NOS issues €300M in debt indexed to sustainable goals

NOS, a Portuguese telecommunications operator, has issued €300 million in bonds and commercial paper indexed to sustainable objectives, raising its sustainable debt to 40% of the total, the company announced in a statement to the country’s Securities Markets Commission (CMVM) on Wednesday.

In a statement, the telecommunications operator said that the loans now contracted, maturing in 2027, are “strengthening the link” between its financing cost and its sustainability performance, “highlighting and demonstrating” its strategic relevance and the company’s commitment “to achieve best-in-class targets in ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) indicators.”

At issue are financing operations carried out under the recently developed ‘Sustainability-Linked Financing Framework’, which are indexed to the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions of the operation itself (scope 1 and 2 emissions) by at least 80% by 2025, compared to 2019.

The operations, according to information disclosed today by NOS, were signed with Banco BPI, Caixa Geral de Depósitos and Millennium BCP – three of Portugal’s largest banks.

With this €300 million in financing, more than 40% of NOS’s debt is now indexed to sustainability indicators and targets, and, according to the operator, will help bring down the average cost of its debt, diversify its financing instruments and lengthen their maturity.

In 2021, NOS had a consolidated net profit of €144.2 million, up 56.7% on 2020 and a little above the 2019 figure, before the pandemic, the company said in a note sent to the CMVM on 3 March. In it, the company reported that revenues had swelled 4.6% to €1.43 billion, showing that it had “consolidated the positive trajectory of growth and the solidity of operations.”