The Prysmian Group, a world leader in energy and telecommunications cables, publishes its annual balance for the year 2021 with record sales of 12.7 billion euros and organic growth of 10.9%. The Group attributes the result to excellent performance in all areas of activity. The energy segment confirmed its good momentum, with organic growth of 10.7% compared to 2020 and 3.8% compared to 2019, that is, exceeding the results obtained before the pandemic. The “Trade & Installers” segments and “renewable cables” performed particularly well, while “Power Distribution” showed a strong recovery in the fourth half in North America.
The “Telecommunications” area also benefited from favorable trends coming from the US market, reporting organic growth of 12.7%. The impeccable execution of the submarine cables was a key element for the good results of the "Projects" segment, which grew rapidly in the last quarter of 2021 with a growth of 34.1% compared to the same period of 2020, which exceeded the company expectations. Adjusted EBITDA grew by 16.2% in 2021, with a result of 976 million euros, exceeding the maximum expectations of the Group, which projected a result in the range of 920 to 970 million euros. A relevant part of this excellent result is due to the fourth quarter, where the 251 million euros recorded became the best fourth quarter performance in the history of the Prysmian Group. EBITDA was 927 million euros, well above the 781 million euros in 2020.
Operating profit stood at 572 million euros, an excellent result compared to 353 million euros in 2020, something that is also recorded in relation to the net profit attributed to the owners of the parent company, which amounted to 308 million euros in 2021 from 178 million euros a year ago. Free cash flow before acquisitions and divestitures was 365 million euros (also excluding antitrust-related flows), which also exceeded the Group's expectations. Despite having paid 134 million euros in dividends, the strong cash generation translated into a significant reduction in net financial debt, which fell to 1,760 million euros in 2021 after registering 1,980 million at the end of 2020.
