Italgas : presents its 2017-2023 Strategic Plan

Milan, 31 May 2017 - Chief Executive Officer Paolo Gallo is presenting today to analysts and investors Italgas Group's Strategic Plan for the 2017-2023 period, which was approved yesterday by the board of Directors chaired by Lorenzo Bini Smaghi.

• Overall investments for 5 billion Euros
  • 3 billion Euros for organic growth: focused on development, maintenance and digitalisation of the network and installation of smart meters;
  • 2 billion Euros for sector tenders and further related technical investments in order to achieve a market share of almost 40% (from the current 30%);

• Consolidated RAB: +4.5% yearly average over the plan, considering the expected evolution of the sector tenders;

• Operational efficiency programme: plan started in the first months of 2017 with the aim of obtaining by 2018 a reduction of more than 15% in costs compared to the 2016 figure;

• Financial Efficiency: Continuous focus on optimizing the debt structure, which average cost is currently below 1%;

• Maintaining a solid capital structure thanks to robust cash generation: leverage (D/RAB) under 65% over the plan;

• 2017-2019 Dividend Policy: 2016 DPS (20 cents) increased by 4% per annum;

Italgas CEO Paolo Gallo said:

The Business Plan confirms the strategy announced when Italgas listed on the stock exchange. Our priorities are organic growth, operational and financial efficiency, and sector consolidation mainly through tenders. Digital innovation will transform our network with smart meters, network digitalisation and cloud strategy. We will leverage our leadership and our specific expertise to meet our targets.
The solid financial structure will enable us to seize further opportunities to create value while preserving financial conditions consistent with our current creditworthiness.
The combination of these actions will support profit growth and cash flow generation, providing full cover for the significant organic investment programme and the requirements of the growth strategy connected to tenders. The business model supports a dividend policy that is attractive, growing and sustainable.