Despite the 6.7% reduction in Revenues, reflecting the pullback of energy commodity prices from past peaks, Hera achieved significant growth in the first half of 2023, with double-digit growth rates in EBITDA and EBIT.
Not only did all major P&L balances show improvement compared to H1 2022, but also all strategic business areas made a positive contribution to the 13.8% growth in consolidated EBITDA.
The Energy areas saw a very dynamic development (+30%), due to the strong expansion in the number of customers and the broad portfolio of services offered, with a robust contribution from Decarbonisation services.
While the major European stock markets are at their highs since the beginning of the year, Hera’s share price still has significant room for appreciation, as reflected by the large discount to the average target price of 3.4 euro of the analyst coverage.
Despite the good performance that the share price has put in compared to the 2022 year-end price of 2.53 euro, and despite the 5% yield of the 2022 dividend paid in June, Hera can offer further satisfaction to shareholders, according to Jens Klint Hansen, Hera’s Director in charge of Investor Relations, whom we interviewed.
In the coming years, Hera will continue to play a proactive role in the energy transition process, not only through responsible management of operations, but also by encouraging more sustainable consumption by its customers. The way forward will consist of leveraging the solid reputation that the Group has built in providing energy and value-added services.
The new scenarios provide Hera with a great opportunity: to ride the demand for greater environmental and economic sustainability of energy consumption, in line with what policy makers and customers themselves are asking for, both in the business and retail segments.