Trieste. After years of research and investments, in September, Hera presented HergoAmbiente, an “intelligent” system for the integrated management of waste collection and street cleaning. The year ended with the acquisition of Alento Gas (in Abruzzo), Waste Recycling (Pisa) and some waste management branches of Geo Nova (Treviso), enabling the Hera Group to further extend its corporate perimeter.

In the year of the two floods, the Hera Group worked without pause to support the communities affected

Twenty years together. A story that looks to the future, enclosed in a sign

On 1 November 2022, Hera Group turned 20 years old. Important anniversaries are celebrated with a memorable symbol: and to celebrate our 20th anniversary, we have created a brand to make this milestone even more special. With this logo, we want to convey inclusiveness, closeness and sharing, commitment and responsibility, and our roots in the territory. The creative concept focuses on people and their central role in building the present and planning the future. “Twenty years together”, the claim, strengthens the participatory character with which all stakeholders, citizens, customers and the workers of Hera Group identify themselves. The number 20 is in the colours of the Group’s businesses, emphasising Hera’s nature as a multi-service and the dynamism that has allowed us to grow together with the communities where we work. Three decentralised rings form the zero, in a composition that conveys solidity and fluidity, with a strong drive forwards, towards the future, where tradition and innovation go hand in hand. The colours of the rings are the colours of energy, water and the environment, to emphasise the identity of Hera Group and the purpose for which we exist: to offer water, energy and environmental services with a business model which creates value that we share with our stakeholders, promoting social equity and contributing to achieving carbon neutrality, the regeneration of resources and the resilience of the system of the services managed, for the benefit of customers, the ecosystem of the territory and future generations. The logo of our twentieth anniversary will therefore be used in all Hera Group’s communications for the whole of 2022, in order to retrace the stages of its growth while maximising its future development in a journey shared with the communities where Hera Group works. We are proud of our “Twenty years together”: twenty years of work for people and the environment, closeness to the territory, an aptitude for innovation and commitment to excellence.

Hera celebrates 10 years

Hera’s first decade closed with a significant increase in all indicators, from overall investments (totalling €3.5 billion) to operational investments (€287.9 million). In April, Hera inaugurated Disidrat in Ravenna, one of the most important sludge treatment plants in Europe. The plant enabled the amount of material recovered to be doubled, with a reduction in waste destined for landfills. In May, IR Global Rankings presented Hera with an international award for the “Best Ranked IR Websites in Europe”: the group’s website was rated in the top 5 in Europe for its Investor Relations section.

Triveneto joins the team

The year began with Hera’s expansion to Triveneto, with Acegas-Aps Spa in Padua and Trieste joining the group. In May, “HeraLab”, the multi-utility’s new project for dialogue with the stakeholders operating in local areas, was launched in Bologna. The Voltana biodigester (Ravenna) was inaugurated in November. The plant gains the maximum advantage from the separate collection of organic waste, with combustion-free production of high quality compost and renewable electrical energy.

AcegasApsAmga is born

At the start of the year, the multi-utility received an award from Federambiente for good practices aimed at the prevention of waste production, while in February, it came first in the Top Utility ratings and second in those for Top Employer. In March, Hera launched “Cambia il finale” (“Change the Ending”) for the recycling of bulky waste that can still be used, in order to promote the circular economy. Herambiente Servizi Industriali, offering industrial waste management solutions, was launched at the end of the month and the Group’s most important waste sorting plant was inaugurated in Granarolo, with optical reading and a ballistic separator. At the end of June, the multi-utility launched a ten-year bond fund to finance programs related to sustainability. After approval of the planned merger between Hera and Amga (Udine), AcegasApsAmga was founded on 1 July to operate in Tiveneto.

A year marked by the circular economy

In January, Herambiente, together with Aligroup Srl, signed the acquisition of Treviso-based Aliplast, an outstanding Italian company in the collection, recycling and regeneration of plastic waste. With this agreement, the Group consolidated its leading position in alignment with the principles of the circular economy, where waste is converted into resources. In March, Hera began the construction of a plant in Sant’Agata Bolognese, which, when fully operational, will be able to produce 20,000 tons of high-quality natural fertiliser and 7.5 million cubic metres of biomethane – a 100% renewable fuel – each year. For the opening of the G7 Environmental meeting in Bologna, from 5 to 12 June, Hera organised a conference on the circular economy, with Ellen MacArthur as guest of honour. In October, the Ellen McArthur Foundation, the world’s first and most active organisation in this sector, included the Hera Group in its prestigious international programme CE100, which brings together leading companies that distinguish themselves for their commitment to the transition towards a circular economy. In October, Hera inaugurated its new cogeneration plant in Bologna, the result of a €17 million investment, which can supply electricity and hot water to 8,000 homes, allowing a reduction in CO₂ emissions and ensuring greater energy reliability and availability.

Hera is the best multiutility in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index

Admission to one of the most important global stock market indices for assessing social responsibility as a leader in its sector rewards the focus of the multiutility on sustainability and the creation of shared value for all stakeholders.

Online communication: in Webranking Top Ten for the last 20 years

In the search engine rankings by Lundquist, celebrating its twentieth anniversary in 2021, we are third in the list of companies that has most appeared in Italy’s Top Ten. With our new website are among the Top Performers again in the 2021 Italian ranking.

Double positive rating for Hera – Hera: success for the 500 million Euro ten year Euro bond

Moody’s, a leading international agency, for the first time assigns Hera a rating of A1, with a stable outlook. This rating reflects the financial solidity of the Group and assumes even greater value in view of the upcoming issuing of a bond on international markets.