Author: adigiuseppe

New rules for the national tennis competition. The Italian team, sponsored by Italgas, out in the group. In the 2020 edition debut against South Korea

 

Tennis and industry are not as distant worlds as they might appear at first glance: to be successful in both you need preparation, loyalty and tension to the result. It was precisely from this initial consideration that Italgas decided to become the team sponsor of the Italian national men’s and women’s tennis teams in the Davis Cup and Fed Cup, in an agreement in which the leading company in the distribution of natural gas in Italy is also committed to supporting all national youth teams, women and men, under 12 – 14 – 16 – 18 and the national veterans team.

“We are united by the traditions and values of the country we represent and which we mention every time we indicate our name – said Paolo Gallo, CEO of Italgas, when presenting the sponsorship – As in sport, still today, more than 180 years after the foundation of Italgas, in our daily actions we play as a team, with continuous training we keep trained to achieve better results. In comparison with the market we believe in pure and fair competition”.

Italgas number one is also keen to underline the motivations that have led the company to bind itself with a partnership not only with the “major” national team, but also with the youth sectors: “The commitment to young people – he says – comes from the awareness of the importance of sport as a vehicle for education and training for the citizens of tomorrow, promoting aggregation, respect for others, the rules, the environment in which we live.

 

The new competition formula

 

From the new version of the Davis Cup the matches are reduced to two singles (no longer four) and one double, and the matches are played at the best of the three sets. In the final phase, which is held in November – after the 24-team qualifications – a total of 18 teams participate at the same time, while the quarter-finals are attended by the first two teams of each round and the two best second ones. The participation in the competition of the 18 best national teams, all together in a single tournament, is one of the main novelties of the new formula, which aims to make the event more spectacular.

The first “renewed” edition of the competition saw the triumph of Rafa Nadal and Roberto Bautista Agut’s Spain (who took to the finals only four days after losing his father), who won the “salad bowl” by playing at home at the Caja Mágica in Madrid and beating Canada. This is the sixth success for the Iberian national team in Davis, after those achieved in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011. For the Canadian national team, which at the beginning of the week had eliminated Italy in the first round, it was instead the debut in the final.

 

The route of Italy

 

For the Italian national team the debut in the new Davis Cup was difficult: the team led by Corrado Barazzutti was in fact eliminated in the initial group stage of the tournament, in which he faced Canada and the United States.  Against Canada, both Matteo Berrettini, number 8 in the Atp world ranking, in a very close match that ended with three tie-breaks (7-6 6-7 7-6) against Denis Shapovalov, and number 12 Fabio Fognini, in a hard-fought match against Vasek Pospisil that ended 7-6 7-5, lost their debut singles against Canada. The partial revenge then came from the double, where the two Azzurri won 6-2 3-6 6-3 against Pospisil and Shapovalov, thus showing their commitment and determination in trying to overcome the group stage anyway, maybe passing between the two best second. Two days later, in the match against the United States, a three-zero victory would have been necessary to be “fished out”: the Azzurri started off on the right foot, thanks to Fabio Fognini’s victory over Opelka (6-4 6-7 6-3). Italy then came close to qualifying with Matteo Berrettini, who won the first set against Taylor Fritz at the tie-break and managed to get to the six-all in the second, when the American managed to win in the tie-break and then took home the third set 6-2. Ininfluential to the qualification, at this point, the doubles, which the USA won thanks to the Querrey – Sock pair, with a 6-7 7-6 6-4 on Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.

An adventure in Davis, that of the Azzurri, which ended after an extremely hard-fought tournament and decided by a handful of points: the commitment of the Italians would have been enough a little help from luck, especially in the first match against Canada, to reach the quarter-finals. An appointment at this point postponed to the 2020 edition.   

