Eni’s adjusted net profit doubles to 2.3 billion in the quarter. Descalzi: “Excellent results”

According to Eni’s CEO, ‘the half-year results demonstrate that, year after year, we are building an increasingly robust company, thanks to the quality of our geographically diversified portfolio based on competitive assets, our distinctive expertise in exploration, our growing exposure to businesses linked to the energy transition, and opportunities for the early monetisation of assets’. All factors which, as Descalzi points out, “will underpin long-term recurring cash generation, enabling us to continue to provide shareholders with a significant return whilst sharing the benefits of more favourable market conditions, whilst maintaining an extremely robust capital structure, as demonstrated by the pro forma debt ratio at an all-time low of 10 per cent. Thanks to these results, the share buyback programme is being increased by a further €600 million to €3.4 billion.”

With an eye to the rest of the year, Eni has, as mentioned, revised a number of parameters, starting with its forecasts for operating results. In particular, for 2026, the group forecasts growth in oil and gas production on a like-for-like basis, revised upwards to around 5 per cent compared with the previous target range of 3–4 per cent. GGP’s pro forma adjusted EBIT is up to over 1.4 billion, a 40% increase on the initial forecast As for the subsidiaries, Enilive’s adjusted pro forma EBITDA has been revised upwards to 1.3 billion (from 1.1 billion) under the current scenario, whilst Plenitude’s figure has been confirmed at 1.3 billion. Installed renewable capacity at the end of the financial year stood at 6.5 GW (Plenitude at 100%); biorefinery capacity stood at 2.1 Mtpa (million tonnes per annum), plus a further 1.5 Mtpa under construction (Enilive’s share).

As regards the consolidated results, the annual cash generation forecast has been revised upwards, as mentioned: adjusted CFFO (cash flow from operations) of 15 billion, based on an updated Brent scenario of $85 per barrel, a refining margin (SERM) (the Standard Eni Refining Margin, i.e. the indicator used by Eni to measure the theoretical profit margin from oil refining) of $14 per barrel and a TTF gas price of €50 per megawatt-hour at a euro/dollar exchange rate of 1.16, showing an improvement of 0.7 billion compared with the group’s sensitivity analysis. Gross capex is confirmed at 7 billion, whilst net capex has been revised downwards from previous guidance to below 5 billion. Meanwhile, pro forma gearing is expected to be at the lower end of the 10–15 per cent range, and reported gearing is expected to converge to the same level by the end of the year.

Shareholder returns are also being revised upwards in line with the growth in results. Eni has therefore increased its share buyback programme for 2026 to 3.4 billion, a 20 per cent increase on the previous first-quarter forecast of 2.8 billion, in line with the policy of distributing 60 per cent of earnings in excess of the budget (which forecast a cash flow of 11.5 billion) to shareholders in the form of increased share buybacks, up to a Brent price of 90 dollars per barrel. The new buyback figure represents an increase of more than double the initial forecast of 1.5 billion based on budgeted cash flow.

In light of the significantly revised refining outlook, and provided that this level remains above 50 per cent of the benchmark refining margin (i.e. at least $9 per barrel compared with the $6.d budgeted figure), a decision will be taken in October on whether to pay the special dividend, in line with the remuneration policy communicated to the market, which stipulates that, in the event of scenarios exceeding $90 per barrel, or where there is an increase of more than 50 per cent in gas prices or refining margins, provides for 100 per cent of the increase in CFFO to be distributed as a special dividend in the final quarter, based on unit sensitivities (1 dollar SERM is equivalent to 0.08 billion). Finally, the forecast for the 2026 dividend of 1.1 euros per share (up 5 per cent on 2025) has been confirmed.

Looking at business performance, in the exploration and production (E&P) sector, hydrocarbon production stood at 1.79 million barrels per day in the second quarter, up 7 per cent compared with the same period in 2025 (1.79 million in the first half of 2025, +8 per cent). Adjusted operating profit for E&P in the second quarter rose by 97% to 4.8 billion (+42% over the six-month period, to 8.1 billion). Adjusted net profit stood at 2.2 billion in the second quarter (compared with 1.05 billion in the same period of 2025), whilst for the first half of the year the increase was 57 per cent, to 3.7 billion.

Turning to the performance of the Ggp business, adjusted pro forma operating profit stood at 468 million, an increase of 46 per cent, thanks to the benefits of portfolio optimisation as well as renegotiations and commercial agreements. In the first half of the year, however, pro forma adjusted operating profit stood at 783 million, up 24 per cent. In the second quarter of 2025, the Power business reported an adjusted pro forma operating profit of 35 million, down 47 per cent, whilst, for the half-year, the figure of 47 million represents a reduction of 182 million compared with the same period in 2025.

Turning to the business units linked to the energy transition, in the second quarter, Plenitude posted an adjusted pro forma operating profit of 226 million, up 70 per cent compared with the same period last year (for the first half of the year, the figure stands at 439 million, up 17 per cent). The business also posted an adjusted pro forma EBITDA of 233 million, down 9% compared with the second quarter of 2024 (for the first half of the year, the figure stood at 541 million, down 12% compared with the same period in 2025). Eni Live, on the other hand, recorded an adjusted pro forma operating profit of 295 million in the second quarter, more than double that of 2025 (433 million in the first half of the year, up 93 per cent), whilst pro forma adjusted EBITDA of 375 million is up by 79 per cent (+55 per cent in the first six months, to 592 million).

Finally, refining and chemicals. The refining segment posted an adjusted pro forma profit of 80 million in the second quarter, an improvement on the loss of 9 million recorded in the same period of 2025. In the first half of 2025, the business achieved an adjusted pro forma operating profit of 66 million, compared with a loss of 100 million in the same period of the previous year. In the second quarter, the chemicals business managed by Versalis reported an adjusted pro forma operating loss of 65 million, an improvement on the 184 million loss in the second quarter of 2025, thanks to the benefits of the restructuring plan launched by the group. In the first half of 2025, the adjusted pro forma loss of 223 million was higher than the loss of 427 million in the first half of 2025