Mediobanca prize for the most dynamic medium-size Italian companies

9 May 2006

As part of its own plans for growth in the mid-corporate segment, Mediobanca has established a prize for medium-sized Italian companies which boast outstanding growth rates. The prize is a testimony to the Bank’s renewed interest in supporting the growth of this category of companies, which in recent years have delivered exceptional results while managing to retain sound financial structures. The aim is to identify the most dynamic Italian companies and the most promising in terms of potential for becoming large-scale enterprises. Along with turnover growth rates, priority will be given to governance, internal organization, commitment to innovation and design, and significant market shares both in Italy and elsewhere. Each year two prizes will be awarded. The first prize will be awarded to a medium-size Italian company which has increased its turnover by 40% in the past three years, at least 20% of which must have been in the past twelve months, with net profit accounting for no less than 4% of turnover. Medium-sized companies for the purposes of this award are either industrial companies or service companies which are industrial in nature, e.g. telecoms, utilities, etc., with turnover of no more than € 290m and a headcount of under 500 employees. The second prize shall be awarded to a company which has delivered a similar performance having exceeded these parameters, with turnover still below € 2bn. The prizes will therefore be aimed at providing recognition for medium-size companies which stand out on the back of their high growth rates, and larger companies which have already graduated from the medium-size category. Applications will be reviewed in the first instance by the Mediobanca Research Department, which will make its initial recommendations on the basis of objective data derived from the annual survey of leading Italian companies; the profiles drawn up will then be submitted to a Technical Committee made up of independent members, who will select the companies to receive the awards (two each year). The prize will be awarded by the Chairman and General Manager of Mediobanca at a conference to be arranged at Mediobanca’s head offices, in the course of which the business histories of the two companies will be presented. The first edition of the prize will refer to growth achieved during the 2003-05 period, and the awards will be made by the end of the first quarter of 2007. This new initiative forms part of a general strategic plan for defining an integrated, dedicated mid-corporate platform, with a view to increasing opportunities by using Mediobanca’s capabilities and specialized expertise to complement and support Italian medium-size companies in their plans for growth and development. Mediobanca intends to selectively strengthen its coverage of the mid-corporate segment in Italy by making its whole range of products and services available to entrepreneurs via a dedicated structure based at its headquarters and a reinforced coverage network.