Italy's Enel puts faith in green energy, grids to power growth

Enel, Europe's biggest utility, pledged to grow its green energy and grids business in Italy and the Americas on Thursday as it reported a rise in profits and dividends and stuck to its targets for 2019. The Italian state-controlled utility said its net ordinary profit last year rose 9.5 percent to 4.06 billion euros ($4.6 billion), broadly in line with consensus. Enel, which controls Spanish energy group Endesa, is targeting net ordinary income this year of about 4.8 billion euros and a minimum dividend per share of 0.32 euros. The company, which gave preliminary results in February , said it would pay a dividend for 2018 of 0.28 euros per share, 18 percent higher than the previous year.