Enel S.p.A.

Overview

Enel is one of the world's largest electric utilities by installed capacity and the largest in Europe by both revenue and renewable generation. Founded in 1962 as Italy's nationalized electricity monopoly, it was partially privatized in 1999 and has since grown into a multinational operating across roughly 30 countries with about 62,000 employees. Its largest presence remains Italy, where Enel owns e-distribuzione, the country's primary distribution network serving about 32 million customers, and operates a large thermal and renewable generation fleet.

CEO Flavio Cattaneo took over in May 2023, replacing Francesco Starace, who had led Enel for a decade; Paolo Scaroni chairs the board. Cattaneo pulled the company away from the globe-spanning growth agenda of the prior decade toward a narrower geographic focus, asset disposals, and financial discipline, exiting markets including Peru and Slovakia while concentrating capital on Italy, Spain, and Latin America. With the portfolio simplified and the balance sheet stabilized, Enel's February 2026 strategic plan for 2026 through 2028 turns back toward growth, raising gross investment to roughly €53 billion.

The Italian government, through the Ministry of Economy and Finance, holds approximately 23.6% of Enel's shares. That state proximity gives Enel weight in Italian energy policy and creates periodic tension around pricing, investment mandates, and capital allocation.

Business segments

Financial performance

Enel's reported revenue is large and hard to compare directly to peers because it includes substantial energy trading flows. Ordinary EBITDA, the metric management guides to, came in at approximately €22.9 billion for FY2025, up from €22.4 billion in FY2024. Group net ordinary income was approximately €7.0 billion, above guidance. Reported net income attributable to shareholders was lower, at about €4.2 billion, cut by roughly €2 billion of asset writedowns and the absence of the disposal gains that lifted 2024. Capital expenditure of about €10.7 billion went mainly to networks and renewables in Italy, Spain, and Latin America. The total FY2025 dividend was €0.49 per share, up more than 4% on the prior year.

Debt management has been a central priority since Cattaneo arrived. Net financial debt was approximately €57 billion at the end of 2025, up slightly on the year as buybacks and dividends outpaced free cash flow, with net debt to ordinary EBITDA held at about 2.5 times. After several years of portfolio pruning, Enel has exited Peru (2024) and Slovakia (2025) and sold assets in Australia and Romania. The government's 23.6% stake adds an implicit backstop to Enel's credit quality that rating agencies factor into their assessments.

Strategy & outlook

After three years of portfolio simplification and balance-sheet repair, Cattaneo's February 2026 plan for 2026 through 2028 turns back toward growth. It raises gross investment to roughly €53 billion, about €10 billion more than the prior plan, targets cumulative ordinary EBITDA near €74 billion, and lifts ordinary earnings per share toward €0.80 to €0.82 by 2028 from €0.69 in 2025. More than half the capital goes to regulated grids, with renewables the largest growth line, and the plan also funds continuing share buybacks. The scope stays concentrated on Italy, Spain, and Latin America rather than the global footprint of the Starace era.

Italy is the central growth market for the plan period. Enel is the primary beneficiary of Italy's grid investment program, which requires substantial expansion and modernization of the distribution and transmission network to carry rising renewable penetration and electrification demand. e-distribuzione's capital plan is large and growing.

Renewable development continues, mostly in geographies where Enel already runs networks and holds customer relationships: Italy, Spain, Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. Offshore wind sits at an earlier development stage than at Iberdrola or Ørsted. Enel's competitive strength in renewables is onshore wind, solar, and hydro.

Key considerations

Italian regulatory risk is persistent. ARERA sets distribution tariffs in Italy, and the Italian government has intervened in energy markets repeatedly during price shocks. Enel's state adjacency through the Ministry of Economy and Finance's 23.6% stake cuts both ways: it provides political cover and creates pressure to put policy objectives ahead of shareholder returns.

Currency risk is material. Enel earns significant EBITDA in Chilean pesos, Brazilian reais, Colombian pesos, and other currencies that move sharply against the euro. Latin American political risk, especially in Argentina, has produced earnings surprises before.

Spain's nuclear phase-out, scheduled through 2035, would have Endesa retire nuclear capacity without clear replacement baseload as the Iberian grid adds large amounts of variable renewables. The schedule is contested: after the April 2025 blackout, the Almaraz owners asked to push the first closures to 2030, and the outcome is unresolved. It is both an earnings question for Endesa and a reliability question for Spain's grid operator.

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