AUDAX RENOVABLES: EBITDA AT €33.1 MILLION IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2019
Audax Renovables, a Spanish company dedicated to the marketing of electricity and gas and the generation of 100% renewable electricity, closed its best first semester ever in terms of both revenue and EBITDA value. The combination of the two activities – production and sale of energy – allowed it to close these first six months of 2019 with a revenue of 526.7 million euros, + 23.1% compared to the same period in 2018. Audax Renovables also achieved 6.76 million in profits and increased its EBITDA by 110.3% to 33.1 million euros.
Growth that affected the different components of the Group. The good results of the energy sales division, both in the Spanish market and in those of the countries in which it is present – including Italy – allowed it to increase the commercial margin of 26%. At the same time, the division that operates in energy generation also increased its revenues by 18%, mainly thanks to greater use of wind power and a higher average price of energy (in the half-year). This affected both the Spanish market, where it was higher by 3%, and the Polish market, where the price of “green certificates” was 80% higher than that recorded at the same time in 2018. In this way, energy generation added 18% to the turnover compared to what happened in the previous year.
As announced during the Capital Markets Day, the company continues with the policy of asset turnover and debt reduction. And the financial debt has been reduced by more than 26.8%.
During these first six months of the year, Audax Renovables has formalized several PPA (Power Purchase Agreements) agreements for the long-term purchase of energy generated by photovoltaic plants. In February, a 20-year contract was signed with WElink for the purchase and sale of electricity at a fixed price. Thanks to it, Audax Renovables will acquire the energy produced by the Solara4 and Ourika photovoltaic parks in Portugal, and by other similar projects developed by WElink, always in the Iberian Peninsula, up to involving, at full capacity, 708 MW of installed power. Likewise, in March, an agreement was signed with Trina Solar, a world leader in the photovoltaic sector, for the purchase of electricity from renewable sources; also lasting 20 years, the contract foresees reaching up to an installed power of 300 MW.
Both operations, designed to enable the purchase of clean energy at a better price, will help consolidate the Group's leading position in energy sales to Spanish SMEs: today Audax is in fourth place nationwide.
The good results achieved, the financial solidity and the future growth prospects have led to the obtaining of the BBB- rating, with a tendency towards stability, granted by Axesor, the first Spanish rating agency.
At the end of this first part of 2019, customers are over 317 thousand, + 5.7% compared to the same period of 2018. 79.6% concerns the supply of electricity, while the remaining 20.4 refers to gas. Audax Renovables' goal is to reach over 500 thousand customers and 15TWh of distributed energy by 2022, with over 1,500 million euros in revenue and 100 million euros in EBITDA. All this by doubling profitability and easing financial leverage due to high cash generation.
Achieving these goals will allow Audax Renovables to strengthen its leadership as the leading independent energy sales company in the Spanish SME sector and to replicate the success achieved at home in the markets of Italy, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Poland and Panama.
Finally, it should be noted that the value of the Group's shares listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange has increased by 48.43% in this first half of the year, with average values that remain high.
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Audax Renewables is the result of the merger between Audax Renovables and Audax Energía. The result is an energy group operating in 8 countries (Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Holland, Germany, Poland and Panama), with over 500 employees and a turnover of over 1,200 million euros per year.
Audax Energy Italy was born in 2014; today it supplies electricity and gas to over 55 thousand domestic and business customers.
