The Telecom Italia Ordinary and Extraordinary Shareholders´ Meetings met today, chaired by Roberto Colaninno.
Prior to debate on the individual points on the agenda, with regard to the matter of a number of operations undertaken by the company which have recently featured in the press, and in response to the request received from Consob, the Board of Auditors read out in its entirety a comprehensive and analytical document ("Memo on report, pursuant to article 153 of Legislative Decree no. 58 of 1998"), which was distributed to all shareholders in attendance as well as to press agencies, which have since given the document prominent coverage.
Following this, on behalf of the Board of Directors, Chairman Colaninno kept the Meeting abreast of developments by reading out in its entirety a detailed report ("Information memo") containing the responses to the queries asked of the company by Consob. This document was also made available to Shareholders and to press agencies. The aforementioned documents are available for consultation in Italian on the company web site at www.telecomitalia.it.
The ordinary Shareholders´ Meeting examined and approved the company´s financial statements for 2000, which closed with Telecom Italia S.p.A. recording net income equal to 2,559 million euros (4,954 billion lire). On the basis of this result, the Meeting resolved to distribute a dividend of 605 lire (0.312 euro) per ordinary share and of 627 lire per savings share (0.324 euro). Dividends will be paid from 21 June 2001 with detachment of coupons on 18 June 2001.
At the behest of Italian investment funds, the Meeting then proceeded to appoint to the Board, in replacement of Mr. Angelo Benessia, Mr. Guido A. Ferrarini, whose mandate will expire at the same time as currently serving directors, that is to say on approval of the financial statements regarding the financial year to 31 December 2001.
Moreover, the ordinary Shareholders´ Meeting adopted two more points on the agenda: a review of compensation for Directors and Auditors, and cancellation of the previous appointment as external auditors awarded to Pricewaterhouse Coopers for the three-year period 2000 - 2002, in favour of awarding to Reconta Ernst & Young the contract to audit the company accounts of Telecom Italia S.p.A. and the consolidated financial statements of the Telecom Italia Group for the three-year period 2001 - 2003.
In extraordinary session, the Shareholders´ Meeting granted the Board of Directors the facility to increase company capital up to a maximum nominal total of 40,150,000 euros, to be undertaken via issue of a maximum number of 73,000,000 ordinary shares in service of stock options. Lastly, the Meeting took steps to modify a number of articles in the company´s articles of association.