Eni promises higher investor returns, defends the role of gas | – #Eni #promises #higher #investor #returns #defends #role #gas
ROME, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Italian energy group Eni ( ENI.MI ) vowed to return more money to investors after posting record profits last year and defended its strategy to convert hydrocarbon production to gas.
However, Eni shares bumper results in 2022 due to the war in Ukraine gas and fell as much as 5% as investors took profits from the stock after being supported by an unprecedented jump in oil prices.
Presenting its strategy for 2023-2026, the group will increase its dividend by 7% for 2023 and 2.2 billion euro (2.3 billion dollars) said that he will buy back the shares.
Eni, earlier on Thursday, of adjusted net profit in 2022 13.3 billion It said it rose to the euro, the highest in more than a decade, but stock market reaction focused on weaker exploration and production performance in the latest quarter.
Oil and gas production will grow by an average of 3% to 4% annually until 2026 and then remain fairly stable until 2030. By 2030 gas the share of production will increase to 60%.
Latest UpdatesDisruptedcategory Carbon neutral companies USA has created a group to lobby on its government’s policies, image articleGrid and Infrastructure categoryLiberty Steel Romania plant capacity to increase by five times for green production by 2030, image article
See 2 more stories
“Gas is the only hydrocarbon that can accompany the energy transition,” said CEO Claudio Descalzi, adding that the negative consequences of the war in Ukraine have been exacerbated by the lack of investment in gas in recent years.
“We’re in this situation because (in the past) we thought we could run out of gas,” Descalzi said.
As a medium-term rule, Eni is a combination of dividends and share buybacks way committed to returning 25% to 30% of its cash flow from operations (CFFO) to investors.
In best-case scenarios, the company expects to apply 35% of incremental CFFO to distributions.
“25-30% is a floor for the investor premium,” said Eni Chief Financial Officer Francesco Gattei.
Until now, Eni’s remuneration policy was not linked to cash flow, but directly to the price of Brent oil.
Under the new strategy plan, Eni will generate CFFO before working capital of more than 17 billion euros in 2023 and a total of more than 69 billion euros by 2026.
PLAN A IN PLENITUDE
The emissions reduction targets set out last year were confirmed and the group aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Eni said it will develop its green businesses, and its renewables and retail division Plenitudu are expected to reach 1.8 billion euros in core profit by 2026, three times the 2022 level.
“We don’t have a B plan for Plenitude, we have two As plans,” Descalzi said, adding that Eni could either list the subsidiary or sell a stake to a partner to extract value from the unit.
Eni had to freeze plans to list its subsidiary last year due to unstable financial markets.
This year, capital spending will be around €9.5 billion and €37 billion over plan, compared to last year’s forecast. USA 15% more in dollar terms. Low and zero carbon costs will account for around 25% of the total.
Group adjusted EBIT in 2022 20It expects operating profit to fall to 13 billion euros this year after being .4 billion euros.
($1 = 0.9426 euros)
Reporting by Francesca Landini, Editing by Gianluca Semeraro and Keith Weir
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-02-23 19:58:24
Source – reuters
Translation“24 HOURS”