Proger ranked first in Italy among independent engineering firms

Below is the translation of the article by Aldo Norsa and Stefano Vecchiarino published on the website of Il Sole 24 Ore, the most important Italian business newspaper

Engineering: for Proger production growth of 70% in 2023

Civil engineering turnover has doubled in the last two years. Recent contracts include the coordination of technical activities related to the Messina Bridge ahead of the Cipess review.

Proger, an international engineering company founded in Abruzzo in 1951, ranks among the national giants of the industry in 2023, thanks to a value of production that has more than doubled in the last two years (and increased by 69.6 percent in the last fiscal year alone), putting it in first place among independent companies. In fact, unlike the only two companies with higher turnover in the overall ranking compiled by Guamari, Italferr and Rina Consulting, which can count on the control of large groups such as Fs and Rina, respectively, Proger does not see within its shareholding structure any significant external shareholding other than that of Tifs Partecipazioni (which holds 20.4% of the holding company Proger Ingegneria).

It should be noted that the turnover of 189.6 million refers only to that invoiced by Proger Spa and does not take into account the turnover of the other legal entities (Italian and foreign) that make up the Group, which would bring production to 234.6 million. Returning to the parent company, the statutory financial statements show a general improvement in both the income statement and the balance sheet: ebitda rose to 24.4 million (up 66.7 percent), net income to 14.9 million (up 64.8 percent), net financial debt to 21 million (down 15.6 percent) and shareholders’ equity to 84.8 million (up 21.4 percent). In addition, Proger’s order backlog alone is close to 500 million, thanks to 132 million new contracts acquired in 2023.

These include in the Infrastructure sector, the coordination of the technical activities for the preparation of all the documentation required for the Cipess approval of the Messina Strait bridge and the executive design activities for the construction of the Messina-Catania-Palermo railway line, Lot 1 of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria railway line and the Sibiu-Pitesti highway in Romania; in the Health sector, the design of the Syracuse and Vasto hospitals; in Green Energy, the contracts awarded by E-distribuzione for “technical services for primary substations and satellite centers” in seven Italian regions, and by Enel Green Power for “owner engineering” for the realization of three new battery energy storage systems to be installed to support Terna in the management of the Italian electricity grid; in Oil & Gas, the EPCI contract for the “Sabratha Compression Module” platform in Libya.

The growth of the Group in 2023 is also supported by two external transactions aimed at strengthening its production capacity and know-how in two strategic sectors, such as the environment and health: in the first case, the acquisition of a majority stake in Anthemys, a boutique engineering company, and in the second, a minority stake in Inar, specialized in health architecture. In addition to the economic-financial results in 2023, a number of important recognitions for Proger are worth mentioning, such as: the “Two Star ++” legality certification issued by the Italian Antitrust Authority; the certificate of verification for ESG activities issued by EthicsGO; the ESG rating – Class A by Cerved, a company that also raised Proger’s financial rating from A.3 to A.2; as well as the Credit Reputation Awards granted by Centralerisk.