It plans to increase net profit this year between 8% and 10% or around 5% including the new income tax in Spain

MADRID, 22 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Iberdrola registered a net profit of 4,339 million euros in 2022, which represents an increase of 11.6% compared to the previous year, in a year in which geographical diversification offsets the 19% drop in the result of Spain, according to has reported this Wednesday to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

The company has made historic investments of 10,730 million euros, which is 13% more, despite inflationary pressures and the challenges of the supply chain.

Global gross operating profit (Ebitda), for its part, increased by 10%, to 13,228 million euros in 2022, thanks to growth in the United States and Brazil, which offset the lower result in Spain, due to regulatory measures and tax and high energy costs that have not been passed on to customers.

“In a year marked by the energy crisis and difficulties in global supply chains, we have increased investments by 13% to almost 11,000 million euros to continue growing solidly, generating more activity and employment and reducing dependence on fuels fossils”, highlighted the Chairman of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán.

Specifically, Iberdrola allocated 90% of the investment to renewables and smart grids to accelerate electrification and promote energy autonomy.

38% of the investment has been allocated to the European Union -close to 3,000 million in Spain, the country that received the most investment, and 1,200 million in other countries such as Germany, France or Portugal-.

Likewise, 25% of the investment was made in the United States, 20% in Latin America, and 13% in the United Kingdom, while the remaining 4% has gone to other countries, such as Australia.

As a result of the investments already made, the group has closed 2022 with a renewable installed capacity of around 40,000 MW worldwide.

The company also has 7,675 MW under construction that will be operational in the next four years. Of these, almost 3,500 MW correspond to offshore wind projects in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

For its part, the network asset base increased by 19% compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 39.2 billion euros.

Looking ahead to 2023, the company expects to invest 11,000 million euros, which will allow it to increase its renewable installed capacity by 3,000 MW and continue increasing its network asset base, which already exceeds 39,000 million euros.

With this, it foresees a growth in net profit of between 8% and 10%, or around 5% including the new income tax in Spain.

In addition, in view of the results, the board of directors will propose to the general shareholders’ meeting to pay Iberdrola shareholders a complementary dividend of 0.31 euros gross per share, in addition to the 0.18 euros paid in January , which means a total remuneration of 0.49 euros per title.

On the other hand, Iberdrola has increased its operating cash flow by 25%, up to 11,123 million euros, improving the cash generation ratio over net debt by 2.4 percentage points, up to 25.4%.

Despite the difficult macroeconomic context, Iberdrola has continued to strengthen its balance sheet with more than 12,700 million euros of new financing under competitive market conditions.

Of this amount, 10,700 million comply with ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria, with which the group has reached a total of 48,600 million euros in green and sustainable financing.

The group’s liquidity has stood at 23,500 million euros, which would allow it to cover 26 months of financial needs without resorting to the market and the average life of its debt exceeds six years.

Regarding the tax contribution, in 2022 the group contributed 7,500 million euros to the public coffers of the different countries in which it operates, of which 2,600 million went to Spain.