ACCIONA consolidates its sustainable business model of Energy, Infrastructure and Water as a way of beating the crisis

The Company will pay out a supplementary dividend of €1.85 per share as of July 1st.

Daniel Entrecanales, Jaime Castellanos and Fernando Rodés join the Board of Directors.

ACCIONA Chairman & CEO José Manuel Entrecanales reaffirmed today in his address to the Company's Annual Shareholders Meeting his belief in ACCIONA's business model, based on the concept of sustainability, and centred on energy, infrastructure and water, as a differentiated and efficient formula for beating the current international crisis.

"In essence, ACCIONA's business model involves leading from the cutting-edge and from innovation in the transition towards sustainable development. The current economic and financial climate is extremely complicated, but it has not weakened our resolve to continue along this path. Our global strategic positioning, based on the combined offer of Infrastructure, Energy and Water, is an extremely solid base capable of guaranteeing growth; moreover, it gives ACCIONA a transcendental role in the design of tomorrow's society".

José Manuel Entrecanales addressed the Company's performance/Financial Results for 2008 from the triple perspective - social, environmental and economic - that underpins the concept and vision of sustainability. In this respect, he underscored the considerable efforts that the Company is making to mitigate the impact of the crisis on employment and on its 34,500-strong workforce, and emphasized the fact that last year ACCIONA avoided almost seven million tonnes of CO2 emissions, 17% more than in 2007.

During the Meeting, ACCIONA's Chairman & CEO looked back at the milestones achieved by the Group's divisions in 2008. In the case of Energy, he underlined the division's growth and international expansion, with the installation of 781 MW in renewables, bringing installed capacity to a total 4,871 MW. In the case of Infrastructure, Mr. Entrecanales highlighted the way that the division has been strengthened by internationalisation and its solid order book, equivalent to two years' turnover (7.34 billion euros at year-end 2008). With regard to ACCIONA Agua -the third pillar of the Company's strategic positioning- Mr. Entrecanales placed particular emphasis on the Water division's leadership in technology and its positioning in strategic countries.

Looking to the future, ACCIONA's Chairman & CEO emphasized the importance of two of the Company's particular strengths: its solid financial position and its capacity for innovation. These two factors, combined with the ACCIONA's differentiated strategic positioning and business model, will help to boost growth despite a particularly adverse economic environment.

ACCIONA's financial strength will become more evident once the Company completes its sell-off of Endesa and simultaneously acquires the latter's renewables assets, resulting in considerable de-leveraging of the balance sheet.

With regard to innovation, José Manuel Entrecanales underlined the fact that the Company's strategic positioning is based also on its ability to adapt, and innovate, and to anticipate the challenges posed by the environment and by its competitors. This belief explains why the Company invested 71 million euros in R&D&I in 2008, 82% more than the previous year. This investment has given rise to 91 projects (36% more than in 2007) 48 patent applications.

Shareholders Meeting Agreements

The Shareholders Meeting approved the results for 2008, and their application, which envisages the pay-out of a dividend of €2.92 gross per share, equivalent to 45% of ordinary profits per share.  As a result, a supplementary dividend of €1.85 euros per share will be paid out as of July 1st.

The Meeting also green-lighted the appointment of new Board Members Daniel Entrecanales (dominical), Jaime Castellanos (independent) and Fernando Rodés (independent), as part of the process of renewal on which the Company embarked last year, and strengthening compliance with the good practices of Corporate Governance. The new appointments cover the vacancies left by José María Entrecanales, Esteban Morrás and Alejandro Echevarría.