AUDAX RENOVABLES PROTECTS ITSELF AGAINST THE EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC
Audax Renovables, a Spanish company whose activity is divided between the marketing of electricity and gas and the generation of renewable electricity 100%, presents the results of this first quarter of 2020 strongly marked by the spread of COVID-19.
Faced with such exceptional circumstances, the company has prepared in advance an emergency plan aimed at mitigating the possible consequences of the pandemic on the business, so as to maintain a solid financial position, both in terms of liquidity and credit profile.
Audax Renovables thus closes the first three months of this year with 234 million euros in revenue, a lower figure than the previous year, mainly due to the following factors:
- first, a lower price of energy on the Spanish market compared to the same period in 2019: -37% on the price of electricity, -53% on that of gas
- secondly, a contraction in demand at European level, a consequence of a less cold season from a climatic point of view
- third, the effect of the sale (realized in 2019) of three generation plants.
However, thanks to better supply management, the company increased its gross margin by 3.2% compared to the same period last year, placing it above the 13% of turnover (compared to 10% recorded in the same period of 2019).
In addition, to address the possible impacts of the pandemic, Audax Renovables has recorded an extraordinary indemnity for insolvencies of 3.3 million euros, as part of the contingency plan drawn up for this purpose based on conservative criteria and which should allow the company to be safe for the entire financial year.
In this period, EBITDA reached 12 million euros, closing with a net profit of 1.4 million euros. If the Coronavirus emergency had not occurred and the company had not sold the generation plants the year before, EBITDA would now reach 20.6 million euros, or +43% compared to 2019, with a net profit of 6.8 million euros.
At the end of this first quarter, there were more than 365 thousand active supply points, 19% more than in the same period of 2019. This growth in the number of customers has helped to mitigate the consequences of the aforementioned fall in energy prices in the Spanish market and the drop in energy demand as a result of the global situation related to COVID-19.
Audax Renovables also continues to focus on the construction of its energy generation plants. Despite the difficult period, the implementation of the projects will not suffer significant delays compared to the scheduled dates. Specifically, last January the construction of the 5MWp photovoltaic plant in Cañamares, near Guadalajara, in the Spanish region of Castile-La Mancha, began. Construction work will soon begin on two other photovoltaic plants – Carolina I and II – with a total of 10 MWp, also located near Guadalajara.
In April, the rating agency Axesor reaffirmed the previous BBB- with a stable outlook. A rating that confirms the company's solid financial position, even in times of uncertainty such as the current ones. At the same time, it is important to underline how the Audax Group has reduced its debt by 13 million euros in these first three months of operation.
After reaching its peak at €2.72 per share, the Audax Renovables share price has inevitably been affected by the negative impacts that the pandemic has had on the global economy and finance.
However, the main economic and financial data highlight how Audax Renovables can face the current situation from a good position and with the broadest guarantees of solvency.
To this must be added a further element in its favour: the marketing and energy generation activity in other countries besides Spain (Portugal, Italy, Germany, Poland, Holland, France and Panama) limits the risk of concentration of activities on a single market.
Finally, we recall how – last March – the company was included in the IBEX SMALL CAP© index: another reference value for investors.
