Investing in Acea

Ample growth prospects. We operate in a strongly evolving scenario that offers major investment opportunities: in the water business, to modernise the infrastructure; in the electricity sector, to improve grid resilience; in the environmental sector, to promote development of the circular economy.

A strategy based on significant growth in investments. Our 2024-2028 Business Plan, called “Green Diligent Growth”, provides for investments totalling €7.6 billion, destined above all for development of the Water, Electricity and Environmental regulated businesses to further enhance our infrastructure leadership positions in Italy.  During the plan period, RAB will increase substantially to reach €10.5 billion in 2028 (+42% compared with 2023). The strong discipline on costs and investments is a key aspect of our strategy to support cash generation combined with optimisation of our financial structure and capital allocation. The plan enablers are the valorisation of our people, the utilisation of new technologies to support service quality and security and the redesigning of our processes.

Increasing focus on sustainability. We integrate ESG criteria into all our business decisions, pursuing a sustainability strategy in line with the long-term objectives set forth by the UN 2030 Agenda. According to our Business Plan, around €5.5 billion of expected industrial capex is related to significant areas for sustainability. The plan also includes specific environmental, social and governance targets. Our commitment has been acknowledged with an upgrade by the “Carbon Disclosure Project”, which promoted ACEA to among the leaders in the fight against climate change, improving the rating to “A-”, and the definition of targets to reduce CO2 emissions, which were formally validated by SBTi in September 2023.

Dividend Policy. The 2024-2028 Business Plan provides for the distribution of over €1 billion (accrual-based) during the plan period, with an annual DPS (Dividend per Share) growth of 4% compared with 2023. The proposed dividend for 2024, with reference to FY2023, is €0.88 per share (€0.85 in 2023 with reference to FY2022).

Cost of debt. As at 31 December 2023, medium/long-term debt is 91% fixed rate and has an average maturity of 4.2 years. The Group’s “all-in” average cost of debt is 2.08% (compared with 1.44% as at 31 December 2022).

Constant focus on sustainability. Recognition of our commitment came in December 2022 with ACEA’s inclusion in the MIB ESG Index, the first ESG index dedicated to Italian blue-chips, conceived to identify the major listed companies offering best ESG practices.

Dividend policy. The dividend proposed for 2024, in reference to FY2023, amounts to 0.88 Euro per share.

Cost-of-debt. As at 31 December 2023, medium/long-term debt is 91% at fixed rate and has an average maturity of 4.2 years. The ACEA Group’s “all-in” average cost of debt is 2.08% (compared with 1.44% at 31 December 2022).