International capital markets were negatively impacted by the financial and economic crisis during the year under review, and were extremely volatile. Stock markets which usually require a lead time of about six months to react to the expected economic situation already massively collapsed in the course of the second quarter of 2008. Parallel to the unexpectedly strong economic decline, the investment climate hit rock bottom for the time being in the first quarter of 2009. Since the second quarter of 2009, stock markets have rebounded on the basis of initial indications of a stabilisation of the world economy, and in some cases global markets have posted massive gains.

Up until the middle of 2008, the central banks in the USA and Europe pursued divergent monetary and interest rate policies. Following several interest rate reductions by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the prime rate has remained at zero since the end of 2008. Negative developments on financial markets have also led the European Central Bank ECB to reverse its previous policy since the middle of 2008. Whereas it previously focused on combating inflation, the strategy was revised to focus on stimulating the economy in the Eurozone. ECB reduced the prime rate from 4.25% to 1.00% in several steps during the period October 2008 to May 2009, and has held interest rates at an historic low since that time.

Despite the impending recovery, leading share indices posted an overall decline in the period under review, from October 1, 2008 – September 30, 2009. The most important European indices, the Euro Stoxx 50 and the German DAX, registered a 5.45% and 2.67% loss in value respectively. The ATX index fell by 4.71%, and the Dow Jones Stoxx Utilities sector index, which is relevant to EVN, suffered a loss of 14.44%.

The EVN share was not immune to the negative developments and high level of volatility on international stock markets. It was traded at a share price of EUR 13.68 at the end of the year under review, which represents a decline of 8.74%. However, it performed considerably better than its relevant sector index. In March 2009, the EVN share was once again listed in the Vienna Stock Exchange benchmark index ATX. Together with the general upward trend on global stock exchanges, this resulted in a strong performance of the EVN share in the second half of the 2008/09 financial year.