031230_2003 performance

• Of the continuous indices, the Mibtel closed the year +14.3%, the new S&P/Mib at +14.9%, the Mib30 at +12.5% whilst the Midex (+25.8%) outperformed all the other indices: since the annual low in March, it has grown by 42.1%.
• The Nuovo Mercato Numex index closed at 1,644, up by 25.7% on the levels recorded at the end of 2002. The high for the year was achieved on Monday 1 December (1,876, +43.4% since the end of 2002) and the low for the year on Wednesday 12 March (1,114, -14.8%). The highest daily increase was recorded on Monday 1 December (+5.0%) whilst the biggest fall occurred on Monday 27 January (-3.6%). The Numtel continuous index achieved a year-on-year increase of 26.6%.
• The MibSTAR came in slightly under the general index, with a rise of 10.1%.
• Of the 321 shares listed at the end of the year, 212 (66.0% of the total) achieved a substantially positive annual performance (more than 2.5%). 22 (6.9%) are unchanged (performance between +2.5% and -2.5%), 68 (21.2%) are negative (less than -2.5%) and 19 (5.9%) cannot have their performance calculated as they were not listed at the end of 2002 or they were suspended at the end of the year.
• Those shares with the best year-on-year performance were Sicc (210.0%), Snai (111.9%) and Poligrafica San Faustino (103.1%).
• Of the shares contained in the S&P/Mib basket, 35 closed the year with a positive performance (notably, Capitalia +88.8%, Bnl +80.9%, E.Biscom +73.5% and Gruppo Editoriale l'Espresso +65.9%), 2 were down (Fiat -13.8%, Eni -0.7%) whilst the remaining 3 (Autostrade, Banche Popolari Unite and Seat Pagine Gialle) are all newly admitted companies.

• At the end of 2003, the total number of listed companies on Borsa Italiana markets is 279. In detail, there are 225 on the Stock Exchange, 43 on the Nuovo Mercato and 11 on the Mercato Expandi. On the Stock Exchange, 9 new companies were admitted (in one case following transfer from the Mercato Expandi) and 21 delisted. On the Nuovo Mercato, 1 new company was admitted and 3 were delisted. On the Mercato Expandi, 1 new company was listed whilst 3 were delisted (in one case for transfer to the Stock Exchange).
• The 11 new admissions this year (1 company in the STAR segment, 5 on the blue chip segment, 3 on the ordinary segment of the Stock Exchange, 1 on the Nuovo Mercato and 1 on the Mercato Expandi) raise the number of companies admitted onto the stock markets in the last six years, i.e. since the coming into existence of Borsa Italiana, to 149.
• Of the 9 new listings on the Stock Exchange, four took place as a result of a placement with public offer (Meta, Hera, Isagro and Trevisan). One was the result of the demerger of an already listed company (Seat Pagine Gialle from the previous Seat Pagine Gialle, which at the same time assumed the name Telecom Italia Media). One following the merger of three already listed companies (Banche Popolari Unite from Banca Popolare Commercio e Industria, Banca Popolare di Bergamo - Credito Varesino and Banca Popolare di Luino-Varese). Two as a result of the incorporation of a listed company (NewCo28-Autostrade and Spyglass-Seat Pagine Gialle) and one following transfer from the Mercato Expandi (Banca Ifis). On the Nuovo Mercato, the one new listing was due to the incorporation of a previously listed company (Versicor-Biosearch Italia) whilst on the Mercato Expandi, the admission of Ngp resulted from the demerger of Montefibre, listed on the Stock Exchange.
• Of the 21 delistings of companies listed on the Stock Exchange, six resulted from incorporation into other already listed companies (Banco di Napoli into San Paolo Imi, Banca Agricola Mantovana into Banca Monte Paschi Siena, Banca Toscana into Banca Monte Paschi Siena, La Fondiaria into Sai, Pirelli Spa into Pirelli & C. and Telecom Italia into Olivetti, which took over its name), two from mergers into a new company (Banca Popolare Commercio e Industria and Banca Popolare di Bergamo - Credito Varesino into Banche Popolari Unite) and two from merger into an unlisted company that was simultaneously admitted to trading, taking over the name of the merged entity (Autostrade and Seat Pagine Gialle). Eleven delistings resulted from the completion of takeover bids (Air Dolomiti, Calp, Dalmine, Esaote Biomedica, Ferretti, Italgas, Interbanca, Italdesign Giugiaro, La Rinascente, Saiag and Savino del Bene). Of the three delistings of companies from the Nuovo Mercato, one resulted from a merger into a listed company (OnBanca-Unicredito Italiano), one from a merger into a foreign company simultaneously admitted to trading (Biosearch Italia - Versicor) and one from the non-fulfilment of requirements (Opengate). The three delistings of companies from the Mercato Expandi resulted from the completion of a takeover bid (Banca Popolare dell'Adriatico), from a merger into a new company (Banca Popolare di Luino-Varese into Banca Popolari Unite) and from a transfer to the Stock Exchange (Banca Ifis).

