After a resilient H1, Naturgy Spain sees a higher core profit in this year

Spanish power and gas utility Naturgy announced on Wednesday that it expects its core profit for the full year to rise at least 3% after growth in its regulated distribution network division helped offset pressure?in parts of its energy market business.

The morning trading saw a 2.4% increase in the shares.

The company now expects EBITDA to reach more than EUR5.5billion ($6.3billion) for the full year after EBITDA grew 4.5% to EUR2.98billion in the first half.

The company's distribution network division saw a?13.2% increase in EBITDA, thanks to higher regulated remuneration for Spanish electricity distribution as well as tariff updates in Latin America.

"Distribution network businesses have once again shown (their) role as a stable, resilient contributor to the group's earnings in 1H26. This was supported by regulatory stability and solid demand dynamics across geographies, along with disciplined cost control," Naturgy stated.

The core profit of its energy markets business dropped 2.4% to EUR1,49 billion as the weaker Spanish supply margins, and negative mark-to market effects on Australian power purchasing agreements, outweighed stronger thermal production in Spain.

Energy prices have risen since the U.S. and Israel war against Iran began at the end of last month. The prices remain high as the conflict in the Gulf has intensified and the traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has come to a near standstill.

The company's first-half net profit was EUR1.22 billion, up 5.9% from a year earlier. It expects its net income for this year to exceed EUR2.1 billion.

The company said that Naturgy's gas supply will not be affected by the EU ban on long-term LNG from Russia starting in 2027, as the company has a flexible long-term LNG contract with the United States.

Naturgy said it would also pay an interim dividend in cash of EUR0.6 per share for 2026 on the 29th July.

(source: Reuters)