ENEL says profit steady, revenues down (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, July 28 - Italian energy giant ENEL said Thursday that its net profit for the first half of 2016 was 1.834 billion euros, "largely unchanged" on the same period last year. It said revenues, on the other hand, amounted to 34.150 billion euros, down 9.3% on the 37.632 billion registered in the first six months of 2015.
    The company said it has revised up its 2016 financial targets in light of the first half results, foreseeing net ordinary income to around 3.2 billion euros, instead of 3.1 billion euros, and ordinary EBITDA of around 15 billion euros, rather than 14.7 billion euros.
    "We have delivered a strong set of results in the first half of the year, with the Italian and Latin American markets showing particularly pleasing progress, in spite of a challenging set of macro-economic conditions," said CEO Francesco Starace.
    "We have also taken some important steps forward on the execution of our strategic plan, in particular in the area of active portfolio management where we have now finalised over 4 billion euros of disposals, which is around 70% of the five-year target. "Our renewables business continues its successful run of awards and we have a strong pipeline of development. "Looking forward to the second half of the year, this performance enhances our confidence on the year end results, and consequently we are raising our full year guidance."