INSIGHT 2|2019

34 | Prysmian Group I N S I G H T QUARTERLY OVERVIEW T he uptrend seen in North and South America is expected to continue in the fourth quarter with the medium-voltage utilities cable business to confirm the positive trendgeneratedby renewables development. he fourth quarter is expected to see a recovery in business performance. In the Telecom segment, the growth in 2019 will remain positive, supported by demand for optical cables in Europe and North America. The synergies resulting from the integration with General Cable continued to prove excellent. The goal is to reach cumulative synergies of €175million by 2021, of which €120million expected by the end of 2019. The Group confirms the target of an Adjusted EBITDA for 2019 of €950-€1,020 million, significantly improved compared to €767 million recorded in 2018. The Group also expects to generate cash flows of approximately €300 million ± 10%. Q4 seen upbeat, synergies continue to prove excellent Projects Orders backlog back to growth Sales of Projects amounted to €1,247 million, with an organic decrease of 5.4%. Excluding the IFRS 16 impacts, Adjusted EBITDA was €148 million, up compared to €138 million in 2018, which was affected by a €70 million negative impact of the Western Link project in the first half of 2018. The order backlog of the segment is back to growth, as at the endof September 2019 it amounted to€2,150million, compared to €1,900 million in December 2018. The Group is carrying out an intense tendering activity, thanks to the opportunities from the transition to renewable energy. The profitability of Submarine Cables and Systems was impacted by the phasing on installation operations and several additional work that proved necessary. In July, also thanks to the award of the Viking Link project for a value of nearly €700 million, the Group achieved ahead of time its 2019 targets for projects awarded. Among the main projects acquired in the first nine months of 2019, to be mentioned Vineyard, the first large- scale offshore wind power farm in the US, as well as the Dolwin5 in Europe, connecting new offshore wind power farms to the German power grid. In the submarine telecom cable market, the Group acquired an important project in Chile. The High Voltage order intake was mainly focused on Europe and North America, whereas tendering activities continued as plannedwith regard to the important SuedLink and SuedOstLink interconnection projects in Germany. Important technological milestones were reached with the qualification of the 525 kV P-Laser and XLPE cable systems.