Naturgy and Acciona Energía are excluded from the MSCI (Morgan Stanley) indexes.

VALENCIA (EP). Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), a global guide to institutional investors and numerous investment funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), announced the removal of Naturgy and Acciona Energía from its indexes in its February quarterly update.

Naturgy told the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) on Tuesday that its exclusion is due to its lower cost of working capital, which does not exceed the minimum values ​​set by MSCI.

The exclusion of both companies will take effect “from the close of the market on the last business day of February.”

MSCI’s decision is based on the market value of shares outstanding below the minimum thresholds for inclusion in these indices.

The decision to exclude the two Spanish energy companies came as part of a February review by MSCI, which included changes to the composition of some of its indexes.

Naturgy stressed to CNMV that its exclusion from the MSCI indices “has no bearing on its current operating and financial performance.”

In this sense, the Spanish company recalled that on February 8 it confirmed its targets for 2023, which call for a gross operating result (Ebitda) of about 5.4 billion euros, up about 8% from the 5 billion euros in the 2022 financial year.

Naturgy, which last year decided to present only half-year results, will publish its full-year 2023 results on February 27.

The company, chaired by Francisco Reines, which announced MSCI’s decision at the same time markets opened, fell more than 1% at the stock market open, outpacing the decline of the Ibex 35. However, it fell more than 1% after 10:00 am. softened its decline to 0.7%, to 23.44 euros per share.

Acciona Energía shares, in turn, rose 0.8% to 22.32 euros per share.