The new toll system approved by the Transport Authority the concessionary companies do not like it and it weighs on the Stock Exchange on the stocks of the motorway sector. Mid morning Atlantia it loses 3,3%, to 23,53 euros, the worst performance of the entire Ftse Mib. Turin-Milan motorway slips instead of 1,6% (to 27,92 euros), while Sias leaves 2,3% (15,95 euros) on the field.
The Authority has passed a series of resolutions which introduce for 16 dealerships a tariff model based on the Rab (i.e. the calculation of invested capital). Basically, rates are set based on efficiency parameters set by the Authority itself (management costs should fall between 1,9 and 27% depending on the concessionaires), with a remuneration reduced to 6,2% per year net, while today in some cases it reaches over 10%.
The concessionaires involved are those who have to renew the financial plans with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, which have now expired. Together, these companies cover approximately 80% of the Italian motorway network.
According to the Authority, the new system encourages investment, because it makes the tariff model homogeneous among the various concessionaires and rewards the investments actually made.
Aiscat, the association of motorway and tunnel concessionaires, believes instead that the rules will eventually block investments already planned and for this reason he expresses "great concern".
The agriculture minister Danilo Toninelli he replies: “If Aiscat attacks like this today, it means that we are on the right track. This is not a question of blocking those who really make investments and who deserve the right profit, but of not fattening those who promise investments without making them".
In any case, the Ministry of Transport will be able to decide whether or not to adopt the new system proposed by the Authority. The concessionaires ask the ministry for a discussion table claiming that they have not been involved.
In Piazza Affari, investors are targeting the sector's securities with sales because the Authority's resolutions have in any case created a situation of uncertainty from a regulatory point of view. Not to mention the possibility - not to mention the certainty - that in the event of a lack of agreement between the ministry and the concessionaires, a new wave of administrative appeals will arrive.
