Why does Erg collapse in Piazza Affari?
Erg's stock loses 5 percent on the Milan Stock Exchange after the publication of the results for the first half of 2023 which the company itself defines as "lower" than expected. All the details
Today the share of the energy company Erg on the Milan Stock Exchange lost 5 percent, finishing at the bottom of the FTSE MIB index. The economic results of the second quarter of 2023 are to blame, which as acknowledged by the CEO Paolo Merli were "lower than our expectations".
In the January-June period, EBITDA fell by 3 percent compared to the first half of last year, to 263 million euros. The "unfavorable" wind conditions, ie the low wind, which have led to a decrease in energy generation from wind sources, have something to do with it – as Erg itself explains . Added to this is the drop in energy prices after their sharp increase in 2022. A drop "on average of 50% in the various reference markets", writes the company, which however the group's business model has allowed to mitigate, through sales via fixed rates, long-term contracts and hedging policies.
ERG REVISES DOWNWARDS THE GUIDANCE ON THE OPERATING MARGIN
The decline in operating results in the first half prompted Erg to revise downwards the guidance , the forecasts, of the gross operating margin for the whole of 2023, which passes to 480-520 million compared to 500-550 million.
However, the company confirmed the investments (500-600 million) and the debt (1400-1500 million).
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NET INCOME GROWS
However, the first half of 2023 saw a 40 per cent growth in ERG's net profit, which went from 82 to 116 million euro. The lower contribution of the operating margin, reads the note released by the company, "was offset by lower financial charges thanks to the cash yield in a context of increasing interest rates".
EXPANSION ABROAD
Last six months, Erg continued to consolidate its presence in the Spanish solar energy sector, purchasing two photovoltaic plants (one under construction, with a capacity of 149 megawatts, and one in operation, with a capacity of 25 MW). The company also won an auction in France for two solar parks of 18 MW in total, and obtained permits in Germany for 28 MW of capacity.
In Italy, on the other hand, it completed the repowering (or repowering ) of the 42 MW Partinico-Monreale wind farm: the energy produced will be sold to Essilor-Luxottica through a twelve-year supply contract. An additional 274 MW of wind capacity is under construction in Sicily.
WHO CONTROLS ERG
ERG's largest shareholder, with 62.5 per cent of total capital, is the Genoese company SQ Renewables, in turn part of San Quirico SpA, the Garrone family business: Edoardo Garrone is the founder of ERG, whose full name is Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone.
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This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/erg-risultati-primo-semestre-2023/ on Fri, 28 Jul 2023 13:28:11 +0000.