Terna's CEO, Luigi Ferraris, illustrated the accounts as at 31 March 2018 to the Board of Directors, which showed revenues up by 2,7% to 537,8 million euro, EBITDA up by 1,6% at 409,3 million euros, net profit up 2% to 182,7 million euros, but especially an investment sprint, destined to soar even more according to what is foreseen in the next business plan, and grew by 42% compared to the first quarter of 2017, to 141,6 million (against 99,7 million). Among the main projects of the period we note the progress of the construction sites for the Italy-Montenegro and Italy-France electricity interconnections, the works for the construction of the electricity connection between Capri and Sorrento, and for the submarine connection of the Venetian Lagoon.
The employees of the group that manages the national electricity grid, at the end of March 2018, are equal to 4.023, an increase of 126 units compared to 31 December 2017. This increase is mainly linked to the policy of strengthening core competencies which will continue in 2018. In the first quarter of this year, Terna also reduced its net financial debt by around 180 million, compared to 31 December 2017 ( it is now at 7,6 billion).
“The results for the first quarter of the current year confirm the Group's positive trend, with all economic indicators on the increase”, declared Luigi Ferraris, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Terna. “In particular, investments up by over 40% and robust cash generation are in line with the strategic plan presented to the market last March”.
Terna also communicated that in the first few days of April 2018 it started laying the cable on the A32 relating to the Italy-France electricity interconnection. Furthermore, on 4 May 2018, Terna's shareholders' meeting approved the 2017 financial statements and approved the distribution of a dividend of 22 euro cents per share, in line with the policy communicated to the market. The shareholders' meeting also approved the policy adopted by Terna for the remuneration and the long-term incentive plan called the "Phantom Stock Plan 2018-2021".
