Enel ups guidance on 2025 net income, plans data centres

Enel, Italy's largest utility company, increased its guidance for full-year net earnings after reporting nine-month results that were marginally higher than market expectations.

The average analyst estimate of 17.17 billion euro was surpassed by the actual EBITDA, which came to 17.26 billion dollars.

The ordinary net income for the first half of this year was 5.7 billion euro, slightly higher than the analyst's expectations and 4.5% more than the same period last year.

The company expects that in 2025 ordinary net ordinary income will rise slightly over the previous guidance range of 6.7-6.9 billion euros.

The EBITDA range is expected to remain in the same range as before, between 22.9 billion and 23.1 billion euro.

The growth of the Spanish company Endesa and Enel in Latin America was amongst the main drivers.

Enel said that its Italian business suffered from a decline in hydroelectric energy generation, as well as lower prices to retain retail clients.

In a conference call following the results, its top managers stated that it was not anticipated that hydroelectric production would return to exceptional levels in 2024.

SEVERAL POTENTIAL SITES DATA CENTRE

Enel will be presenting its updated medium-term strategic plan at a capital markets day in February. It is looking to take advantage of business opportunities that arise from the growth of data centres within its own country.

Stefano De Angelis, Chief Financial Officer of the company, said: "We are currently finalising our first preliminary agreement with Italy where we have a number of potential sites in pipeline."

He said that the group would offer data center operators a package of services including industrial sites, energy networks connections, and facility service on top long-term power supply agreements at a premium to standard wholesale rates.

Enel was introduced in

Share buyback

Programme worth 1 billion Euros that will last until the end of the year

The stock rose to record highs earlier this month due to the improvement in investor rewards. ($1 = 0.8575 euro) (Reporting and editing by Alvise Armallini and Gavin Jones).

(source: Reuters)