Infrastructure investments grew by 13% compared to 2018, EBITDA at 109 million. The water utility of the Metropolitan City of Milan registers a record year that allows it to help out and address the economic crisis by supporting territory and stakeholders.
Revenues exceeding 369 million euros, net operating result of 32.25 million euros compared to 31.94 million in 2018. 109.18 million in EBITDA and a record share of investments in infrastructure serving the territory that reach 107.44 million euros, equal to 42% of tariff revenues, an increase of 13% compared to 2018 and 43% compared to five years ago, with downstream activities generating 2,686 jobs. These are the numbers of the 2019 consolidated financial statements of CAP Group, the public company that manages the integrated water service of the Metropolitan City of Milan, the first Italian in-house company in the water sector for assets and the fourth for inhabitants served.
These results are the outcome of a virtuous path, one fundamental stage of which is the Sustainability Plan presented in 2018, which was able to give a new face to the water utility's vision, allowing the adoption of the most suitable tools to promptly respond to the economic, social, and environmental changes underway.
The consolidated financial statements were approved on Monday, 20 April by the Board of Directors of CAP Holding S.p.A. together with the Consolidated Non-Financial Statement pursuant to Italian Legislative Decree 254/2016. In detail, the total revenues in 2019 stood at 369,265,065 euros, almost entirely connected to the water service, while the management balance was equal to 32,259,106 euros. The difference between value and production costs in 2019 amounted to 52,152,525 euros, compared to 42,174,650 euros in 2015. EBITDA amounted to 109,181,127 euros. The investments in technical fixed assets amounted to 107,441,854 euros, compared to 95,452,714 euros in 2018.
Sensitivity, Resilience and Innovation were the cornerstones on which CAP Group developed its strategy, aimed at creating shared value for the territory and its stakeholders through projects related to the development of the circular economy: from the production of biomethane in its plants to the recovery of nutrients, from the reuse of treated water to green sites, from the prevention of hydrogeological disruption to smart meters and digital technologies. An added value for the Metropolitan City that materialises precisely in the 107 million euros invested, with the awareness that an essential service such as water can only be managed with an industrial and sustainable approach.
An approach that has allowed CAP Group to face the Covid-19 emergency and the economic and social consequences it will have in Lombardy as quickly and effectively as possible. In very little time, the company has implemented a series of concrete measures to protect its people, support users, and help stakeholders and suppliers with injections of liquidity and incentives, with the ambition of contributing to the territory's economic revival.
In the light of both sudden and unpredictable economic and social change, CAP Group has revised its industrial plan, securing the company accounts and adopting some financial and management tools, reducing costs and preparing for the restart of investments in the second part of the year and in 2021. In particular, both costs and investments were reviewed for the five-year period 2020-2024, applying a prudential logic that nevertheless allows the ambitious targets set for 2033 by the Sustainability Plan to be pursued.
For CAP, being SENSITIVE means being part of a community and being responsible with regard to all stakeholders. The utility immediately activated income support measures in order to guarantee work and employment stability for all workers. It also acted in favour of its employees through a strong increase in smart working (87.5%). After having implemented all the safety provisions from the beginning of the emergency according to a strict protocol aimed at guaranteeing their health, operating staff was immediately minimised thanks to the application of a sophisticated 4.0 technology system, which allows the automation of industrial activities and the remote control of plants. To support all the Municipalities managed and public hospitals in the territory of the Metropolitan City of Milan, CAP allocated 10 million euros, of which 1.8 million for public hospital facilities and 8.2 million for the municipalities. It has also taken strong measures to help suppliers, anticipating payments totalling 16.7 million euros, providing free insurance for advances and authorising the progress of works even by way of derogation from contracts for five million euros. It has supported citizens and businesses by postponing billing deadlines. Tender procedures have also been simplified to facilitate access, applying a series of bureaucratic reductions and the use of the Skype platform, drones and 3D technology. The value of tenders published since the start of the lockdown can be estimated at 185 million euros.
Being RESILIENT means being able to adapt to change. CAP has chosen to continue in the green revolution and circular economy, planning 53 million euros in green interventions, resource recovery and energy savings and 34 million for circular economy works and plants.
But the change in progress can only be managed with INNOVATION, which for CAP Group means continuing to focus on smart working, network digitisation, research and development. The objective is ambitious: to allocate 34 million euros in digitisation projects and 8.5 million in research and development.