Financial disclosure

During the year Acea participated in numerous events (meetings, extended presentations, utilities conferences, roadshows and reverse roadshows), with about 120 equity investors, buy-side analysts, investors and credit analysts.

The roadshows and utilities conferences organized by Borsa Italiana and the main investment banks were held in the most important national and international cities: Rome, Milan, London, Paris and New York.

Conference calls were held with the financial community to approve the annual and interim results and the 2019-2022 Business Plan, followed by approximately 130 analysts/investors.

Approximately 145 studies/reports on Acea shares were published during the year under review. Eight business banks analyse Acea shares with a high level of continuity, five of which, as of 31 December 2019, express “positive” ratings and three of which express “neutral” ratings.

ESG ANALYSTS EVALUATE ACEA

According to the latest analyses carried out (November 2019), the “sustainable investors” present in Acea represent almost 4% of the share capital and about 26% of the total institutional investors. These are mainly European funds (3% of Acea’s capital), followed by North American investors. It should be noted that as a result of changes in investment policies increasingly linked to ESG aspects, an increasing number of institutional investors qualify as “sustainable” investors. These entities are showing an increasing attention to Acea.

Relations with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) finance professionals are monitored and frequent. In 2019 Acea the opinions of analysts, ratings and benchmarks were as illustrated below.

ISS ESG (formerly ISS Oekom) gave Acea a C+ rating (D-/A+ scale), in line with the previous year.

The CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), supported by more than 500 international investors with managed assets in excess of $ 96,000 billion, promotes worldwide attention to the management of climate change risks and impacts, inviting companies to provide detailed and timely information on their ability to manage the issue. Based on the data and information received, each year the CDP publishes a ranking of its assessments for each organization. Acea, already evaluated for years, received an A- score in 2019 (B in 2018), returning to the Leadership category (for details see the BOX in the chapter Strategy and Sustainability).

Acea is included in the Ethibel Excellence investment register. The analyst states that: “This selection by the Ethibel Forum indicates that the company operates better than average in its sector in terms of corporate
social responsibility”.

In 2019 Acea received the first sustainability solicited rating from the independent agency Standard Ethics. The assessment carried out by the Agency focuses on corporate, environmental and social governance aspects and measures the level of compliance with EU, OECD and UN guidelines, offering a measure of the level of adherence of the practices adopted by the applicant companies to the principal international
guidance on sustainability. After a structured process involving an in-depth dialogue regarding of relevant policies, procedures and initiatives, Acea’s rating is EE- (investment grade, F/EEE scale (non-investment grade/full investment grade)) with a positive long-term outlook.

The Group’s ESG performance was also analysed by Sustainalytics, VigeoEiris, Gaia Rating, FTSE Russel ESG and Alliance for corporate transparency.

Finally, during the year Acea was involved by data agencies, investment banks and index providers such as EQUITA and ECPI in some studies and analyses. More specifically, these initiatives concerned the analysis of the dynamics of interaction between mid-caps and ESG rating agencies and the study for the possible definition of a national Low Carbon stock Index.