Enel SpA (ENEL.MI) expects to receive about EUR1 billion as the first
reimbursement installment from Spain's so-called tariff deficit program by the
end of 2010, the company's Chief Financial Officer Luigi Ferraris said
Thursday.
Enel estimates that by the end of the year a total of EUR2 billion-EUR3 billion
will be released and the company's share is about EUR1 billion, Ferraris told
Dow Jones Newswires in Rome.
Enel, through Spanish utility Endesa SA (ELE.MC) it controls, boasts a credit
of several billion euros under the program.
The tariff deficit is the difference between the regulated price Spanish
consumers pay for electricity and the cost of producing it. Spanish utilities
are set to receive their credits through state-guaranteed bonds.
"From a regulatory point of view all is set to start [to sell these
bonds], what is needed is to find the right time to go to the market,"
Ferraris said.
Even if the tariff deficit bond sale program doesn't occur this year, Ferraris
said this wouldn't have an impact on the utility's 2010 dividend.
There was concern that higher Spanish government bond yields, as was evident
from Tuesday's sale of six-month Treasury-bills, would result in reducing the
possible proceeds from the sale of the tariff deficit security, or to
ultimately scrap the sale this year.
Ireland's bailout plan has put pressure on government securities in the euro
zone's peripheral nations, which include Spain, and are identified as those
with a weaker fiscal situation.
According to credit agency Fitch Rating, Endesa's total tariff deficit
securitization amounted to EUR8.3 billion at the end of September.
CFO Ferraris confirmed Enel estimates 2010 net profit to "exceed" the
earlier EUR4 billion target. He declined to be more specific.
Enel's dividend policy is to pay out 60% of its net profit, excluding
extraordinary gains. Its dividend is one of the most generous in the sector.
At 1333 GMT, Enel share dropped EUR0.05, or 1.3%, at EUR3.73, slightly
underperforming Italy's benchmark FTSE MIB Index.