Rome, 29 April 2010 – Today’s AGM, meeting in first call, has approved the separate and consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2009.

Under extremely demanding market conditions, and despite the difficulties during the year, including the change in senior management and developments affecting relations with the Group’s French partner, the Acea Group achieved a positive performance. The results from ordinary activities confirm the positive contribution of all the Acea Group’s areas of business, which registered a significant improvement compared with the already brilliant results of 2008.

The only contrasting note is provided by the negative performance of the unregulated Energy business, primarily due to declines in energy consumption and prices as a result of the economic crisis.

Consolidated EBITDA is 563.9 million euros, marking a decrease of 59.6 million euros (down 9.6%) on the 623.5 million euros of 2008. This result is substantially in line with the previous year. After adjusting for non-recurring items, EBITDA is down 33.5 million euros (5.4%), primarily reflecting the performance of the Energy business (a loss of 24.7 million euros) and payouts to members of the previous management team on leaving the Group (6.7 million euros).

The Group’s EBIT and net loss reflect the significant and unexpected charge relating to the “tax moratorium” (78.8 million euros), in addition to a series of non-recurring events such as: increased depreciation (up 21.6 million euros) connected to the rise in capital spending (up 100.8 million euros, largely due to investment held over from 2008), increased provisions for bad debts (up 15.9 million euros), and greater provisions (up 102.1 million euros) needed to take account of revised estimates of liabilities linked to unforeseeable events in previous years.

The Group’s investment totalled 518.1 million euros in 2009, marking an increase of 100.8 million euros on 2008.