It raises its net profit target for 2025 to 1,800 million, with an Ebitda of 5,100 million

Naturgy obtained a net profit of 1,045 million euros in the first half of the year, which represents an increase of 87.6% compared to the same period last year, the company reported.

The energy company chaired by Francisco Reynés highlighted that this result was supported by "the good performance of the international liberalized activities, in particular, by the Energy Management and Marketing activities, and the positive evolution of the financial result, which reflects the strong deleveraging achieved in the period".

The group's gross operating profit (Ebitda) stood at 2,849 million euros at the end of June, with an increase of 39.2% compared to the first half of 2022.

Likewise, Naturgy announced that on August 7 it will pay an interim dividend of 2023 results, the first, of 0.50 euros per share. This amount is 66% higher than the 0.30 euros that the group paid in 2022 to its shareholders in the first interim dividend.

The board of directors has established the annual dividend floor for the 2023-2025 period at 1.40 euros per share, compared to the previous 1.20 euros per share, conditional on maintaining a 'BBB' rating for S

This new floor is consistent with the average 'payout' of 85% committed in July 2021. According to current share prices, this represents a return of more than 5% and "compensates the thousands of shareholders of the company for the rise in costs due to interest rates and inflation," the company said.

UPDATING YOUR STRATEGIC PLAN.

This upward revision of the dividend is part of the update of its strategic plan that the group already advanced on July 12, after closing the gap on its board due to the possible appointment of a CEO, after the resignation of the offer of the position by the director Ignacio Gutiérrez-Orrantia, after having exceeded all his committed objectives in the middle of his 'road map'.

Thus, Naturgy expects to reach an Ebitda of 5,100 million euros by 2025, compared to the 4,800 million euros of its previous forecast; and a net profit of 1,800 million euros, which is 20% more than the 1,500 million euros previously estimated.

For its part, investments stand at 13,200 million euros, a figure somewhat lower than the 14,000 million previously estimated for the period 2021-2025. Of the total investments planned between 2023 and 2025, 61% will go to the development of renewables and 28% to the network business.

With regard to net debt, the group places it in its new 'road map' at 16,000 million euros in 2025, almost 1,000 million less than its previous forecast.

As regards this first half of 2023, in general, international liberalized energy activities in the first half of 2023 continued to benefit from the energy scenario of the last twelve months, while regulated activities experienced a slight increase compared to the first half of 2022.

NETWORKS 43% OF EBITDA AND THE LIBERALIZED BUSINESS 57%.

The Network businesses registered an Ebitda of 1,261 million euros in the first six months of 2023, with an increase of 5.3%. Thus, the Networks businesses contributed 43% to the Group's Ebitda in the first half of 2023

The activity of Networks in Spain was affected mainly by the lower remuneration and demand, especially in gas, as a consequence of the mild temperatures and the lower industrial demand; while the Networks business in Latin America mainly benefited from rate updates that reflected inflation in prior periods.

For their part, the liberalized activities or Markets businesses were responsible for most of the performance of energy compared to the first half of 2022, registering an aggregate Ebitda of 1,677 million euros, with a growth of 84.1% compared to the first half of 2022, where Energy Management and Marketing activities contributed most of this growth in the period. In this way, the Markets businesses contributed 57% to the company's Ebitda in the first half of the year.

REDUCES ITS DEBT TO 10,752 MILLION.

Meanwhile, Naturgy reduced its net debt position from 12,070 million euros at the end of 2022 to 10,752 million euros at the end of June. Thus, the net debt over Ebitda decreased from 2.4 times at the end of last year to 1.9 times in the first half of 2023.

In this way, the energy company maintains a liquidity situation with 10,108 million euros in available cash and equivalents and undrawn credit lines at the end of the first half of 2023.

With regard to investments in these first six months of 2023, they stood at 839 million euros, with an increase of 16.4% compared to the same period of the previous year. Nearly 65% ​​was allocated to renewable growth and network development, both in Spain and in Latin America.

Reynés pointed out that these results "maintain the positive evolution of those that we have already presented to the market corresponding to 2022, and exceed the objectives of operating efficiency, cash generation, materialization of investments and debt reduction."

In addition, the manager considered that "they demonstrate the solidity of the company's industrial plan, which is allowing us to transform our energy 'mix' thanks to a firm commitment to investment, while consolidating our role as guarantor of the security of energy supply in Spain".

A RENEWABLE POWER IN OPERATION OF 5.7 GW.

Currently, Naturgy has a renewable capacity in operation of about 5.7 gigawatts (GW), with an increase of almost 400 megawatts (MW) in the last six months globally -250 MW in Spain-.

In Spain, the company has around thirty wind farms and photovoltaic plants under construction, which will allow it to add close to one GW of installed power to the group's portfolio throughout 2024. It is also continuing to develop several biomethane and hydrogen projects