Enel focuses on share buyback, Italian licence after steady Q1

By Francesca Landini

MILAN (Reuters) -Enel is focused on introducing a share buyback plan and negotiating an extension of its network licence in Italy, the utility's management said on Thursday after steady first-quarter results.

Following the example of oil and gas majors, the state-controlled group will urge shareholders at an annual meeting on May 22 to approve a plan worth up to 3.5 billion euros ($3.9 billion) to repurchase its own shares.

On the same day investors will also vote on the introduction of an option to cancel acquired shares without reducing the group's share capital, making the buyback another way of rewarding shareholders in addition to dividends.

"I hope the plan will be approved on May 22," Enel's Chief Financial Officer Stefano De Angelis told analysts at a post-result conference call.

De Angelis also said the company is holding talks with Italian authorities over securing a 20-year extension of its distribution power licence in its home country.

Enel will devote part of the financial space it has secured by cutting its net debt to the licence renewal, and may also deploy some capital in Spain, the CFO said.

The group reported ordinary earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 5.97 billion euros for the first quarter, slightly above an analyst consensus of 5.90 billion compiled by LSEG.

Ordinary EBITDA for the first quarter of last year was revised to 5.87 billion euros, down from 6.09 billion euros, to take out the effects of recent disposals.

Better-than-expected results at Enel's Spanish unit Endesa and healthy growth both in Latin America and the United States more than offset a fall in ordinary EBITDA in Italy, where the utility cut power prices by 30-40% to retain customers.

De Angelis said the group expects the performance of its retail business in Italy to stabilize in the coming quarters.

Chief Executive Flavio Cattaneo, who was appointed two years ago, said the January-March period marked the seventh consecutive quarter of positive financial results.

Enel confirmed its guidance for ordinary EBITDA of between 22.9 billion and 23.1 billion euros for the whole 2025.

($1 = 0.8918 euros)

(Reporting by Francesca Landini, editing by Gavin Jones)