Águas de Portugal Group reduces debt and boosts investment


At its General Assembly, AdP - Águas de Portugal, SGPS SA approved its consolidated accounts for 2017 that highlight both the drop in debt and the reduction in the tariff deficit as well as the rises in investment, turnover and the net result.

The 2017 operational performance of the AdP Group features a 36% surge in investment, totalling €95M, up €25M on the previous year. This increase broadly stemmed from the construction of essential infrastructures for guaranteeing improvements to the quality levels of treated effluents, especially in the Algarve, with the projects to build the new Companheira wastewater treatment plant, inaugurated at the beginning of April 2017 in Portimão, and the Faro-Olhão wastewater treatment plant due for completion in 2018. The construction of the new Magra water supply system in the Alentejo, and the refitting of the Vale da Pedra wastewater treatment plant not only represent infrastructures with a major impact on guaranteeing the quality and the supply of water in the Alentejo and Greater Lisbon regions respectively but also rank among the most significant investments undertaken by the AdP Group. 

Within the framework of the extreme drought that afflicted Portugal in 2017, the AdP Group deployed its competences, teams and technical means that contributed towards ensuring there were no cuts to the water supply and, within this scope, highlighting the operations implemented by Group companies in the regions of the Alentejo, Norte and Beira Interior

The 2017 economic-financial indicators report an increase in the Net Result of €88.6M, up €17.8M on 2016, with 3% growth in Turnover, which correspondingly reached €626.8M, and an improvement to EBITDA of 3%, which totalled €316.5M, up €10M on the previous year.

The 66% decrease in the tariff deficit and the stabilisation of client debt levels also represent core indicators to the consolidated accounts of the AdP Group for the 2017 financial year, which also reflect the optimisation and integration of treasury and financial management that enabled an overall reduction in gross debt of €308M (-13%) and driving a decrease in financing costs of over 10%.

AdP Group President, João Nuno Mendes, highlighted the importance of investments both in the construction of new infrastructures and in the rehabilitation of those already existing, which accounted for around 41% of infrastructural investment in 2017. «The ongoing investments are structural to the wastewater and sanitation sector, while furthermore sustaining the quality and the resilience of the water supply and strengthening the downstream network operated by the AdP Group. I would highlight the extraordinary work of the diverse teams deployed by the AdP Group to ensure there were no cuts in the water supply in regions otherwise afflicted by drought” he emphasised.


Key figures for 2017

 Net Result  €88.6M (+25% on 2016)
 Tariff Deficit  €12.5M (-66% on 2016)
 Gross Financial Debt  €2,027.6M (-13% on 2016)
 Net Financial Debt  €1,909.4M (-7% on 2016)
 Investment  €94.6M (+36% on 2016)
 Rehabilitation/replacement  Representing 41% of infrastructural investment
 Turnover  €626.8M  (+3% on 2016)
 Municipal Client Debts  €338.0M (-0.3% on 2016)

Other relevant facts for the 2017 financial year:

  • A new contract was signed with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a total amount of €220M, without recourse to any Portuguese state guarantee, thus securing 25-year financing for the AdP Group Investment Plan. In addition to this amount, there is a credit line of up to €200M that may serve for the acquisition by the EIB of debts owed by the municipal clients of the AdP Group.
  • Agreements were reached with EDIA - Empresa de Desenvolvimento e Infraestruturas do Alqueva, S.A. with the objective of raising the resilience of the water supply to the Sines industrial complex, managed by Águas de Santo André, and strengthening the interlinkages among the systems managed by Águas Públicas do Alentejo and Empreendimento de Fins Múltiplos do Alqueva.
  • There was further consolidation of the centralised procurement system, generating direct and indirect savings to Group companies in excess of €11M.
  • Implementation also began on PEPE – the Electricity Energy Efficiency and Production Plan of the AdP Group with its objectives including striving for eco-efficiency and the sustainability of the water supply and wastewater sanitation operations through maximising the energy returns on the endogenous assets and resources of the Group, encouraging a reduction in consumption, raising in-house levels of production, improving the terms of energy acquisition and participating in electricity powered mobility.
  • Within the scope of the latter e-mobility process, 127 electric vehicles were acquired for the AdP fleet and with work beginning on the installation of specific recharging points at infrastructures so as to optimise performance and thereby combining better economic returns with a higher environmental performance.
  • The first AdP Group trainees program was launched under the title of the WAVE Program, which seeks to integrate young Engineering, Management, Economics and Social Science graduates.
  • There was also the launch of the “Water Operation Centre” initiative that brings together all the AdP Group operational managers and actively fosters the development of operational competences and information systems within the scope of a model specific to the operations and to operational efficiency across the facets of water supply and wastewater sanitation.



14 of May of 2018