Hera Group

HERA Group S.p.A.

Type	Società per azioni
Traded as	BIT: HER
Industry	Multiutility
Founded	2002
Headquarters	Bologna, Italy
Key people	Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano (Chairman) Maurizio Chiarini (CEO) Giorgio Razzoli (Vice Chairman) Roberto Barilli (Operations Manager) Stefano Venier
Products	Natural gas, Water supply, Waste management and Electricity
Revenue	€ 3.668,6 million (2010)
Net income	€ 142,0 million (2010)
Employees	6,656 (2010)
Website	HeraGroup.it

Hera (Holding Energia Risorse Ambiente; English: Energy Resource Environment Holdings) is a multiutility company based in Bologna. Hera operates in the distribution of gas, water, energy, waste disposal in some provinces in Emilia-Romagna. Hera Group operates in the provinces of Bologna, Ferrara, Forlì-Cesena, Imola-Faenza, Modena, Ravenna, Rimini and Pesaro-Urbino, and in some municipalities of Florence.

History

Established in 2002 by the first merger of public utilities in the Emilia-Romagna region, which involved 11 companies in the Emilia-Romagna region; Hera Group is a national leader in the energy, water and environmental service management.

In 2003, Hera started the process to be listed on Milan Stock Exchange., which led the company to be partly privatized, with 38.8% of its present share capital in private sectors. After 2003, Hera started to grow. In over five years, the Group merged with other Italian companies operating in distribution of energy, water and gas, such as Agea, Ecosea, Meta, Geat Distribution Gas and Sat Inc.

Hera also had many successful long-term contracts with foreign suppliers through the following years. In 2006, Hera signed a memorandum of understanding with Enel, Edison and Sonatrach. The memorandum provided the purchase [by Hera] of one billion cubic meters a year of natural gas transported through the methane pipeline belonging to Galsi, a partner company of Hera.

In July 2008 Hera acquired Megas Trade, selling gas and electricity to the Urbino area, owned by Marche Multiservices. The transaction formalized the birth of Hera Comm Marche, the commercial branch of the Hera Group for the Marche region, managed by Hera Comm.

HERA COMM

Hera Comm is the trading company of Hera Group, operating in electricity and gas market throughout Italy.

Hera Comm Mediterranea operates exclusively in southern Italy; Hera Comm Marche, located in Urbino, is the commercial branch of the Hera Group in the Marche region and ownes an asset of more than 40,000 customers and 78 million cubic meters of gas sold.

Business overview

Hera Group has an original business model.

The innovative way pursued by Hera makes the Group both a well structured company and an “open network”, allowing mergers with other new partners: that creates a successful business model even for other utility companies in Italy and abroad.^{[citation needed]}

Multiutility Hera is an open business network, that welcomes new partners and assigns them a relevant role in the Company management, since they represent local operating structures, capable of understanding specific needs from the reference areas.

Strategies and activities are mainly carried out by the Holding, which has a leading and coordinating role through its seven Divisions: Environment, Services, Sales and Marketing, Fluids Distribution, Large Plants Engineering and Electricity Distribution, and District Heating.

Hera Group is also well known for its Sustainability Report and for its in the Company's business. This Report contains figures for the three main business area and presents Hera social and environmental responsibility. The Sustainability Report is published every year and its data are released and positively reviewed by the public.

Current operations

The Hera Group operates in the public utility services sector, pursuing a sustainable management policy.

The Group’s main activities are: management of waste services (waste collection and disposal, waste-to-energy and composting), water services (treatment, purification, sewerage) and energy services (distribution and sale of methane gas and electricity, district heating).

Hera Group Ebitda composition (as at 31 December 2010):

• Waste Management (32.1%)
• Water (23.4%)
• Gas (31.9%)
• Electricity (9.8%)
• Other Services (2.7%)

Hera has the largest asset of waste treatment plants in Italy. The high percentage of separate waste collection and disposed in the reference areas makes the Group a major national operator in the field of environmental services:

• citizens served for waste: approx. 2.8 million;
• tonnes of waste treated: 5.7 million, 1.9 million of which urban waste;
• number of plants: 77.

Hera Group has a considerable presence in Italy in terms of water services:

• water customers: over 1.173.000;
• cubic metres of water sold: 251 million.

Hera is a major national operator also in gas and electricity sectors:

• gas customers: over 1.1 million;
• electricity customers: 383,000;
• cubic metres of gas sold: 2.9 billion;
• electricity sold (GWh): 7,744.

Company profile

Hera has a wide shareholding structure. The structure shows over 180 public institutions (about 61.3%), 369 professional investors (about 25.2%), and over 21,000 private shareholders (about 13.0%).

The results in terms of EBITDA and net profit achieved by the Hera Group since its establishment register a continuous growth over the years. Hera follows a dividend distribution policy that rewards Group shareholders; amongst all, the Municipalities, are the main beneficiaries of Hera’s dividend policy.

Shareholders Base:

• Municipalities in the province of Bologna (18,8% owned)
• Municipalities in the province of Modena (13,2% owned)
• Municipalities in the province of Ferrara (3,3% owned)
• Municipalities in the province of Romagna (26% owned)
• Free Float (32,3% owned)
• Bank fundations (6,5% owned)

External links

• Official site.