• En-route and terminal traffic grew 6.5% and 3.5% respectively, in terms of service units  vs. 2018;
• Consolidated Net Revenue at 902.9 million euro (+1.5% vs. 2018);  Revenue from operations at 951.8 million euro, up 2.9% YoY, offset by negative balance
• Consolidated EBITDA at 302.9 million euro (+1.8% vs. 2018);
• Consolidated Net Profit of 118.3 million euro, up. 3.4% vs. 2018;
• Proposed dividend distribution of 0.2094 euro per share (+4.8%), in line with dividend policy;
• 2019 Sustainability Report approved.

Rome, 12 March 2020 - The ENAV SpA Board of Directors, held today under the chairmanship of Nicola Maione, approved the draft Financial Statements of the Company and the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Group at December 31, 2019.

The CEO Roberta Neri stated: The traffic dynamics witnessed in 2019 confirmed the trend of strong growth already recorded in 2018. Thanks to our people and the planning of our investments in technology and training, we have managed the significant increase in traffic flows while guaranteeing, once again, an excellent quality of service in terms of safety and punctuality. The acquisition of IDS AirNav last July represents a key investment in the enhancement of technological solutions and has opened up new opportunities in untapped markets such as Australia, Argentina and Brazil as well as in other countries in which we were not present. In relation to the Coronavirus emergency, we have put in place all the necessary safeguards to protect our staff and to ensure the continuity of operations of the strategic services we provide. We are monitoring, in coordination with all the relevant authorities, the impact on traffic arising from the evolution of the situation but we believe that it is premature to provide reliable estimates for 2020. It is worth noting, however, that thanks to our regulation, which provides protection against traffic risk, and thanks to the significant part of our revenues generated from overflight traffic, with no stopovers in Italian airports, the effects of a reduction in traffic will be, in part, mitigated.      

In 2019, en-route traffic , in terms of service units, grew 6.5% vs. 2018, delivering the highest yearly growth rate amongst the main European countries such as France (+1.5%), Germany (+1.3%), the UK (+3.3%) and Spain (+3.9%).
The growth of en-route traffic over Italian skies in 2019 involved both domestic traffic (+2.9%) and international traffic (+5.7%) and, above all, overflights (flights that do not take off or land at Italian airports), which displayed a 9.3% increase in terms of service units. In absolute terms, this was the highest result in the last ten years. Such growth resulted from an increase in flows between Europe and three other continents (Africa, Asia and the Americas) and was attributable to the excellent punctuality as well as to the implementation of the Free Route procedure, which helped the airlines flying over Italian skies in 2019 save 53 million kg of fuel thereby reducing Co2 emissions by 167 million kg.
Despite the high traffic volumes, the Company once again recorded the best operating performance among the main European countries in terms of punctuality, with an average delay per assisted flight almost 5 times lower than the assigned target (0.021 minutes vs. a target of 0.11 minutes). This value compares favourably with the major European partners’ average of 0.9 minutes of delay per flight.
The performance delivered by ENAV also entailed an economic benefit for the airlines. Recent industry studies quantified at 100 euro the average value of the cost that carriers incur for each minute of delay generated by service providers. The punctuality ensured by ENAV therefore resulted in the airlines’ saving around 15 million euro.

In 2019, terminal traffic  increased 3.5% vs. 2018 in terms of service units. This increase was led by the positive performance in all national airports and, in particular, in the international traffic component (up 4.8% YoY). Traffic in the main Italian airports showed a generalised increase in terms of service units: Fiumicino +1.6%, Milan Malpensa +16.3% (largely due to the closure of Milan Linate airport for 3 months), Venice +1.4%, Bergamo +6.6%, and Bologna +8.5%. Airports in southern Italy also posted a strong performance: Naples +7.9%, Catania +2%, Palermo +5.9% and Bari +9.2%.

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Total consolidated Net Revenue in 2019 amounted to 902.9 million euro, up 1.5% compared to 2018, driven by a strong growth in Revenue from Operations, partly offset by negative balance.
Revenue from Operations reached 951.8 million euro, up 2.9% compared to 2018. This performance was driven by a 2.1% increase in revenues from en-route services, which grew to 689.4 million euro, and a 3.8% increase in revenues from terminal services, which rose to 231.1 million euro. In particular, the increase in traffic fully compensated the reduction in tariffs applied in 2019.
Revenues from non-regulated business grew by 42.1% over 2018 to 19.2 million euro mainly thanks to the revenues generated by IDS AirNav, the company acquired by ENAV in July 2019, for approximately 10 million euro and related to international contracts for the sale of software, and its maintenance, and services provided for the management of aeronautical information.

The balance   had a negative impact on revenues for 86.9 million euro, an amount 6.3 million euro higher compared to 2018, due to the lower positive balances recorded in the period and to the higher incidence of negative balances related to inflation balance, to traffic balance, due to the higher traffic in terminal zone 2 compared to the level estimated in the performance plan, and a higher balance reversal in the 2019 tariff.

Operating costs amounted to 600 million euro, up 1.3% compared to 2018. The ENAV Group continued to streamline its external costs by acting on specific cost components and optimising processes between its companies. In particular, Other operating expenses were reduced by 5.6% over 2018 to 134.2 million euro driven by efficiencies in a number of costs, including those related to telecommunications, thanks to the implementation of the E-NET network. The reduction was also due, in part, to the effects of the application of IFRS 16 on rental and lease costs.

