Athens, 10 July 2012

Changes to the FTSE/ATHEX Index Series

Following the revisions of the ATHEX Rule Book and the implementation of a new segmentation model in the ATHEX Market, a number of changes will take place in the structure of the FTSE/ATHEX Index Series. The main objective of the planned changes is to make the indices reflect more effectively and with increased homogeneity the grouping of the ATHEX Large Cap and Mid Cap listed companies.

The major changes are the following:

• Index Structure Changes
  • Preservation of the FTSE/ATHEX 20 & FTSE/ATHEX Mid Cap indices as the key indicators for recording trends in Large Cap and Mid Cap companies listed on ATHEX.
  • Renaming FTSE/ATHEX 20 to FTSE/ATHEX Large Cap Index and at the same time expanding its constituents from 20 to 25 to increase liquidity in the blue chip companies of ATHEX, on the back of a variety of listed products using that index.
  • Reduction of the constituents of the FTSE/ATHEX Mid Cap index from 40 to 20 in order to increase index homogeneity and create a more tradable index encompassing the ATHEX Mid Cap listed companies.
  • Terminate the calculation of the FTSE/ATHEX Liquid Mid and the FTSE/ATHEX Small Cap indices and re-focus to the Small Caps through a new index explained below.
  • Set the FTSE/ATHEX Market Index as Benchmark Index of the entire ATHEX Market.

    The constituents of this Index are those of the above mentioned indices plus all securities trading in the «ATHEX Main Market» fulfilling the eligibility criteria of the Ground Rules.

The changes will be effective from 3 December 2012

• New Index based on Fundamentals to substitute the Small Cap Index
  Aiming to increase the awareness and visibility of smaller capitalization listed companies, ATHEX plans to replace the current FTSE/ATHEX Small Cap index with a new index type targeting to:
  • Introduce a new trend in the Greek market regarding index creation, using a methodology different to the current one, i.e. that of market capitalization weighted indices based solely on market capitalisation selection criteria.
  • Improve focus in companies with prominent profiles to the investment community.

The use of metrics which take into account announced company fundamentals could improve their visibility to the buy side and the research analysts' community and generate further interest and elaboration of their overall performance. The aim is to establish efficient interaction between the smaller listed companies and the buy side and allow interaction so that the trading and other characteristics of the companies improve over time.

Starting from forthcoming review on September 2012, ATHEX in cooperation with FTSE will launch a new index based on company fundamentals. Stocks selection for that index will be based on a number of fundamental ratios, which are commonly used when performing corporate evaluation. The index will be market cap weighted.

• Changes to Index Ground Rules
  A number of changes will take place in the FTSE/ATHEX Index Ground Rules in order to reflect the new index creation and structure. At the same time changes will take place regarding the free float methodology.
  In detail:
  • Starting from March 2013 review adoption of the actual free float methodology (rounded up to next 1%) in all FTSE/ATHEX Index series, following the decision of the FTSE Policy Group approved on the 12th June 2012.
  • The following statement (with immediate effect) will be added in section 4 of the rules:

"In the event that a company which is subject to restructuring under specific provisions, such as receiving capital injection by way of an equity issue from the Government and or other agencies or bodies and the company's free float falls below the minimum requirement of 15%, then the company should be accepted in the indices with its actual free float".