030429_assemblea BIt

The Shareholders of Borsa Italiana Spa met today and approved the company's statutory and consolidated financial statements for 2002. It also appointed the new Board of Directors, for the three-year period 2003-2005: Gianluca Baldassarri, Enzo Berlanda, Umberto Bertelé, Massimo Capuano, Maurizio Faroni, Fabio Gallia, Giovanni Gorno Tempini, Riccardo Lupi, Gian Franco Mattei, Pietro Modiano, Gianpietro Nattino, Alessandro Pansa, Massimo Segre, Maurizio Sella, Angelo Tantazzi.

The Shareholders' Meeting also appointed the Board of Statutory Auditors: Roberto Ruozi, Chairman, Giuseppe Levi and Angelo Provasoli, Acting Auditors.

Subsequently, the Board of Directors appointed Angelo Tantazzi as Chairman, Gianpietro Nattino as Deputy Chairman and Massimo Capuano as President and CEO.

The financial statements of Borsa Italiana Spa for 2002 closed with net earnings of €25.5 million (€34 million in 2001) on a turnover of €134.2 million (€140.4 million in 2001).

The consolidated financial statements, which do not include charges and revenues deriving from Monte Titoli, closed with net earnings of €30.4 million (€39.4 million in 2001) on a turnover of €147.7 million (€152.5 million in 2001).

Shareholders will receive a dividend of €1.20 (€1.80 in 2002) for each of the 16,227,268 ordinary shares, for a total amount of €19,472,722, with a percentage of 76.4% on net earnings, compared to 74.1% in 2001. The increase derives from the rights issue following the acquisition of Monte Titoli in 2002. The dividend will be paid from 12th May 2003.

The breakdown of revenues of Borsa Italiana, equal to €134.2 million, is: 52.2% in payments from transaction fees, 20.7% from listing fees and 26.8% deriving from other productive activities.

Despite the bear market, the results achieved have enabled Borsa Italiana to continue the market promotion and development activities and to complete the Group structure necessary for creating the service model deemed most efficient for the entire exchange industry.

The acquisition and integration of Monte Titoli, which acts as a central securities depository and settlement house, has enabled the strengthening and development of the Italian business system and allowed Gruppo Borsa Italiana to improve the process for rationalising the activities of the country's financial markets, strengthening their qualitative and quantitative growth as well as its own role in the European stock markets consolidation process.

Continuing the Group's policy of business area diversification, in December Cassa di Compensazione e Garanzia launched the Central Counterparty service for trading Italian government bonds, one of its first initiatives aimed at the non-captive markets.

The subsidiary Piazza Affari Gestione e Servizi has converted the former trading floor of Palazzo Mezzanotte (the headquarters of Borsa Italiana) into the Congress and Training Centre which has proved to be a popular venue for the financial community due to it's prestigious location and high tech facilities.

BIt Systems, the ICT company of Borsa Italiana in partnership with Sia, offering innovative services to Group companies and non-captive clients, has continued it's development. Notably, partnerships were formed with important hardware and software suppliers, to create further advanced solutions for market-correlated web services.

With respects to core business, April 2002 saw the implementation of the new OM technological platform for trading on the IDEM - Borsa Italiana's derivatives market. With a capacity six times greater than the previous platform in terms of quantity of orders and quotations managed, the platform has enabled the launch of new products - in July 2002 the first five IDEM stock futures and between May and June four new stock option contracts - and contributed to a marked increase in volumes, which were up 22% compared to the last period, and particularly evident for the miniFIB, up from 1,400,00 to 2,130,000 standard contracts in 2002.

September also saw the start of the MTF segment, dedicated to funds, Sicav and Exchange Traded Funds.

With 6,700 admissions, the covered warrant market remained one of the most efficient of the technical-informative models on a European level.

With 14 new companies listed and 13 delistings, the stock market maintained a good level of liquidity with appreciable growth in the second half of the year.

The STAR segment, now with 41 listed companies, has succeeded in promoting quality mid and small caps, with the MibSTAR index outperforming the general index. Nuovo Mercato in the at present difficult hi-tech and hi-growth sectors is number two in Europe for capitalisation and trades and retains its validity as an important instrument in the growth and competitiveness of Italian firms in the technology and innovation sectors.

The revision of the Code of Conduct for listed companies, drawn up in 1999, was completed in July. The Corporate Governance Committee, meeting at Borsa Italiana, also introduced - with reference to national and international best practice - a more precise definition of the role of independent directors, the internal control function and the transactions with related parties.

Borsa Italiana has introduced the regulations on internal dealing and helped draw up the "Market Information Guide", which supplements the legislative provisions and regulations with lines of conduct for improving information on listed companies.

This year the Borsa Italiana site www.borsaitaliana.it recorded new highs, with over 132 million pages visited in the year and nearly 300,000 visitors on a monthly basis, and, due to its information products, is among the top Italian financial sites.

The Italian market is fifth in Europe for capitalisation and fourth for shares traded on the electronic systems, whereas it is the best for index performance according to the main variables that measure performances in the exchange industry.

Milan, 29 April 2003