Investors unconvinced by Eni's 'solid budget' plan

Claudio Descalzi's strategy to reduce debt and focus on upstream has yet to convince investors

Almost a year after taking the helm at Eni, in April Claudio Descalzi was defending his strategy to reduce the Italian major’s debt by divesting assets, slashing dividends and refocusing on upstream operations. Investors, however, are yet to be entirely convinced the new management team can pull it off. “The aim of our plan is a solid budget, to be achieved by covering investments and dividends with budget cash, reducing the quota of distributed profits to below 100% and down to 60% in 2017-2018, keeping the debt/equity ratio below 30% with a decreasing trend from 2016 onwards, and launching 16 new projects for oil and gas production,” Descalzi said in an interview with the Italian daily Cor