MILAN (Reuters) -Prysmian said on Thursday its core profit rose 14% in the first nine months of the year, supported by “solid improvement” in its project business as it continues to benefit from global energy transition and electrification trends.
Adjusted earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) at the world’s largest cable maker amounted to 1.286 billion euros ($1.37 billion) in the January-September period.
The result broadly matched a company-provided analyst consensus of 1.276 billion euros. The margin on adjusted EBITDA rose to 10.9% from 9.4% in the same period last year.
Milan-listed shares in Prysmian pared losses after results were published, and were down 0.1% by 1400 GMT against a 0.6% rise in the wider index.
CEO Valerio Battista said the high quality of Prysmian’s order backlog allowed good visibility on the group’s future growth and results, and that its execution of orders “paves the way to achieving the targeted yearly results”.
Prysmian’s project business, which supplies cabling for land and submarine power interconnections and offshore wind farms, has been awarded new orders worth 13 billion euros since the beginning of the year.
Its order portfolio has reached the record level of around 20 billion euros.
The company last month unveiled its first-ever strategic plan, aiming to boost its core profit by around a third by 2027.
On Thursday it confirmed its 2023 full-year forecast for adjusted EBITDA of between 1.575-1.675 billion euros and for a free cash flow in the range of 550-650 million euros.
($1 = 0.9355 euros)
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Giulia Segreti and Jan Harvey)