 

 

The scoreboard of the 2020 edition

 

Metabolized the defeat, Italy can start thinking about the preliminary round of the 2020 edition: the draw, which was made on the eve of the final, has decreed that the Azzurri of Barazzutti will have to face – playing at home – South Korea, with the matches scheduled on March 6 and 7, 2020. Against the Asian national team Italy had already played twice in Davis and obtained two victories: in 1981 in San Remo avoiding the relegation and in 1987 in Seoul.

 

What’s new for the coming year

 

To anticipate the possible “adjustments” of the new formula for next year was, on the day of the final Italy-Canada, the Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué, in this case in the role of founder and president of Kosmos, a group of investors that has been “married” to its project by the Itf (International Tennis Federation).  “We need to improve the issue of timetables, but let’s keep in mind that there are many teams competing in a single week – Piqué said – But the feedback I had with Nadal, Djokovic and other great players was great. There is the possibility to organize a single competition of two weeks – he concluded – we will talk about it in the next months and then we will announce something”.

 

Italgas renews the sponsorship

 

After the first two years of sponsorship ending with the end of 2019, Italgas has decided to renew the agreement with the Italian tennis federation to extend the collaboration to the 2020 editions of Davis Cup and Fed Cup, remaining at the side of the Italian team.

With the Norcia stopover, all the computers for the institutes in the areas affected by the 2016 earthquake were distributed.

Donate 1,500 PCs to schools in the areas affected by the 2016 earthquake in Lazio, Umbria, Marche and Abruzzo. This is the objective of the agreement signed by Italgas with the Government’s Extraordinary Commissioner for the Central Italy Earthquake, which today comes to an end with the delivery of the last personal computers to Norcia, after those already entrusted to schools in Lazio, Marche and Abruzzo.

 

How the project of PC donation in schools was born

 

The initiative, which concerns secondary education schools, was presented to the Chamber of Deputies in December 2018 by the extraordinary commissioner for the earthquake Piero Farabollini and Italgas CEO Paolo Gallo, who on the occasion had stressed that in the municipalities affected by the earthquake the company has worked “from the outset to contain the difficulties resulting from the earthquake. The work done in Ussita, Camerino and many other municipalities – he recalled – has allowed citizens to get gas back into their homes in a short time, reducing inconvenience as much as possible. By donating these computers we will contribute to the creation of computer classrooms, offering a concrete tool to boys and girls”. The project thus comes to a conclusion in less than a year, testifying to the commitment to the territory that has always distinguished the work of Italgas, which has in its DNA, as well as one of the objectives of its Corporate Social Responsibility strategy, that of contributing to the growth and social and cultural development of the communities in which it operates.  

 

Interventions for areas affected by the earthquake

 

After identifying the areas and institutes to which computers should be donated in collaboration with the commissarial structure and the mayors of the area, Italgas began with the distribution of the PCs. This initiative is part of a wider context of activities planned to support the territory, with the intention of creating value by offering concrete support to the new generations and families in general. The company has in fact planned investments of 120 million euros for the maintenance and security of its distribution networks in the earthquake-stricken areas of Lazio, Abruzzo, Marche and Umbria, especially with a view to preventing the consequences of earthquakes.

 

Previous steps

 

Before the stage of Norcia 140 PC for the creation of computer classrooms had been delivered by Italgas to the institute including Civitella-Torricella on behalf of the Abruzzo schools in September 2019, just days before the start of the new school year. The ceremony was attended by many of the mayors and administrators of the area, as well as representatives of the regional school office and the school heads of the schools receiving the donations. The choice of the school in which to symbolically deliver the PCs to the schools in the area was not accidental, since Civitella del Tronto was one of the areas most severely affected by the earthquake in Central Italy in 2016.

Previously, in May, it had happened the delivery to schools in the Marches during a ceremony at the Municipal Theater of Treia, while the first PCs had been delivered in December 2018 to schools in Rietiin Lazio.

The Board of Directors approves the results for the first nine months of 2019. All indicators are growing. CEO Paolo Gallo: “We combine 180 years of history with a start-up approach.”

