French leave 20 Engie electric countries in attempt to simplify structure

PARIS (Reuters)-the French group of electric power and gas leave about 20 countries of Engie over the next three years and will bet on new markets in Southeast Asia and Africa as focuses its investments in renewable energy and infrastructure services. The Executive President of the company, Isabelle Kocher, said that over the next three years the Engie will sell assets worth about 6 billion euros (6.8 billion dollars), after the other 14 billion in divestments primarily of coal assets in the last three years. Kocher said the new plan of Engie aims to simplify the huge group, which has presence in about 70 countries. " We will prioritize 20 countries where we already have a solid foundation for a long time, and 30 metropolitan areas, including Southeast Asia and Africa, which are areas in which we have a relatively small presence and that will ensure growth, because they have considerable needs, "she said to reporters. The company added that it will launch a new cost-cutting plan of 800 million euros, which must be held between 2019 and 2021. The Engie plans to invest 11 to 12 billion euros in the period 2019-2021, of which 4 billion per year for capital expenditure in General and small acquisitions. The investment program will allocate between 4 billion and 5 billion to energy solutions business and between 2.3 billion and 2.8 billion euros to renewable, which should fund about to 9 gigawatts in new capacity. Other about of 3 billion will be allocated to networks. The CEO of Engie also stated that the group must have a very conservative stance in relation to major acquisitions, adding that this is a lesson learned by the company's past. RESULTADOSAs revenue in 2018 rose 1,7%, Engie to 60.6 billion euros, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose to 9.2 billion 0,4%. Net profit fell to 1 billion euros, up from 1.3 billion in 2017.