Economic flow to Shareholders and Financiers

Shareholders received € 165.8 million in dividends as management profit for the year (they received € 150.9 million in 2018), which correspond to € 0.78 per share (+10% compared to 2018), with a payout of 58.6% on net income, after allocations to third parties.

In the last trading session of 2019, Acea stocks recorded a closing price of € 18.44 (capitalisation: € 3,927 million), up 53.5% from the same date of the previous year.

Acea shares performed very well and almost twice as well as the Italian market as a whole (FTSE Italia All Share +27.2%). There was also a significant increase in the share compared to the benchmark FTSE Italia Mid Cap (+18.3%). During the year a maximum value of € 19.02 was achieved on 12 December, while a minimum value of €11.82 was achieved on 2 January. Average daily volumes were about 157,000, more than the 116,000 in 2018.

TABLE NO. 43 – PERFORMANCE OF STOCK EXCHANGE INDEXES AND ACEA SHARES (2019)

€ 106.1 million are destined to financing stakeholders (compared to € 100.7 million in 2018). The change is due to opposing items: on the one hand, the reduction in interest on bonds, default interest and deferred interest and commissions on assigned receivables, on the other hand the increase in interest rate swap charges, discount charges and the presence of charges deriving from the first application of accounting principle IFRS 16. The average overall all-in cost of the Acea Group’s debt on 31/12/2019 was 2.15%.

Regarding the composition of medium/long-term debt consolidated as at 31/12/2019, approximately 77.55% of the total amount derived from transactions on the capital market (corporate bonds). Regarding the banking sector, Acea mainly deals with entities whose mission is to finance strategic infrastructure, such as the European Investment Bank (EIB, 11.1% of the consolidated debt) and the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP, 5.9% of the consolidated debt). These Institutions ensure loans, to entities with creditworthiness such as Acea, with a maturity of more than 10 years, in line with the duration of the concessions (water and electricity) owned by Companies of the Group called to make the relevant investments.