FIRST 6 MONTHS 2020. AUDAX RENOVABLES DOUBLES ITS NET PROFIT: +€7 MILLION

Audax Renovables, a company whose business is divided between the marketing of electricity and gas and the generation of renewable 100% electricity, brings its half-yearly net profit to 7.3 million euros, +54% compared to what was recorded in the same period of the year previous. The advantages deriving from the vertical integration of energy generation and sales activities, as well as the Group's policy, continue to bear fruit: EBITDA at 27.5 million euros, +13% compared to the previous year.

The drop in revenue compared to the same period of 2019 is attributable to the fallout from the actions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. In the company's opinion, above all, the following had an impact: a general decrease in demand for electricity and gas (which in Spain was, respectively, 8% and 9%) and a lower price of both energy sources on the relevant markets. A similar condition was also recorded in the other countries in which the Group operates.

Yet, despite the decrease in revenue resulting from the exceptional nature of the global situation, Audax Renovables achieved a gross margin higher than 5%, in addition to the aforementioned increase in EBITDA (+13%).

As regards the commercial sphere and the acquisition of new customers, the Group was rewarded by the chosen strategy: an increase in 21% was recorded at a national level.

These successes ensure that the Audax Group remains the leading electricity supply company in the SME segment of the Spanish market; added to this is a significant growth in the supply of natural gas (+26% compared to 2019).

The global situation did not affect either the development activities of energy generation projects or the investment and financing strategies which, therefore, continued their trajectory within a climate of normality.

In this sense, Audax Renovables' decisive focus on increasing renewable energy generation activities and the desire to increasingly align its financial strategy with the Group's own environmental sustainability values have found concrete expression in the first issue of green bonds for a sum of 20 million euros. The operation is part of the MARF fixed income bond program, the Mercado Alternativo de Renta Fija (“Programa de Bonos del MARF”), for a maximum nominal amount of 400 million euros that Audax has established in the past month of July. Added to this initiative are two others, both in the direction of a growth process: the entry into the Hungarian energy market and the consolidation of the presence in the Portuguese one.

Globally, Audax Renovables continues its strategy to 2022. The objectives include increasing the number of customers to 500,000 and energy supply to a total of 15 TWh. It is then expected to exceed 1,500 million euros in turnover and bring EBITDA above 100 million euros, reducing financial debt so as to optimize the Group's resources and create value for shareholders.

All this by doubling profits and covering 2/3 of the energy supplied through the signing of PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) contracts.

The achievement of these objectives will allow Audax Renovables to strengthen its leadership as the first independent sales company in the SME segment in Spain and to replicate the success achieved in the international markets in which it is already present: Portugal, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Poland and Panama.