After the failed attempt to appoint a CEO, Naturgy yesterday announced a significant gesture towards the main shareholders: an increase in the dividend of almost 17% and recovery of the Géminis plan when possible. It was agreed at Tuesday’s board of directors, in which unanimous support was also expressed for the management team headed by Francisco Reynés by the main shareholders: Criteria Caixa, the investment holding of the La Caixa group chaired by Isidre Fainé, and the GIP, CVC and IFM funds, according to a company statement. The stock market valued it with a 2.5% rise in shares.
In a communication to the CNMV, an update of the strategic plan was announced, which includes a new “dividend floor” of 1.40 euros for 2023, 2024 and 2025, compared to the 1.20 planned so far. This represents a return of 5.4% at the current price and “compensates the company’s thousands of shareholders for the increase in costs due to interest rates and inflation”, explained the group. The increase is subject to the fact that a BBB rating is maintained by S
Regarding the Géminis plan, which envisages the segregation of assets into two companies, one with regulated businesses, and the other with liberalized ones, it is explained that “the board noted its strategic sense and encouraged the team to continue to analyze the possible execution alternatives”.
It was also decided to increase the gross profit (ebitda) target for 2025 from 4,800 to 5,100 million euros; a reduction in investments from 14,000 million to 13,200 million and moderate the net debt from 16,900 million to 16,000 million. In short, the new objectives, the details of which will be known on the 24th, aim to accelerate growth and the search for profitability. “Due to the various information that has appeared over the last few days, all the representatives of the shareholders have wanted to ratify their firm commitment to the company’s industrial project and their total trust in the management team,” the statement says. The company has stopped the search for a CEO, after Ignacio Gutiérrez-Orrantia, manager of Citi, rejected the offer to take the position.
The company points out that the previous plan, from 2018 to 2022, “exceeded all the objectives”. So, the annual cost efficiency is 700 million, against the 500 million committed, the ebitda is 5,000 million for the 4,600 million expected and the investments have risen to 8,100 million for the 7,300 expected. Net debt is 12,100 million, 3,000 million less than expected.
