It improves its profit forecast with an increase of 10% in 2023 and points to record profits this year of almost 4,800 million

Iberdrola obtained a net profit of 2,521 million euros in the first half of the year, which represents an increase of 21.5% compared to the same period a year ago, the company reported.

The group's sales figure increased in the first six months of 2023 to 26,263.2 million euros, 7.5% more than the 24,429.9 million euros in the same period last year.

The gross operating result (Ebitda) of the energy company grew by 17.3% in the period from January to June, to 7,561 million euros, mainly due to investments in Networks and Renewables, to the recovery of the last year's SVT regulated tariff in the United Kingdom, and the best performance in the countries of the European Union due to the normalization of production and the best prices.

These gross investments reached the figure of 10,544 million euros in the last 12 months, 8% more, with 93% assigned to Networks (5,061 million euros) and Renewables (4,745 million euros).

The Chairman of Iberdrola, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, stressed that the company continues to "accelerate" the execution of its Strategic plan with this investment effort, "to reach a Network Asset Base of 40,000 million euros and 41,250 installed renewable megawatts (MW) .

In addition, with these results, the company announced a second improvement in its forecasts for 2023, after the one carried out in the first quarter, and forecasts an increase in net profit of close to 10% for the year as a whole, excluding any additional capital gains from asset turnover, thanks to a strong first half -recovery of renewables and customer business- and a series of advantages in the second part of the year -greater installed capacity and increased production-.

In this way, the electric company aims for new record profits of around 4,800 million euros for this 2023, after 2022 it will already register a historic profit of 4,339 million euros.

"These results confirm our ability to execute our plans ahead of schedule, even in the current challenging macroeconomic scenario," added Galán.

The group continued in the period with the continuous improvement of its financial strength and cash generation, which increased by 3%, to 5,731 million euros in the semester and 21% excluding the recovery of the hydroelectric canon in 2022.

Thus, it promoted an improvement in its financial ratios, reaching an FFO to net debt ratio of 24.9%, also reinforcing its financial position through new green financing (3,400 million euros) and achieving a liquidity position that allows the group cover 21 months of financing needs.

COMPLETED ASSET ROTATION PLAN.

Within its strategic plan, the energy company has also completed its 'road map' of asset rotation of 7,500 million euros by 2025. In this sense, as the last operation, this Wednesday it closed an agreement with Masdar to develop the wind farm of 'Baltic Eagle' in German waters.

In addition, the sale of close to 60% of the Mexico business continues and the transaction is expected to close before the end of the year.

By country, in Spain it has allocated 2,880 million euros, representing 27% of the total. In addition, it has invested 2,580 million in the United States, 1,957 million in Latin America, 1,533 million in the United Kingdom and 1,595 million in other countries.

MORE THAN 7,000 MW UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

In renewables, along with the more than 41,000 MW installed, the company has 7,100 MW under construction, representing an investment of 12,000 million euros.

Its new capacity has allowed the group to increase its own production with clean energy by 5.7% compared to the same period of the previous year, up to 42,756 gigawatt hours (GWh).

Likewise, in 2023 the company has already sold 135 terawatt hours (TWh) through long-term contracts -through PPAs and regulated mechanisms-. 70% of this energy is committed through contracts with industrial customers with a term of approximately 12 years and 30%, with domestic customers for an average term of between 2 and 3 years.

On the other hand, Iberdrola indicated that it applauds the reform of the electricity market in the EU that is underway. The European Parliament has already established a position in favor of promoting the market and long-term contracting, in line with the legislative proposal made by the Commission.

Regarding the dividend, the company has increased shareholder remuneration by 11.6%, up to 0.501 euros per share charged to the results of 2021. With this remuneration, the company has already reached the established dividend floor of by 2025.

On the other hand, the group has closed the first edition of the optional dividend system Iberdrola Flexible Remuneration for the year 2023, in which 34.61% of its share capital has chosen to receive the complementary dividend.

Thus, the total gross amount of the complementary dividend -0.316 euros per share- that will be paid this Friday will be 682.469 million euros.