EDP denies pressure in the US for having a Chinese shareholder, but says it is ‘monitoring’
In a context of growing tension between the United States and China, EDP, which has China Three Gorges as a shareholder, guarantees that it has not felt pressure from the Trump administration.
EDP presented its results for the first quarter of the year this Friday. Speaking to ECO/Capital Verde, the CEO, Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, believes that the profits of 428 million euros reflect that the company is “on the right track”. As for the growing tensions between the United States and China, he points out that these have not been reflected in pressures on the electricity company, which has one of its main markets on the other side of the Atlantic.
As to whether EDP has been under any kind of pressure in the United States, given that its largest individual shareholder is Chinese, Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade rejects this: “No. China Three Gorges has been a shareholder for many years, and we have had this balance between having a shareholder with 20% [of the capital] and at the same time continuing to grow in the United States. There has been no additional information or information that shows a change in the relationship with us.”
Faced with the worsening tensions between the world’s two largest economies, and whether this does not determine an increased risk for EDP, the manager only assumes that the company “continues to monitor the situation”.
Regarding the results, the CEO sees them as proof that EDP is “on the right track” and that it has managed to strike a balance between growth and greater efficiency.
Shareholders may be in for new surprises
Regarding the decline in the stock market, Stilwell d’Andrade points out that the share price has already risen by more than 15% in recent weeks and that “it doesn’t necessarily reflect the results that EDP has at any given moment”, but rather a feeling and perception of future growth and uncertainty related to the context in the US, in particular the tariffs imposed by Trump.
In the view of EDP’s CEO, in the face of fears, investors prefer to sell. However, he believes that more clarity on the US and lower interest rates should contribute positively to the share price.
The role of management, for Stilwell, in the midst of the “euphoria” and “depression” of the markets, is to “deliver real results”. Faced with the possibility of increasing shareholder remuneration, he points out that the company has already brought forward the dividend that was planned for 2026 — delivering 20 cents this year, 3% more than planned — and launched a 100 million share buyback programme, which “are ways of accelerating shareholder remuneration”, and then points out: “We will take decisions of this kind, or others that prove to create value for the shareholder”.
When asked about the networks, which have once again become an important pillar in the listed company’s results (28% of EBITDA), Stilwell prefers not to say what impact a decision not to take part in the tender for the distribution network in Portugal would have on results, as he has admitted.
He says only that the electricity company is “going to wait and see” in what form the tender will be launched, and that if it doesn’t present “economic, financial or even technical viability”, EDP reserves the right not to compete. However, it reiterates that the investment made in the network so far requires the company to be compensated if it doesn’t keep the concession.
In addition, it says that having the low voltage network separated from the medium and high voltage is unique in Portugal and, “from a technical and system point of view, makes no sense” and is “not particularly in the consumer’s interest”.
