...Periphery Drives Stronger Outlooks: Most public ratings in Fitch Ratings' portfolio apply to debt serviced by cash flows from mature infrastructure assets with strong operational profiles. These include large hub airports, mature toll-road networks, diversified seaports and essential rail links. Several assets that have been exposed to particularly weak economies (eg, Portugal, Spain, Italy) had a Negative Outlook, but many of these are now experiencing modest recovery. Stable Outlooks apply to 78% of the portfolio. Mild Optimism in Projections: Fitch's rating case (which allows for some downside to its base case) is based on prudent forecasts for all the main credit drivers, some of which may be sensitive to macro developments, eg, volume, price, opex, capex, cost of debt. The growth expectations reflect the progressive exit of European economies from the crisis and return to a more normal economic cycle. However, Fitch's forecasts remain prudent and most ratings would remain unchanged...
