Salini Impregilo sells Todini, 7 billion revenue expected

Rome - Todini Construzioni will be sold within a year because “it is no longer strategic”. Soon there will be an increase of capital of around 200 million for now, in order to increase the free stock float by 10%. The company returned to profit in 2013, by deconsolidating Todini and slowing the objectives of the new business plan. Anyway, there are expectations of a strong growth in margins and an increase of revenue to 7 billion in 2017, up from the 4 billion now. These are the foundations of the “new” Salini Impregilo, while the issue with the Panama Canal which weighed on the accounts “will not have a financial impact”.

“There are ongoing talks” about the cession of Todini; if it were included in Salini’s accounts (that acquired it in 2010) it would have had a negative impact on the Impregilo group of more than 50 million on the net financial position and about 60 million on EBITDA. “All assets on sale were actually sold” explains the CEO Pietro Salini after the presentation of the 2013 results and the new business plan. The sale of Todini Constriuzioni “is part of a plan that I shared with Pietro Salini, that ended with the creation of a global player” says Luisa Todini, leader of the group of the same name (and European representative of Silvio Berlusconi’s party) who will continue to lead activities in other sectors. In previous months the entrepreneur had sold the remainder of the former family business to Salini Impregilo, where she will continue to participate with direct shareholding and work as a consultant to the Salini Construttori’s holding. The new plan was welcome in the stock exchange (+1.48%) and it foresees an EBITDA of 800 million and earnings before interest of 500, with a net financial result of 500 million, in part financed by the increase of capital that will be reserved to institutional investors. “We may well be the only group in the sector in this position and a high cash flow will help us to keep a good rating and a high bonding capacity, but growth is possible also for external lines; there are so many interesting possibilities” adds Salini, implying that the group is evaluating acquisitions. In the meantime, Salini Impregilo promises in 2014 “a dividend policy with a minimum payout of at least 20%”, explains the financial general manager and corporate group CEO Massimo Ferrari. The results of 2013 allowed only a coupon of 0.26, but with the different deconsolidations and perimeter changes caused a return to profits: €99 million up against the 117 million lost the year before.