Group performance

Revenue

The increase in revenue is largely attributable to the item “Sale of commodities under contracts with physical delivery” as a result of reclassifications with no impact on margins. The reclassifications were connected with the application of the IFRIC Agenda Decision of March 2019 to non-financial transactions with physical delivery measured at fair value in accordance with IFRS 9.
The additional increase in revenue is attributable to the positive performance of Infrastructure and Networks, in particular in Latin America, mainly due to the contribution of Enel Distribuição São Paulo in Brazil and the settlement of outstanding regulatory items in Argentina, and to Thermal Generation and Trading in Italy, reflecting in particular an increase in trading activities. These effects were only partially offset by lower revenue from on End-user Markets in Spain and Italy and by adverse exchange rate developments.

Other revenue recognized in 2019 included:

• the gain on the sale of Mercure Srl, a special purpose vehicle to which Enel Produzione had previously transferred the Valle del Mercure biomass plant (€108 million); 
• the negative goodwill (€181 million) deriving from the definitive allocation of the purchase price of (i) a number of companies sold by Enel Green Power North America Renewable Energy Partners LLC (€106 million) and (ii) Tradewind, which went from being an associate to a wholly-owned subsidiary (negative goodwill of €75 million); 
• the gain of €42 million on the sale of Gratiot and Outlaw, two renewables projects developed by Tradewind; 
• an increase in revenue in Argentina following the agreement between Edesur and local authorities settling reciprocal disputes originating in the period from 2006 to 2016 (€233 million); 
• the reimbursement envisaged for the exercise of the right of withdrawal by a major industrial customer concerning the supply of electricity by Enel Generación Chile (€160 million), of which €80 million regarding thermal generation and the remaining €80 million concerning renewables generation; 
• the adjustment of the price for the acquisition of eMotorWerks in 2017 following application of a number of contractual clauses (€98 million); 
• the fee of €50 million from the agreement reached by e-distribuzione with F2i and 2i Rete Gas for the early all-inclusive settlement of the second indemnity connected with the disposal in 2009 of the interest held by e-distribuzione in Enel Rete Gas. 

In 2018, that item had mainly comprised:

• the gain and the re-measurement at fair value totaling €190 million connected with the sale of eight companies involved in Project Kino in Mexico at the end of September 2018;
• the indemnity of €128 million received in connection with the agreement of e-distribuzione for the sale of Enel Rete Gas in 2009;
• the gain of €65 million on the sale of EF Solare Italia; 
• the gain of €18 million on the sale of a number of renewables companies in Uruguay

Costs

(1) Of which costs for fixed water diversion fees of €171 million in 2019 (€167 million in 2018) and costs for public land usage fees of €26 million in 2019 (€24 million in 2018).

The increase in costs is mainly attributable to the application of the IFRIC Agenda Decision of March 2019 to non-financial transactions with physical delivery measured at fair value in accordance with IFRS 9, which involved reclassifications of income statement items with no impact on margins.
Please see the notes to the consolidated financial statements for more details on costs for the year.

Gross operating margin

The following table reports developments in the gross operating margin by business area:

The rise in the gross operating margin despite adverse exchange rate developments (especially in Latin America) mainly reflects:

• Infrastructure and Networks operations in Latin America (€496 million), mainly due to the change in the scope of consolidation with the acquisition of Enel Distribuição São Paulo, income from the agreement between Edesur and the Argentine government settling reciprocal disputes from the period from 2006 to 2016 and in Italy (€227 million), mainly due to a decrease in compliance costs connected with the purchase of energy efficiency certificates. In addition, in 2019 e-distribuzione recognized additional indemnities of €50 million connected with the disposal to F2i of Enel Rete Gas; in 2018 those indemnities had amounted to €128 million; 
• Thermal Generation and Trading in Spain (€165 million) and Latin America (€173 million), due respectively to (i) the suspension of taxes on thermal and nuclear generation as well as an increase in the margin of nuclear plants, which made up the shortfall caused by the significant decrease in hydro output due to poor water conditions in 2019 and (ii) the improvement in margins posted by the Fortaleza plant in Brazil, mainly reflecting a decline in provisioning costs and the effect of the renegotiation of a supply contract between Enel Generación Chile and its customer Anglo American following payment of an indemnity of €80 million. In addition, writedowns totaling €308 million were recognized on inventories of spare parts and fuels held by coal-fired plants in Italy and Spain for which impairment losses were recognized. This was partially offset in Italy by the gain on the disposal of Mercure Srl by Enel Produzione, which net of transaction costs amounted to €94 million; 
• End-user Markets in Latin America (€85 million), mainly due to the impact of the acquisition of Enel Distribuição São Paulo, and in Italy (€81 million), due to greater operating efficiency linked especially to lower electricity provisioning costs, which more than offset the decline in quantities sold; 
• Enel X, thanks to the adjustment of the price for the acquisition of eMotorWerks in 2017, as noted for revenue (€98 million). 

