France-Based Energy Company ENGIE Downgraded To 'A-/A-2' On Weaker Business Profile; Outlook Negative

OVERVIEW In our view, ENGIE's cash flow generation and credit metrics will remain depressed over the next two to three years despite the company's portfolio rotation plan, which aims to reduce exposure to commodity markets and improve cash flow visibility. We also believe ENGIE's business fundamentals have structurally weakened, and we now assess its business risk profile as 'strong' rather than 'excellent.' As a result, we lowered our ratings on ENGIE to 'A-/A-2' from 'A/A-1' and removed them from CreditWatch negative. The negative outlook reflects the execution risks for ENGIE's strategic plan and tight headroom in its credit metrics for the ratings. PARIS (Standard&Poor's) April 29, 2016--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its long-

...OVERVIEW + In our view, ENGIE's cash flow generation and credit metrics will remain depressed over the next two to three years despite the company's portfolio rotation plan, which aims to reduce exposure to commodity markets and improve cash flow visibility. + We also believe ENGIE's business fundamentals have structurally weakened, and we now assess its business risk profile as 'strong' rather than 'excellent.' + As a result, we lowered our ratings on ENGIE to 'A-/A-2' from 'A/A-1' and removed them from CreditWatch negative. + The negative outlook reflects the execution risks for ENGIE's strategic plan and tight headroom in its credit metrics for the ratings. PARIS (Standard & Poor's) April 29, 2016--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its long- and short-term corporate credit ratings on global multi-utility ENGIE SA and its subsidiary GIE Suez Alliance to 'A-' and 'A-2', respectively, from 'A' and 'A-1'. The outlook on both companies is negative. At the same...

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