Webuild ends up at the center of a case involving some of the main Italian railway construction sites and which also had serious repercussions on the stock market, where the stock lost 7.9%. The affair arises from a confidential letter sent at the end of July by the CEO Pietro Salini to the institutions to report the economic-financial situation of numerous works carried out on behalf of RFI, including the Terzo Valico, the Palermo-Catania and the Verona-Padua.
According to what was reported by Fatto Quotidiano, the communication shows a situation of “serious economic-financial imbalance”, interpreting the letter as a request for public intervention to cover the extra costs accumulated on construction sites. Webuild, however, rejects this reading and has filed a complaint with Consob, accusing the newspaper of having spread “manifestly false” reconstructions which would have contributed to the collapse of the stock.
According to the group, the 22 billion mentioned do not in fact represent a request for new funds from the State, but the set of sums recorded in the works accounting: credits, increased charges, advances and other economic items, many of which are already submitted to the technical consultative panels responsible for resolving disputes between companies and contracting authorities.
In the letter, Salini distinguished around 6-7 billion in reserves that could be recognized through these bodies and around 10 billion in additional resources needed to complete the works, also due to the increase in prices and changes that occurred during the works. A short-term cash requirement of approximately 2.1 billion is also indicated. Webuild specifies that this figure concerns exclusively the continuation of public construction sites and not the overall financial situation of the company.