Personnel costs reached 497.1 million euro, up 3.3% compared to 2018. The marginal increase in the fixed salary component (+1%) was due to the combined effects of the labor contract renewal of the Parent Company, the adoption by Techno Sky of the national collective labor contract for the air transport sector, and the inclusion of IDS AirNav personnel in the Group’s perimeter. At the end of 2019, the ENAV Group’s headcount consisted of 4,195 employees in total and 4,148 employees on average, with a reduction of 102 employees on average, excluding IDS AirNav, over the previous year. As for the variable salary component, the 19.2% increase recorded in the year reflected the economic impact of the agreement for the summer season of 2019, whose purpose was to manage the significant increase in traffic flows in the summer period and which resulted in ENAV maintaining an excellent level of punctuality.

The above figures contributed to a 1.8% increase in EBITDA , compared to 2018, which reached 302.9 million euro, with an EBITDA margin of 33.5%.

The 2019 consolidated EBIT grew to 170.6 million euro, up 3.8% compared to 2018. The EBIT margin was 18.9%, with a 0.4 percentage points improvement over 2018.

Net Profit in 2019 reached 118.3 million euro, up 3.4% compared to 2018.

The Net Financial Position at 31 December 2019 was positive for 126.4 million euro, delivering a significant improvement over the negative 1.9 million euro recorded at 31 December 2018. The positive change of 128.3 million euro in the Net Financial Position was mainly due to the dynamics of cash-ins and payments relating to the ordinary course of business, driven by the significant increase in traffic, which produced a positive cash flow, to the net cash-in linked to certain funded projects and to the receipt of a VAT credit refund. The Net Financial Position was also affected by the dividend payment of 108 million euro.

Sustainability Report 2019
The Board of Directors held today also approved ENAV Group's 2019 Sustainability Report and Consolidated Non-Financial Statement, drafted in accordance with the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards, which provides an account of the ESG initiatives deployed by the Company, the progress of the 2018-2020 three-year Sustainability Plan and the new objectives that the Company has set for 2020 in the areas of climate change, diversity & inclusion, human rights and green supply chain.

2020 Outlook
The scenario in which ENAV will be operating in 2020 is evolving rapidly, mainly as a result of the emergency relating to the spread of cases of contagion from COVID-19 viruses (so-called Coronavirus) and the respective mitigating measures, that are determining a global scenario in constant evolution, also in relation to air traffic flows.
The latest forecasts of the Eurocontrol statistical bodies which foresee an increase in air traffic on Italy of 4.3% for 2020 (in terms of service units) compared to 2019, will presumably need to be revised in relation to the duration and the effects on air traffic of the development of the national and international scenario on the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
This update will be linked to the likely reduction in the volume of Service Units depending on the number of airlines involved, the duration of the emergency, the restrictions implemented and which may be further envisaged by and for Italy, as well as the effects on the economy that this emergency will determine in the coming months. Nonetheless, so far there has been an upward trend in air traffic in Italy both in January and February 2020, compared to the same period of the previous year.
It should also be noted that the EU economic-tariff regulation to which ENAV is subject provides for traffic risk sharing mechanisms that allow the company to partially mitigate the effect of lower revenues deriving from the likely traffic reduction.
Given that the scenario unfolding at national and international level is continuously evolving, and that the effects on the general economy and, more specifically, on the air traffic sector are still difficult to quantify, at the current date, March 12, 2020, it is not possible to precisely assess the overall impact on ENAV. Thus, it is necessary to wait and see how the global scenario will evolve in relation to the recent events in order to be able to provide more reliable estimates on the effect on company’s activities, which could possibly be materially affected.

SHAREHOLDERS’ MEETING
An ordinary of the General Shareholders’ Meeting in single call will be held on 5 May 2020 for the approval of the Financial Statements at 31 December 2019. The Shareholders will be called on to vote, amongst other items, on the appointment of the members of the Board of Directors. The BoD outgoing issued the guidelines on the composition pursuant to application criterion 1.C.1, lett. h) of the Corporate Governance Code, available in the Governance section of the Company's website.

Corporate Governance
At today’s meeting, the Board of Directors approved the Remuneration Report, prepared in compliance with the requirements of Article 123-ter of the Consolidated Finance Act and Article 84-quater of the Italian Securities and Exchange Commission (Consob) Regulations approved by resolution no. 11971 of 14 May 1999 (the “Regulations for Issuers”).
The Board of Directors also approved a Corporate Governance and Ownership Structure Report, as prescribed by art. 123-bis of legislative decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 ("Consolidated Act on Finance" or ‘TUF’). Both reports will be available to the public in the ways and within the time limits established by law, also on the Company's website at www.enav.it

Long term incentive plan and share buy-back
The Board of Directors of ENAV resolved today to adopt a share-based long-term incentive plan for the management of the Group for the period 2020-2022. The document outlining the key elements of the long-term incentive plan will be proposed for approval in the Shareholders Meeting and will be made available on the company’s website ( www.enav.it ), as per applicable legislation.
The Board of Directors of ENAV also resolved to submit a proposal to the Shareholders’ Meeting to authorize a buy-back of up to 1,200,000 own shares to be allocated to service the remuneration policies adopted by the Company. The authorization for the purchase of own share