• With 4,749 admissions and 5,726 delistings, the number of instruments traded on the covered warrants and certificates market totals 2,594.

• On the Mot, the number of listed Government securities is 100 instruments with 50 admissions and 62 delistings. Following 42 admissions and 66 delistings, the total number of bonds at the end of the year is 346.
• Significant increase in financial instruments on the EuroMot, rising from 22 to 49 as a result of 29 admissions and 2 delistings.

• In detail, capitalisation totalled €472.0 billion for the Stock Exchange (€447.1 billion at the end of 2002), €8.2 billion for the Nuovo Mercato (€6.4 billion) and €4.6 billion for the Mercato Expandi (€4.5 billion).
• At the end of November, Borsa Italiana, with €487.6 billion, was in sixth place in Europe in terms of the capitalisation of national listed companies, behind London (€1,890.3 billion), Euronext (€1,614.9 billion), Deutsche Börse (€816.6 billion), Swiss Exchange (€564.6 billion) and Madrid (€544.6 billion) and ahead of Stockholm (€248.3 billion) and Helsinki (€142.7 billion). On a global level, the Italian market comes in eleventh place, after the New York Stock Exchange (€8,995.0 billion), Nasdaq (€2,422.4 billion), Tokyo (€2,294.8 billion), Toronto (€715.1 billion) and Hong Kong (€566.9 billion) and ahead of Australian Exchange (€447.5 billion), Taiwan (€355.1 billion) and Shanghai (€335.4 billion).
• Within the Italian Stock Exchange, the ranking shifted within the three macro-sectors with Financial (up from 34.9% in 2002 to 41.1%) beating Services (down from 37.9% to 34.3%) and Industrial (from 24.8% to 22.0%).

• Daytime trading of shares listed on the Stock Exchange saw a significant rise in turnover (daily average rising from €2.45 to €2.60 billion, +6.8%), with the daily average number of contracts being 138,000. The highest daytime trading figure was achieved on Friday 20 June (session in which derivatives matured) with a turnover of €5.19 billion. The most liquid month was June which saw the highest volume of trading since November 2000 (daily average turnover of €3.23 billion).

• Thanks to the positive end to the year, daytime trading of Nuovo Mercato shares also increased from a daily average turnover of €39.4 million to €53.6 million (+36.0%). The highest daytime trading figure was achieved on Monday 1 December, with a turnover of €525.5 million. The most liquid month was December (daily average turnover of €192.8 million and 22,600 contracts).
• STMicroelectronics was the most traded share in terms of turnover, with a total of €97.0 billion (14.3% of the total), followed by Eni (€75.4 billion and 11.1%), TIM (€60.4 billion and 8.9%), Unicredito Italiano (€46.6 billion and 6.9%) and Generali (€42.8 billion and 6.3%). The leading share on the Nuovo Mercato, Tiscali, comes in 22nd place with €6.7 billion (1.0% of the total) with the second most popular share, E.Biscom, in 28th position (€4.1 billion and 0.6%).

• In terms of contracts, the most traded share was also STMicroelectronics, with 4.5 million contracts (11.6% of the total), followed by Eni (1.8 million and 4.6%), Generali (1.7 million and 4.4%), TIM (1.5 million and 3.9%) and Enel (1.1 million and 2.9%). Tiscali is in 13th place with 0.8 million contracts (2.1% of the total) and E.Biscom in 19th place (0.7 million and 1.7%).

