A2A: for the first time, energy from renewables exceeds fossil fuels

A2A closed the first quarter with a record net profit of EUR 294 million (+70%) and a gross operating margin of over EUR 700 million (+40%): numbers that allow the group controlled by the Municipalities of Milan and Brescia to raise its 2024 guidance to the range of EUR 650-670 million for ordinary net profit and EUR 2.08-2.12 billion for EBITDA.

This was while the retail customer base increased by 454,000, investments remained stable at 220 million, and the net financial position stood at EUR 4.75 billion (the ratio to EBITDA was thus reduced to 2.2 times).

The accounts were mainly driven by two sectors: generation, which recorded gross margins of almost EUR 300 million (+66%) thanks to a doubling of hydroelectric volumes (+104%) as a result of record snowfall and rainfall, and the market component, in other words the sale of electricity and gas, which jumped to EUR 135 million (+81%) in margins.

A trend also observed in other large Italian utilities exposed to these two business segments, starting with Enel and Edison, and which has brought A2A's numbers to levels never seen before: suffice it to say that, until a decade ago, a net profit of almost EUR 300 million was the spoils of an entire financial year.

In this sense - from the war in Ukraine onwards for the entire energy sector - it is not very indicative to look at revenues, which in the period for A2A fell by 33% to Lire 3.42 billion: a change attributable, the company emphasises, for more than 90% to the drop in energy prices and to a very limited extent to lower volumes sold and brokered on the wholesale markets.