Frost & Sullivan Recognizes Autostrade S.p.A.'s Accomplishments with Transportation Company of the Year Award

LONDON--June 1, 2005--In recognition of its overall excellence, Autostrade S.p.A. has been selected to receive the prestigious 2005 Frost & Sullivan Transportation Company of the Year Award. Effective organizational restructuring, innovative marketing strategies, outstanding revenue growth, focused market penetration and comprehensive promotional measures are amongst the key areas wherein Autostrade S.p.A. has distinguished itself.

A strategy of internal reorganization and external acquisitions has been critical to Autostrade S.p.A.'s success. The acquisition of a new concession -- Strada Dei Parchi -- in 2003 placed two more motorways in Italy under Autostrade S.p.A.'s control, making it the largest motorway operator in Europe.

At the same time, Autostrade S.p.A. has expanded its geographical reach into Austria with its new venture, Europass, that implements and manages the dynamic remote toll system for heavy goods vehicles on Austrian roads. Since commencing operations in January 2004, this system has generated over EUR 90 million in revenues. Further demonstrating its successful market penetration strategies, Autostrade S.p.A. has built a significant presence in the motorway markets of the United Kingdom and the United States.

"In a fiercely competitive toll collection market defined by cost competitiveness, Autostrade S.p.A.'s innovative strategy of outsourcing manufacturing has proved highly profitable," notes Ms. Hema Bhaskaran, Transportation Industry Analyst with Frost & Sullivan. "For instance, by outsourcing the production of components for the TelePass electronic toll collection systems in Italy, Autostrade S.p.A. has been able to rationalize costs while benefiting from the economies of large-scale purchase."

Autostrade S.p.A.'s successful implementation of the Europass heavy vehicle toll collection scheme in Austria and its TelePass project in Italy has reinforced the company's outstanding performance record. It has also enabled Autostrade S.p.A. to push for similar projects to be replicated in other countries.

The company's promotional plans aim to leverage both new as well as existing markets. Autostrade S.p.A. per l'Italia -- the largest subsidiary of the Autostrade S.p.A. group -- uniquely focuses on expanding the electronic toll collection (ETC) market in Italy through educating non users, manual system users and automatic toll collection systems users about the various benefits of ETC. Other expansion plans within the Italian market include the construction and maintenance of new motorways and installation of road user charging systems in new toll areas.

Autostrade S.p.A.'s expansion and reorganization strategies yielded strong gains for the company in 2003 and 2004. Following the acquisition of Strada Dei Parchi in 2003, revenues of the company soared by over 8 percent to reach EUR 2.6 billion. In 2004, the phenomenal success of Europass not only contributed to over EUR 90 million within the first year of it becoming operational, but also boosted revenue growth by over 10 percent.

"With its strategies and policies firmly set on overall growth and expansion, Autostrade S.p.A is all set to embrace a promising future and achieve a leading position in the global market for road transportation systems," concludes Ms. Bhaskaran.

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