The Enel Green Power Business Line posted a gross operating margin in line with the previous year, as the income recorded in North America for the negative goodwill following the purchase of a number of companies of Enel Green Power North America Renewable Energy Partners (EGPNA REP) and Tradewind, the capital gains from the sales of Gratiot and Outlaw and the higher average prices applied to electricity sales in Italy were essentially offset by the gains recorded in 2018 on the sale of a number of Mexican companies (Project Kino) and the sale of EF Solare Italia.

   Ordinary gross operating margin

(1)The writedown of fuel and materials/spare parts inventories is not considered ordinary because it was connected with the impairment recognized for a number of coal-fired plants in Italy and Spain.

Operating income

The decrease in operating income reflected an increase in depreciation, amortization and impairment losses of €4,375 million, despite the improvement in the gross operating margin. The increase in depreciation, amortization and impairment losses reflected the writedowns in 2019 of a number of coal-fired plants in Italy, Spain, Chile and Russia, which led to the recognition of impairment losses totaling €4,010 million.
More specifically, in the 1st Half of 2019 two plants in Chile were written down by €356 million, reflecting in part the effect of the agreement with the Chilean government on their early closure, while in Russia writedowns reflected the sale of the Reftinskaya coal-fired plant, which at June 30, 2019 had been classified as held for sale and its value adjusted (€127 million) to take account of the sale price. In the 3rd Quarter of 2019, the adverse developments in conditions in Spain associated with the deterioration in commodity prices and the operation of the CO₂ emission market, compromised the competitiveness of coal-fired plants. In Italy, in addition to the deterioration in market conditions, the implementation of the new system for remunerating generation capacity availability (the capacity market) narrowed the future scope for using plants with higher levels of CO₂ emissions, providing for the exclusion of coal-fired plants from the electricity market. For these reasons, the carrying amount of a number of coal-fired plants in Italy and Spain, including dismantling charges, was written down by a total of €3,527 million.

The change in operating income also includes the depreciation charges on rights of use over leased assets, which as from January 1, 2019 are recognized as leased property, plant and equipment and depreciated over the term of the associated leases in application of IFRS 16 (€203 million), and the writedown of the receivable for the Funac by the Brazilian distribution company Enel Distribuição Goiás in the amount of €96 million.

These factors were partly offset by the writeback of €265 million recognized in respect of gas-fired plants in Italy following impairment testing.

Ordinary operating income

(1) The writedown of fuel and materials/spare parts inventories is not considered ordinary because it was connected with the impairment recognized for a number of coal-fired plants in Italy and Spain.

Group net income

Group net income for 2019 amounted to €2,174 million, compared with €4,789 million the previous year. The decrease in operating income discussed above was accompanied by:

• the effects of the repurchase in March 2019 of control of 13 companies from EGPNA REP, which led to a change in the scope of consolidation and the recognition of a capital loss by EGPNA REP; 
• the recognition in 2018 of (i) the reversal of impairment of the financial receivable arising following the sale of 50% of Slovak Power Holding for €186 million and (ii) the positive adjustment of the fair value of that receivable in the amount of €134 million; 
• the writedown of a financial receivable in Spain in the amount of €21 million associated with the Litoral coal-fired plant, which underwent impairment testing; 
• the revaluation in 2018 of the assets of the equity investment measured using the equity method of Slovak Power Holding in the amount of €362 million and the writedown in 2019 of the same equity investment in the amount of €34 million; 
• the recognition of prepaid taxes in 2018 on prior-year losses by Enel Distribuição Goiás (€274 million) and Enel Green Power SpA due to the merger with 3Sun (€85 million); 
• non-controlling interests, which benefitted from an improvement in net income as a ratio of pre-tax income in the two years under review, reflecting in particular the impairment recognized on the wholly-owned subsidiary Enel Produzione. 

These effects were partially offset by the reversal of deferred tax liabilities of Enel Distribuição São Paulo following the merger with Enel Brasil Investimentos Sudeste SA (“Enel Sudeste”) in the amount of €494 million.

Group net ordinary income in 2019 amounted to €4,767 million (€4,060 million in 2018), an increase of €707 million compared with 2018. The following table provides a reconciliation of Group net income with Group net ordinary income, indicating the non-recurring items and their respective impact on performance, net of the associated tax effects and non-controlling interests.

(1) Taking account of tax effects and non-controlling interests.