MILAN, March 21(Reuters) - Italy's biggest utility Enel said on Thursday its core profit rose 12% last year, just beating analysts' expectations thanks to a higher contribution from its renewable energy business.

Ordinary earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at 22 billion euros ($23.9 billion)in 2023 compared with an estimate of 21.8 billion euros coming from analysts pooled by LSEG.

Net financial debt at end-December stood at 60.2 billion euros, slightly down from 60.7 billion euros at the end of 2022, while the ratio between net debt and EBITDA fell to 2.7 from 3.1 at the end of 2022. ($1 = 0.9209 euros) (Reporting by Francesca Landini Editing by Keith Weir)