The Italian energy giant Enel estimated on Monday “between 7 and 10 million euros” the cost for the company of the tax on the “excess profits” of companies in the sector introduced by the government of Mario Draghi in order to alleviate family and business bills.
The impact for Enel of this measure announced on Friday is almost “zero, it’s around between 7 and 10 million euros”, said its CEO, Francesco Starace, on the Bloomberg TV channel.
Insofar as the group has entered into forward contracts guaranteeing fixed prices for two years, it remains sheltered from price fluctuations, and “therefore we have no profits or +surplus+ profits due to the volatility” of the market, he said.
Questioned by AFP, the Italian hydrocarbons group Eni considered it “premature” to “provide a precise amount”. According to “provisional estimates”, the cost of the tax for the company would be at most “a few hundred million euros”, said a spokesperson.
The money raised through this new tax will help fund a 4.4 billion euro package of measures to alleviate soaring energy prices for households and businesses.
A 10% tax will be levied on “additional” pre-tax profits made between October 2021 and March 2022, comparing them to profits in the same period a year earlier.
“Overall, the impact seems limited to us” and it is therefore “unclear how the government can recover 4 billion euros of this contribution”, commented analysts from Equita.
The effects of this tax “on listed companies in the sector do not seem particularly significant”, he summarized.
Enel had posted a net profit of 3.19 billion euros in 2021, while Eni earned 5.82 billion euros.
– “Speculation” –
The Spanish government had for its part considered taxing the “surplus profits” made by the large energy groups in September, before backtracking in December, faced with the revolt of companies in the sector.
“The volatility of gas prices in Europe is totally out of control,” noted Mr. Starace, before pleading for a mechanism to “control, regulate prices for at least twelve months”.
“It is obvious that the market is no longer a reflection of commercial exchanges but it is only guided by speculation,” he argued.
Owned at 23.6% by the Italian state, Enel is “stopping investments in Russia” and “reducing its exposure”, and should “eventually leave the country if the situation remains like this”, has explained Mr. Starace.
The group, present in Russia since 2004, operates three thermal power stations and two wind farms there. Russia’s withdrawal “is a matter of months,” said its CEO.
Eni, 30.3% controlled by the Italian state, announced at the beginning of March that it would sell its 50% share in the Blue Stream gas pipeline, which it holds equally with the Russian giant Gazprom, in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
bh / lum