The third quarter 2019 closed for Italgas with all financial indicators in positive. A particularly important result considering that the period July-September is the eleventh consecutive period in which the company led by Paolo Gallo manages to make progress in all the main items, starting from revenues and profits. All this is guided by two “cardinal points” that, among others, the company has set itself with the 2019-2025 strategic plan: digitization and sustainability. This is certified by the company’s Board of Directors, which met under the chairmanship of Alberto Dell’Acqua, and which together with the Italgas quarterly report approved the consolidated results for the first nine months of the year.   “11 consecutive quarters of growth, double-digit increases in EBIT and net profit demonstrate Italgas’ ability to combine the solidity of a company with over 180 years of experience, a start-up approach to promote innovation and a great attention to costs”, says Paolo Gallo, CEO of Italgas.

Focus on smart meters and digitization

The program to replace meters with “smart meters”continues: from January to September, 1.5 million meters were installed, for a total installed fleet of 6.2 million new generation meters, which now represent 73.1% of the total installed meters, considering the companies in which the Group has an interest. The Roadmap foresees that the replacement will be completed in 2020.

“The digital transformation – explained Gallo – remains our main objective: the Digital Factory, one year after its start-up, has already produced several digital solutions that are changing the way we manage our network with a significant improvement in the quality of service”.

Methanization in Sardinia

Work is continuing on the island to install the distribution networks, an activity that has so far generated around 600 new jobs. At the end of September the worksites were started in all the basins under concession to the Group, for more than 18 thousand requests for new connections.  “The Sardinia project has obtained institutional recognition with the forthcoming entry into the shareholding structure of the Sardinian company of the Marguerite Fund, a high-profile European investor – stresses CEO Paolo Gallo -. On the island we have already laid over 300 kilometres of ‘native digital’ networks, the most modern in the country, with considerable interest from residents and businesses, a sign of the great expectation on the part of the territory: in the coming months we will begin to supply the first users with natural gas”.

Attention to sustainability

The results are linked to a double thread for Italgas with an ever-increasing commitment and a renewed awareness of sustainability issues. It is precisely this strategy that has allowed the stock to be confirmed in the FTSE4Good Index Series and to enter the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Worldfor the first time, which indicates on a global scale the ability of companies to measure themselves against sustainability in all its aspects. Italgas is the only Italian utility in the gas distribution sector included in DJSI World, as well as the third in the world together with the Spanish Naturgy and the Japanese Osaka Gas.

Data at a glance

Looking quickly at the figures on consolidated results, total revenues amounted to 916.9 million euro, up 3.7%, with Ebitda (gross operating margin) up 5% to 660.7 million euro. As for technical investments, they amounted to 495.3 million euros, up 41.9%: “They continue to increase with growth that will take us to over 700 million at the end of the year – adds Gallo – Maintenance, development and digitization of the network are our 3 pillars”.

Considering the distribution network, the data including the investee companies show that there were 1,822 municipalities under concession for the gas distribution service in September 2019, with 7.617 million active meters and an infrastructure of 71 thousand kilometres.

Forecasts for the end of the year

Before the end of the year Italgas will be engaged in some international events to present its activity to investors all over the world. Starting from the sixteenth edition of the “London Conference” organized by Kempen in the capital of the United Kingdom, which has in its mission to “bring together capital with ideas” through a series of one-to-one talks between investors and senior management of the participating companies. Then, at the beginning of December, it is finally planned to participate in another event of the same kind in Australia, in Sydney.

At the operational level, Italgas plans to continue its investment plan for the digitization of the grid, the installation of “smart” meters and the methanization of Sardiniain the coming months. The company also plans, as already indicated in the Strategic Plan 2019-2025, to participate in the tenders for the award of the natural gas distribution service. Moreover, after the acquisitions in 2018, development initiatives by external lines will continue throughout 2019, which will make it possible to strengthen the territorial presence and the growth of the business perimeter.

Italgas Top Management presents 2019 Third Quarter Results.

