By Francesca Landini
MILAN (Reuters) -Italy’s biggest utility Enel on Thursday improved its guidance on full-year net income after reporting nine-month earnings marginally above market expectations.
Ordinary earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at 17.26 billion euros ($20 billion) in the January-September period, compared to an average estimate by analysts of 17.17 billion euros.
Ordinary net income was 5.7 billion euros, also slightly above analyst expectations, and up 4.5% on the same period of last year, net of the effect of assets disposals.
In 2025, ordinary net ordinary income is expected to rise slightly above the high end a previous 6.7-6.9-billion-euro guidance range, the company said.
Ordinary EBITDA is expected to be in line with the previous guidance range of 22.9 billion to 23.1 billion euros.
Spanish unit Endesa and Enel’s activities in Latin America were among the engines of growth.
Enel’s Italian business dragged on results due to a fall in hydroelectric power generation and lower selling prices applied to retain retail customers, the group said.
Its top managers said in a post-result conference call that hydroelectric production in Italy was not expected to return to the exceptional levels of 2024.
SEVERAL POTENTIAL SITES FOR DATA CENTRE
Enel, which will present its updated medium-term strategy at a capital market day in February, is aiming to grab business opportunities from the development of data centres in its home country.
“We are finalising the first preliminary agreement in Italy, where we have several potential sites in our pipeline,” said Chief Financial Officer Stefano De Angelis.
The group will offer data centre operators a package including authorized industrial sites, energy network connections and facility services on top of long-term electricity supply agreements priced at a premium over standard wholesale rates, he said.
Enel introduced a share buy-back programme this year worth 1 billion euros that will run until year-end.
The improvement in investor reward boosted the stock, which rose to a record high earlier this month.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Francesca Landini, editing by Alvise Armellini and Gavin Jones)