• Daytime trading of covered warrants and certificates listed on the MCW totalled €42.0 million and 16,400 contracts per day.

• At the end of November, Borsa Italiana - with a daily average of €2.7 billion - confirmed its fourth place in Europe in terms of trading of equities on electronic systems, behind Euronext (€5.4 billion), London (€4.1 billion) and Deutsche Börse (€3.3 billion) and ahead of Madrid (€1.9 billion), SWX-Virt-x (€1.6 billion) and Stockholm (€0.8 billion). The Italian market is notable in Europe for the high liquidity of its shares, as proven by its leading position in terms of turnover velocity, the indicator which compares trading turnover with capitalisation to show the annual rate of turnover of shares. At the end of November, Italian turnover velocity was 144.8%, as compared with 113.4% for Deutsche Börse, 99.3% for Stockholm and 98.6% for Madrid.
• After hours trading recorded 1.3 million contracts and a turnover of €7.5 billion, achieving a new historical high in terms of turnover, whose daily average rose from €28.4 million in 2002 to €31.0 million in 2003 (+8.8%). In a context in which contracts and turnover have gradually increased throughout the year, December was the month with the most trading, with a daily average of 7,100 contracts whilst November saw the highest turnover, with €47.4 million.

• During the year, a total of 17.7 million standard contracts were traded with a notional turnover of €0.776 billion. The daily average number of standard contracts increased from 68,443 last year to 70,516 (+3.0%). A breakdown into individual instruments shows growth in the miniFib, IDEM stock futures and stock options.
• Trading in futures on the Mib30 index recorded a daily average of 17,000 standard contracts and a notional turnover of €2.1 billion. The most liquid month was March, also characterised by quarterly maturity, with a daily average of 23,899 standard contracts and notional turnover of €2.7 billion.
• The miniFIB grew both in terms of standard contracts (daily average rising from 8,464 to 10,218, +20.7%) and notional turnover (daily average rising from €231 million to €252 million). March was the most liquid month in the history of the miniFIB with a daily average of 13,807 standard contracts and a notional turnover of €306.3 million.
• Trading in options on the Mib30 achieved a daily average of 9,900 standard contracts and turnover of €0.6 billion.
• Trading in stock options increased in terms of standard contracts from a daily average of 30,111 in 2002 to 31,500 in 2003. At the end of the year, 33 options are traded of which two are underlying instruments on the Nuovo Mercato (E.Biscom and Tiscali).
• Trading in IDEM stock futures grew by 248.6%, rising from 535 standard contracts per day in 2002 to 1,800 in 2003. Turnover increased from €2.9 million per day in 2002 to €8.2 million in 2003. A total of 12 IDEM stock futures were listed at the end of 2003, with 8 new instruments admitted during the course of the year.

• Trading in Government securities totalled €133.3 billion, with a daily average of €531 million. Trading in bonds listed on the Mot increased from €7.8 to €8.8 billion, with a daily average also rising from €30.9 to €35.2 million (+13.7%).

• A significant rise was recorded in trading on the EuroMOT, up from €2.3 to €3.7 billion and a daily average up from €9.1 to €14.7 million (+61.1%). May was the month with the most trading, in which the daily average was €20.8 million and 815 contracts, a new historical high for the EuroMot.

