020429 assemblea

The Shareholders' Meeting of Borsa Italiana SpA/Italian Exchange met today and approved the Financial Statements of the Parent Company and the Group (*) for financial year 2001.

In detail, the Financial Statements of the Parent Company reported net income of 34 million euros on revenues of 140.4 million, while the Group (*) posted net income of 39.3 million euros on revenues of 152.4 million.

The Shareholders will receive a dividend of 1.80 euros (unchanged from 2000) for each of the 14,000,000 ordinary shares (0.52 euros of face value) representing the share capital of Borsa Italiana.

The client charges generating these results are among the lowest in the whole international exchange industry.

In 2001 the policy of diversification of revenues continued. The total revenue figure of 140.4 million euros for Borsa Italiana SpA/Italian Exchange included 52% from transaction fees (63% in 2000), 23% from listing fees (22% in 2000) and 25% as income from other activities (15% in 2000).

The increase in revenues from other activities (particularly from information services) is mainly due to a significant rise in the number of clients (up 25%) and professional terminals disseminating Borsa Italiana data (up 10%).

In a year characterised by low trading volumes throughout equity markets, a total of approximately 44 million trades was recorded on Borsa, Nuovo Mercato and Mercato Ristretto (-24.5% vs 2000). The average cost per trade including RRG (pre-settlement operations) was 0.38 euros (0.33 in 2000) and is one of the most competitive in international capital markets.

This increase of the average cost per trade was not the result of an increase in trading fees (stable from 1998), but was due to the trading fee structure, which is highly regressive when volumes rise (discounts apply to higher volumes).

The average cost per standard contract on IDEM, the Italian derivatives market, decreased from 0.42 euros in 2000 to 0.37 in 2001 while the turnover of this market segment reached a new record for the number of standard contracts traded (17.1 million). MiniFIB was particularly strong (up 97% vs 2000) and stock options were up 43%. The total number of contracts of the combined equity and covered warrant markets was 52.6 million (-25% vs 2000).

Listing fees benefited from the listing of financial instruments such as covered warrants (up 88.8% vs 2000), with a new record of 8,194 new instruments introduced.

In 2001, the goals of Borsa Italiana/Italian Exchange were to carry out a number of quality services for market participants, upgrade the trading platforms, maximise efficiency of the activities connected with the technological development of the markets, improve post-trading operations and broaden the possibilities for domestic and foreign companies to have their stocks quoted.

Regarding the equity market, Borsa Italiana/Italian Exchange has widened its range of market segments with specific requirements for the different categories of issuer.

In particular, the STAR segment was introduced (Market segment for high quality small-mid cap companies) to build up a specific market segment for small and mid caps operating in the traditional sectors of Italian industry, adopting stricter requirements in terms of free-float, liquidity, transparency and corporate governance.

As far as indices are concerned, Standard & Poor's and BorsaItaliana/Italian Exchange have been working together to develop a new index, S&P/MIB during the current year.

At the beginning of last year, Borsa Italiana/Italian Exchange introduced its own indices such as the Nuovo Mercato index and the MIB STAR index.

During 2001, Borsa Italiana/Italian Exchange also consolidated its business system by introducing a central counterparty system for cash equity and bonds managed by Cassa di Compensazione e Garanzia.

Thanks to the creation of BIt Systems, the IT subsidiary, Borsa Italiana/Italian Exchange has achieved a higher level of governance for IT issues, particularly in the area of business application architecture.

In 2002, the activity of the Company will be mainly directed towards the enhancement of the structure of the Group, which is necessary to create a more efficient service model for the whole exchange industry as well as to prepare the markets for the coming international challenges.

Milan, April 29 2002

BORSA ITALIANA GROUP (*) : Borsa Italiana SpA, Cassa di Compensazione e Garanzia SpA, BIt Systems SpA, Piazza Affari Gestione e Servizi SpA