ITALIAN State Railways (FS) reported operating revenues of €12.2bn in 2021, a €1.3bn (12.2%) increase compared with 2020.
Ebitda was €1.9bn, a 15.6% (€255m) increase compared with 2020, while Ebit was €193m, an increase of €471m from the -€278m result in 2020.
Overall, FS’ net profit was €193m, a €755m improvement compared with 2020 when FS recorded a €562m loss due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The net financial position remains at €8.9bn, the same figure for 2020.
Revenue from transport services increased by €730m to €5.8bn compared with 2020 both domestically and internationally. Revenue from long haul and short haul rail passenger services are up by a total of €695m while revenues from road and maritime passenger transport has risen €2m and rail freight by €33m.
For the long-distance market, Trenitalia reports a 20.7% recovery in volumes. Regional trains report a 25.8% increase in passenger-kilometres with a 15% increase compared with 2020.
More than €25bn has been assigned to FS Group subsidiaries from the National Recovery and Resilience and the Complementary Fund under the Next Generation EU programme.
Due to the economic effects of Covid-19, operating revenues for 2021 also include national and international compensation totalling €958m. This is 9.1% lower than in 2020 when €1.05bn was received.
Operating costs were €10.3bn, an increase of €1.1bn (11.5%) compared with 2020. This included a €332m increase in personnel costs and a €730m increase in other operating costs. FS says this is a result of the recovery of business activities and, in part, because of inflation that, starting in the second half of 2021, will result in higher commodity prices, especially electricity.
FS highlights €12.5bn of technical investments in 2021, up 40% from 2020, of which 98% is in Italy and more than €10bn is in rail and road infrastructure. FS has advanced €2.6bn to support the country’s supply chain, up from €1bn in 2020. FS also awarded infrastructure tenders worth approximately €26bn.
Mr Luigi Ferraris, FS Group CEO, says the results are a solid basis for the relaunch of all FS operations but said that this was in a context still affected by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