• In 2003, listed companies performed a total of 28 capital increase transactions through subscription of shares (24 on the Stock Exchange, 3 on the Nuovo Mercato and 1 on the Mercato Expandi), which enabled the listed companies to raise €9.8 billion. This is a significant rise on 2002 which ended with 18 transactions raising €3.7 billion. The largest three transactions in 2003 (which together raised slightly more than half the total) all raised above €1 billion and were performed by Edison in February and March (€2.1 billion) by Fiat in July (€1.8 billion) and by Unipol in July-August (€1.1 billion). Of the other transactions, the following raised amounts in excess of €500 million: Pirelli & C. (€812 million), Banca Popolare di Lodi (€791 million), Banca Antonveneta (€544 million) and Ifil (€502 million). These are followed, with amounts in excess of €100 million and in order of turnover, by the transactions performed by Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna (Mercato Expandi), Banca Carige, E.Biscom (Nuovo Mercato), Ifi, Camfin, Aem Torino, Società Sportiva Lazio, Snia, Banca Popolare di Intra and Buzzi Unicem. The other transactions (11) raised funds under the threshold of €100 million. The average size of transactions involving the subscription of shares, influenced by the size of the larger transactions, was €352 million (€205 million in 2001). The mean size was €108 million (€48 million in 2001). Of all the transactions, 3 were performed through the placement of convertible bonds, 1 through ordinary shares, savings shares and convertible bonds, 4 through shares plus warrants and the other 20 through share issues alone. As well as the subscription transactions, 3 other transactions were performed without payment (Banca Popolare di Intra, Cattolica Assicurazioni and Meliorbanca).
• The 6 placement operations - all performed by companies listed on the Stock Exchange - raised €2.8 billion (a figure substantially similar to the figure of €2.9 billion recorded in 2002).

There were 4 placements performed for the purposes of an Initial Public Offering transaction (Meta, Hera, Isagro and Trevisan), 1 secondary offering of convertible bonds (Enertad) and 1 placement with institutional investors (the placement of 400 million Enel shares reserved for Morgan Stanley by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, with a view to the resale of the securities on the market). The largest transactions in terms of turnover placed in 2003 were the Enel placement (€2.2 billion, 78% of the total) and the placement relating to the listing of Hera (Ipo of €437 million). Under €100 million come the Enertad (€77 million), Meta (€64 million), Trevisan (€34 million) and Isagro (€16 million) operations.

In the 6 transactions, the method of sale alone was used three times (IPO with private placement alone in the case of Enel), subscription of new shares alone (OPS) in one case and the mixed technique of sale and subscription (OPVS) in the other two cases.

• In total, around 90% of the turnover placed was subscribed by institutional investors. Moving onto the 4 IPO transactions, the shares bought by retail investors represented 41% of the total amount raised by the public offerings performed for the purposes of the listing of new companies (31% in 2002) compared with 59% in relation to Italian and foreign institutional investors (69%). A breakdown of the retail segment reveals that 22% of total turnover was subscribed by the general public, 2% by employees or individuals associated with the issuing companies and 17% by other individuals benefiting from reserved tranches (residents, clients of online trading dealers, clients, etc.).

• Unlike previous years, the majority of the capital raised for the purpose of admission to trading (88%, compared with 36% in 2002) corresponded to shareholders who had sold their equity holdings. The remaining part (12%, compared with 64% in 2002) came directly from the issuing companies.
• According to preliminary figures supplied by Dealogic, the total funds raised in Italy represent almost 8% of the turnover from transactions performed in the Europe-Middle East-Africa aggregate ($99.3 billion). The figure is only lower than Germany (26%), France (18%) and United Kingdom (17%) but higher than Switzerland (7%) and Holland (5%).

• The number of financial instruments affected by takeover bids was 40. Of these 40 instruments, 22 were voluntary takeover bids (16 in 2002), 17 compulsory bids, of which 10 were residual (5 in 2002, of which 3 residual) and one case of preventive bid (total).

• The main transactions in 2003, with a turnover of more than one billion euro, were the takeover bids launched in December 2002 (and completed in January 2003) by Newco28 for Autostrade (€6.5 billion) and by Eni for Italgas (€2.5 billion) and Olivetti's bid in June-July for Telecom Italia ordinary and savings shares (totalling €5.3 billion). Turnovers above 500 million were achieved in the takeover bids launched by Ras for its own ordinary and savings shares (total of 709 million) and by Banca Popolare di Lodi for Banca Popolare di Cremona (637 million). Above €100 million come the transactions performed by Banca Antonveneta for Interbanca (for ordinary shares and convertible bonds, in February-March for 339 million and in June-July for 245 million), by Wide Design for Italdesign Giugiaro (210 million) and by Bipielle Retail for Banco di Chiavari (106 million). The other 22 transactions all raised a turnover of less than €100 million. One of the 32 transactions was unsuccessful (Newco Laser for Prima Industrie).

Milan, 30 December 2003