Mexia ensures EDP will maintain strategic plan despite coronavirus

  • ECO News
  • 5 March 2020

President of EDP says coronavirus will not change the strategic plan for 2020. In an interview with Bloomberg, Mexia also states that the reduction of the Chinese position is a "natural movement".

António Mexia assured this Thursday that the coronavirus outbreak will not change EDP’s strategic plan for 2020. The president of the electric company also mentioned the sale of a stake in China Three Gorges, the largest shareholder of EDP, is a “natural movement” in the market.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the CEO said the electric company consults almost every day the suppliers of the value chain and almost all confirmed they will not miss the deadlines for the delivery of material and services, ensuring there will be no interruptions in the company’s activity because of Covid-19.

“The latest developments only confirm the strategic plan we are implementing. We consult our value chain almost daily, in terms of suppliers, and more than 90% confirm that they will be able to meet their commitments,” assured the Chairman of EDP in the interview, cited by Jornal de Negócios.

António Mexia also said EDP has “mainly local production” and that it will not change the deadlines for solar and wind energy production because of the outbreak.

Another subject of the interview was the relationship with the Chinese Three Gorges, who last week announced the sale of a block of shares worth 300 million euros. António Mexia considered that the operation was “a natural move” and that the reduction in stake of the largest shareholder will not impact the share price.

“Today, what we see is an incredible performance by EDP on the stock market, even with this sale,” underlined António Mexia.

Currently, EDP and EDP Renováveis are the two largest listed on the PSI-20, with market values of 17.2 billion and 11.4 billion respectively. Behind them is Jerónimo Martins and Galp Energia: the retailer is worth 10.3 billion euros and the oil company has a market cap of 9.8 billion.