Enel’s new board of directors reappoints Francesco Starace as chief executive

In an announcement on Friday, Enel (ETR: ENL) said that the company’s new board of directors decided in favour of reappointing Francesco Starace as the CEO. Starace will also be serving as Enel’s general manager.

Starace has been serving Italy’s largest utility company since 2014.

Enel’s directors to donate 15% of salaries in 2020

Italy took one of the strongest hits due to the Coronavirus pandemic. As a show of solidarity, Enel’s directors also announced that they will be donating 15% of their salaries in 2020 to initiatives aimed at COVID-19 response.

Following the announcement, Enel jumped less than 2% in after-hours trading on Friday. It extended its gains on Monday posting another 2% increase in the stock market as of 12:10 GMT.

The Italian government had given its approval for CEO’s of Eni and Enel to be reappointed for a 3^rd term in April. But the government selected 2 new chairmen to ensure optimum monitoring on performance and strategies of the two companies.

According to the Italian multinational energy company, it is committed to expanding Enel X (energy e-service unit). Enel, therefore, will adjust its acquisitions strategy to focus more on purchasing distribution businesses and assets in the upcoming years.

The company is scheduled to hold its shareholders’ meeting on Thursday. It also expressed plans of buying back minorities in multiple businesses that it currently controls.

Enel to consider selling its conventional power plans

In terms of disposal plans, the Italian firm highlighted that it will consider selling its conventional power plans. If necessary, a few of its selected assets in renewable energy may also be put on sale.

When inquired about Open Fiber (broadband operator), Enel expressed its interest in value creation opportunities as long as they satisfy the antitrust criteria laid out by Italian and European authorities.

Open Fiber is currently jointly controlled by state lender CDP and the energy company Enel.

At £5.28 per share, Enel is currently a little under 20% down year to date in the stock market. In the second week of March, the stock had dropped to as low as £4.66 per share. Its performance in 2019, on the contrary, was reported largely upbeat with an annual gain of roughly 40%.

At the time of writing, Enel has a market cap of £53.61 billion and a price to earnings ratio of 27.68.