2005 - 2006 - Pinsent Masons Water Yearbook 2012

ITALY PART 3 (ii): COMPANY ANALYSIS: LOCAL/REGIONAL PLAYERS
Meta SPA
Meta SpA serves the city and province of Modena in northern Italy and was originally owned by a
consortium of 30 local municipalities. It was privatised in March 2003, through a new equity issue and
a partial divestiture by 17 of the municipalities. 72% of its equity remains in municipal hands, with the
commune of Modena holding 58% of the company. Meta serves 432,000 people with power, gas,
water, heating and waste services. Water sold rose from 28.4 million m 3 in 2002 to 29.8 million m 3 in
2003 and 29.8 million m 3 in 2004, serving 314,989 residents in 18 municipalities. Some 211,207
residents are also served by the sewerage system and sewage is treated for 327,074 residents.
There are a total of 651,920 residents in the province of Modena, 48.3% served by Meta Modena for
water, 32.45 for sewerage and 50.2% for sewage treatment.
Meta SpA, profit and loss account
YE 31/12 (€ million) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Water sales 22.4 23.7 26.5 29.7 29.3
Total sales 189.8 250.0 262.6 295.2 277.5
Operating profits 16.8 21.1 26.3 35.7 32.9
Net profits 5.5 8.1 12.6 17.9 20.2
Earnings per share (€) 0.045 0.067 0.100 0.121 0.133
55% of 2004 water revenues were for water distribution, 27% for wastewater treatment and 6% for
sewerage.
In order to build up its client base in the face of increasing competition, Meta had planned on
spending €220 million between 2003 and 2005 on acquisitions and service expansion, along with
merging with Aimag Spa of Mirandola a local utility company. In 2004, Meta entered into talks about a
possible merger with AGAC Spa (Reggio Emilia), AMPS Spa (Parma) and TESA Spa (Piacenza) into
a single major national multi utility group that would deliver more than 100 million m 3 of water. These
were called off in 2005, because of differences in approach.
Agreed merger with Hera
In June 2005, Meta and Hera agreed to merge, with Meta being subsumed by the latter company. It is
intended that Hera will acquire 29% of Meta in November 2005 and that ‘Hera Modena’ will take over
Meta’s activities from January 2006.
Contact Details
Name: Meta SpA
Address: Via Cesare Razzaboni 80, 41100
Modena, Italy
Tel: +39 059 407 111
Fax: +39 059 407 040
Web: www.meta.mo.it
Prof. Guilio Sapelli (Chairman)
Stefano Querci (MD)
314 Pinsent Masons Water Yearbook 2005 – 2006