If Naturgy closed 2022 with historic profits, in 2023 it surpassed itself again. The group earned almost 2,000 million euros, 20% compared to the previous year and more than it had anticipated in its calculations last autumn. What’s more, the figure obtained is greater than what the company expected to obtain in 2025, so it can be said that the company has burned through stages.
The ebitda, or gross profit, was also higher than forecasts in 2023, exceeding the level of 5.4 billion euros. The network business obtained an Ebitda of 2,638 million (7%) and the liberalized businesses, 2,949 million (15%).
It should be noted that these results have been achieved in a context of both a decrease in the price of gas in international markets (the reference Dutch TTF gas fell by half), and a decrease in consumption throughout Europe, to the lowest level. lowest in ten years, marked by a winter of mild temperatures.
The same company in its statement stressed that the 2023 numbers were obtained in “an exercise marked by the decline in energy prices and a scenario of great volatility.” So these good results were partly due to the increase in income outside Spain, a better impact of exchange rates and the good performance of the services division.
“From the beginning of the 21-25 Plan until the end of the 2023 financial year, Naturgy has generated a total aggregate EBITDA of 13,958 million euros, has invested 6,430 million, will have distributed among its shareholders a total of 3,908 million euros in dividends and will have contributed 3,177 million euros, including taxes and taxes,” the company highlights.
The executive president of Naturgy, Francisco Reynés, addressed several arguments in the subsequent press conference.
CHANGE OF HEADQUARTERS. The executive assured that it was not addressed, nor is it on the table. The company considers that at the moment there is only one political negotiation between parties (PSOE and Junts, in which there has been talk of fining the companies that left Catalonia) and, in the event that some measure is taken, well It will be studied. At the moment the firm benefits from the free movement of capital in the European Union.
RUSSIAN GAS. Naturgy has long-term contracts with Russia. The bases were signed in 2013 and entered the operational phase in 2018. As they are “take or pay” contracts, the firm has to honor them until the term expires, at the end of the next decade. That said, they claim to have not purchased anything more than what was already agreed upon. The EU has said it wants to do without Russian gas, but has not yet specified the measures.
PROJECT GEMINI AND CEO. There is no news about the two large projects announced by the company and that have not been carried out. The Geminis project, which provided for the separation of the company into two business branches (one for the regulated and the other for the liberalized), continues to be, in the words of Reynés, a strategic justification but currently the conditions are not met. The Government had welcomed this option coldly. Regarding the possibility of creating a CEO (a Citigroup executive was considered), the board does not foresee any appointment. So for now, everything is still stopped.
BLACKROCK. Regarding the entry of the American investment fund into the company’s shareholding (through the acquisition of the GIP fund), Reynés said that it is not his place to evaluate an operation that is still in the transition phase. In his opinion, it is the Government that must do the corresponding analysis. In any case, the Naturgy executive recalls that the company “is already strategic for Spain.”
RENEWABLES. “We have doubled our investments in renewables,” recalled Reynés. Naturgy will focus in particular on energy from wind and water, but not from the sun. Another big bet is renewable gases, particularly biomethane and hydrogen. Regarding the first, he has assured that it has the potential to cover half of Spain’s annual gas consumption and with a relatively low investment cost but that there is a great lack of infrastructure in the country to carry out this change of model.
REGULATION AND TAXES. Reynés has not hidden his discomfort about the extraordinary tax on energy companies and now about the extra rate that the company will have to pay for the closure of the nuclear plants. Company sources confirm that the impact of the tax will be 300 million in two years. “It is necessary that the regulation be long-term and not changeable. For a company it is essential that there be a minimum of visibility,” said the executive.
DECLINE IN GAS DEMAND. Reynés considers that it is the result of climate change, the improvement in the efficiency of companies and homes and also the reflection of the decline in industrial production. In his opinion, this is what should concern us most as a country.
QUOTE LOWER. Currently, Naturgy’s share price is below the takeover bid by the Canadian IMF more than a year ago. Reynés attributes the decline not so much to the company’s fundamentals, but to speculation and the fact that the company will leave the MSCI index as it does not have the required liquidity requirements.
INVESTMENTS. Naturgy increased its investment by 53%, up to 3,000 million. A figure that had never been reached before. 90% was directed to energy transition projects, allocating 1,730 million to the generation of renewable energy and more than 900 million to distribution networks. Regarding the possibility of carrying out future acquisitions or opening up to the entry of new partners, Reynés assured that “they will be attentive in case opportunities arise.”
DEBT. Net debt reached 12,090 million euros, practically the same as 2022, but this time it is supported by a higher EBITDA. What has increased is its cost, due to the rise in interest rates, which have gone from 3 to 3.9%.