Conference Call for the presentation of results to the community will be on Thursday, November 7th 2019 at 05:30 pm CET.

FOLLOW THE PRESENTATION LIVE >>

At the China LNG & Gas International Summit the company organized a workshop with State Grid of China. Taking his main suppliers with him  

Mission to China for Italgas. On October 15 and 16 the company participated in the fifth edition of the China LNG & Gas International Summit, while on October 17 it organized a workshop in collaboration with State Grid Corporation of China where it presented its experience in the Italian gas market to an audience of international companies. In the words of the President of State Grid, the day is “the first concrete step of collaboration following the Memorandum of Understanding – signed on 28 April by Italgas and State Grid – and I hope it will be the first of a series of meetings”.

The workshop on October 17th

The workshop was divided into two parts. In the morning, Italgas’ managers spoke about the process of liberalisation of the gas market in Italy since the 2000s, explaining how the market has evolved, what the impact of liberalisation has been, what the current market structure is and what the possible developments are, also with reference to Italgas’ strategic plan. This issue is of particular interest in China, where the evaluation process has begun with a view to a possible liberalisation of the energy market.

The afternoon session was dedicated to an in-depth examination of the technologies. Some key suppliers among Italgas’ business partners, all Italian excellence in technological innovation, presented their value propositions and portfolio of products and services to the most important Chinese companies in the sector and to some State Grid subsidiaries abroad.

The companies that took part in the workshop with Italgas were Bitron, Cpl Concordia, Pietro Fiorentini, Regas, Sagemcom and Pellegrini. On the other side of the table Sgspaa (Australia), Ren (Portugal), SP Group (Singapore), Beijing Gas Group (China), Enn Group (China), Kunlun Gas (China): a panel of companies, the latter, which manages a total of almost 210 thousand kilometres of networks serving more than 47 million gas users.

Pier Lorenzo Dell’Orco: “Gas advocacy is among our missions.”

“The agreement of April 28th is important for several reasons. First and foremost at institutional level: Italgas is a leader in Italy and one of the largest in Europe, and we feel the responsibility and mission to be the ambassador of Italian methane technology – explains Pier Lorenzo Dell’Orco, Italgas Sales Development Director -. Secondly, it is important in terms of sustainability: our strategic plan is entirely inspired by compliance with the objectives of the sustainability plan, among which there is the issue of gas advocacy: we are convinced that methane is a useful resource for the energy transition to a decarbonized economy, whatever the landing point in 2050. Everything that can be used to promote the use of gas and make the best use of our skills, we want to do it in Italy and propose it as best practice abroad”.

Nunzio Ferrulli: “Our mantra is the combination of infrastructure and digitization.”

Nunzio Ferrulli, Head of Institutional Relations and Regulatory Affairs of Italgas, focuses on knowledge-sharing activities: “We believe we are at the forefront of gas infrastructure management because we have launched a major investment plan not only on infrastructure but also on digitisation. This is our mantra, and has allowed us to be ‘best in class’ both at European level and at the Italy-China workshop. That’s probably why State Grid asked us to explore our best practices and invited us to Beijing. We thought it would be fair to involve our business partners. It is an important operation because in the collective imagination there are Chinese companies that come to invest in Italy, in a sort of one-way street, while on this occasion it is the companies of our country that go to China to present their excellence”.

Raffaella Marcuccio: “Italian technologies as protagonists in China”

“We bring our Italian suppliers to China with the intention of enhancing and promoting their know-how of excellence – underlines Raffaella Marcuccio, Head of Procurement and Material Management at Italgas -. The prospect is to allow them to understand whether the conditions are in place to think about possible partnerships with Chinese companies in the field of gas distribution. In this context the central theme, the one in which Italy manages to express excellence, is technological innovation, with a particular focus on digitization. One of the most interesting challenges – concludes Marcuccio – is to verify in the field how and to what extent the excellence of Italian technology can interact with the world’s energy giants.