Internationalization, innovation and financial solvency are drivers of ACCIONA’s growth, says Chairman José Manuel Entrecanales

The Annual General Meeting approves ACCIONA's Sustainability Report, a pioneering global initiative.

In his address to the Annual General Meeting, ACCIONA Chairman & CEO José Manuel Entrecanales emphasized the importance of internationalization, innovation and financial solvency as the drivers of growth for the Company.

The Chairman & CEO of ACCIONA underlined the rapid growth of the Company's international business, which accounted for 35% of revenues in 2011. "This process entails increasing our presence in countries where we have been operating for some time, namely Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Canada, Poland and Australia, and by rolling-out major projects in countries where we have established ourselves more recently, such as Colombia and South Africa, and by breaking into new markets such as Turkey, Peru and Sweden".

José Manuel Entrecanales spoke of "ACCIONA's constant and continued commitment to research and development and innovation, which is becoming a defining sign of our identity as the Company becomes more international". ACCIONA invested 94 million euros in R&D in 2011.

In addition, ACCIONA's Chairman & CEO highlighted "the Company's indisputable financial solvency", based on net assets of 5,645 million euros, and a healthy capital structure, with 68% of gross debt being non-recourse, and no significant refinancing requirements in the next few years. The Company also enjoys a comfortable liquidity position of more than 3,500 million euros.

José Manuel Entrecanales reviewed the Company's results and reiterated "our permanent and unwavering commitment to a business model based on sustainable development". ACCIONA submitted its Sustainability Report 2011 to the approval of the General Shareholders' Meeting, which Mr. Entrecanales described as "a milestone in our Company's history, and a singular event on the global business stage, because it means that our Company's sovereign decision-making body is taking a stance on our Sustainability Policy".

To further emphasize the Company's commitment to sustainability, the General Shareholders' Meeting was designed to be a carbon-neutral event, with a plan that sets out to minimize the event's impact on the environment and to offset carbon emissions by acquiring Voluntary Carbon Credits.

In relation to the current economic climate in Spain, Mr. Entrecanales expressed confidence in an economic recovery. "Over the next few months, we will begin to see improvements in the general macroeconomic scenario which will tend to consolidate from 2013 onwards."

Mr. Entrecanales made reference to a recent position paper "Growth and Sustainability in the Spanish Economy", published by Spain's Consejo Empresarial para la Competitividad [Business Competitiveness Council], which points to a number of positive trends in the Spanish economy, such as a recovery in competitiveness indicators, the growing internationalization of companies and factors that make Spain attractive to direct foreign investment.

Amortization of capital

The AGM approved all of the motions proposed by the Board of Directors, with more than 90% of the votes in favor. Shareholders ratified the Company's annual accounts, and a proposal of the Board of Directors to amortize 9.898% of the Company's share capital, representing 6.29 million of its own shares, as an additional means of rewarding shareholders and generating value.

The Shareholders approved the reduction of Directors' tenure from five to three years, in addition to a number of modifications required by the General Shareholders' Meeting's Articles of Association and Bylaws as a result of changes to Spain's Corporations Law (Royal Decree 1/2010 of July 2) aimed at ensuring transparency of information and participation channels for shareholders.