AUDAX RENOVABLES PROTECTS ITSELF AGAINST THE EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC
Audax Renovables, a Spanish company whose business is divided between the marketing of electricity and gas and the generation of renewable 100% electricity, presents the results of this first quarter of 2020 strongly marked by the spread of COVID-19.
The company, faced with these exceptional circumstances, took steps in advance to draw up an emergency plan aimed at mitigating the possible consequences of the pandemic on the business, so as to maintain a solid financial position, both from a liquidity and of the credit profile.
Audax Renovables therefore closes the first three months of this year with 234 million euros in revenue, a lower figure than the previous year, especially due to the following factors:
- first, a lower price of energy on the Spanish market compared to the same period of 2019: -37% on the price of electricity, -53% on that of gas
- second, a contraction in demand at a European level, a consequence of a less cold season from a climatic point of view
- third, the effect of the sale (made in 2019) of three generation plants.
However, thanks to better supply management, the company increased gross margin by 3.2% compared to the same period last year, placing it above 13% in turnover (compared to 10% recorded in the same period of 2019).
Furthermore, again to deal with the possible impacts due to the pandemic, Audax Renovables has recorded an extraordinary insolvency indemnity of 3.3 million euros, as part of the emergency plan drawn up for this purpose on the basis of conservative criteria and which should allow the company to be safe for the entire financial year.
In this period the 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 close of this first quarter, there were over 365 thousand active supply points, 19% more than in the same period of 2019. This growth in the number of customers made it possible to mitigate the consequences of the aforementioned fall in energy prices on the Spanish market and the decline in energy demand as a result of the global COVID-19 situation.
Furthermore, Audax Renovables 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. Concretely, last January construction began on the 5MWp photovoltaic plant in Cañamares, near Guadalajara, in the Spanish region of Castile-La Mancha. Construction work will soon begin on two other photovoltaic plants - Carolina I and II - of 10 MWp in total, also located near Guadalajara.
Then, in April, the Axesor rating agency reconfirmed the previous BBB- with a stable outlook. A judgment that confirms the company's solid financial position, even in moments of uncertainty like 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 maximum at €2.72/per share, the Audax Renovables share price inevitably suffered from the negative impacts that the pandemic has had on the global economy and finance.
However, the main economic-financial data highlight how Audax Renovables can face the current situation from a good position and with the widest guarantees of solvency.
To this must be added a further favorable element: the marketing and generation of energy 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 remember how - last March - the company was included in the IBEX SMALL CAP© index: another reference value for investors.
