A
Amplified Consumer Price Index (IPCA) – based on the growth of the consumption basket of families that earn from 1 to 40 minimum wages, researched from the 1st to the 30th day of every month, including the metropolitan regions of Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Belém, São Paulo, Fortaleza, Salvador and Curitiba, as well as Brasília and the city of Goiânia. It is calculated by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
ANA – Brazilian Water Agency, an autonomous government agency under special regime linked to the Ministry for the Environment (MMA), established by Federal Law 9,984, of July 17, 2000, responsible for implementing the Brazilian Policy for Water Resources and coordinating the Brazilian System for Management of Water Resources.
B
BASIC SANITATION – for the most part it is the use of water resources to meet the population’s basic hygiene and public health needs including commercial, industrial and service enterprises. It is part of sanitation the planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of water capture, treatment, canalization and distribution, as well as the collection, removal, treatment and final disposal of sewage.
BILLING LOSS INDEX – produced volume minus billed volume, divided by produced volume, times 100.
C
CANALIZATION – all works and services aimed at shaping watercourses or their segments into a defined geometrical form, with or without an artificial lining of any sort, on the banks or on the bottom.
CHARGE FOR THE USE OF WATER RESOURCES – Awater resources management instrument, essential to create the balance between offer (water availability) and demand, consequently promoting harmony among competitor users as it redistributes social costs, improves the quality of effluents discharged and enables the creation of financial funds for the works, programs and interventions of the sector.
COMPOUND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE (CAGR) – Measures the average compound annual growth rate regarding the return on investment during a certain number of years. Therefore, it represents the smoothed annualized gain earned over the investment time horizon.
CONCESSION AGREEMENT – contracts signed with several municipalities to provide water supply and/or sanitary sewage services.
CONNECTION – external sewage infrastructure connected to the water distribution system or the sewage capture system. It can be active or inactive.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE- practices and relationships among Shareholders, Board of Directors, Board of Executive Officers, Independent Audit and Fiscal Council, to optimize the company’s performance and facilitate the access to capital. These practices include topics related to the control power and management of a company, as well as the different forms and scopes they can be exercised and the several interests somehow related to the life of commercial entities.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE’S NOVO MERCADO (NEW MARKET) – listing segment created by Bovespa that differs the trading of shares issued by companies committed to adopting corporate governance practices and the disclosure of information additional to those required by law. To be listed in the Novo Mercado, a company has to adhere to a set of corporaterules, known as good corporate governance practices, which are more strict that those established by the Brazilian law. This set of rules increases the rights of the shareholders, improves the quality of information usually disclosed by the companies and, by determining conflict resolution by means of an Arbitration Panel, it offers investors security in more agile and specialized alternatives.
COVENANT – a legal restriction imposed in contracts for the issue of securities, or financing, where the borrower’s activities are restricted and whose objective is to provide the lender payment guarantee.
D
DECANTATION – a process for the separation of solid material found in a liquid by means of gravity, leaving the solid material in the bottom of a container.
DISTRIBUTION NETWORK – is the last stage of a water supply system that has a set of ducts seated on public ways or walkways, connected to home systems. Thus, the distribution networks conduct treated water all the way to points of use, maintaining its characteristics according to drinkability standards.
DIVIDEND YIELD – rate obtained by dividing the value of dividend paid per share by the current share price. The index can be used in the expected profitability analysis of shares. For instance, if a share is worth R$100.00 and, based on the distribution policy and the Company’s profit projections, a dividend yield of R$15.00 per share is expected, thus a 15% yield.
DOMESTIC SEWAGE – sewage from the domestic use of water, such as water discharged from laundry, bath, etc.
E
EARNINGS PER SHARE(EPS) -the total income of a company divided by the totality of shares issued by this company.
EBITDA – it represents net sales and/or services revenue, minus the cost of services rendered, sales expenses, administrative expenses, and other operating expenses, not considering non-recurrent expenses, plus the reversal of depreciation and amortization. EBITDA Margin is calculated on Net Service Revenue.
EBITDA MARGIN – the ratio between the company’s EBITDA and its net service revenue from (net operating revenue + other operating revenue).
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT – any alteration of the physical, chemical and biological properties of the environment caused by any form of matter or energy resulting from human activity, directly or indirectly affecting the population’s health, safety and well-being; social and economic activities; flora and fauna; the environment’s aesthetic and sanitary conditions; and the quality of environmental resources.
ENVIRONMENTAL LICENSING – administrative procedure by means of which the public authority permits the installation, expansion, modification and operation of activities or projects that use environmental resources considered effective or potentially pollutant.
EQUITY VALUE (VPA)- A company’s Shareholders’ Equity Value divided by its number of shares. A company that holds 5 million shares and a R$10 million shareholders’ equity would have a R$2.00 VPA.
F
FLOW – the way in which a watercourse flows (outflow, speed, etc.).
FREE FLOAT-company’s shares available for free trading in capital markets. All of the company’s shares not matched to any of the following cases: shares held by the controlling shareholder, his/her spouse, partner and dependents included in the annual income tax return; treasury shares; shares held by the company’s subsidiaries and associated companies, and other companies that are part of the same actual and legal group; shares held by the controlling shareholder’s subsidiaries and associated companies, and other companies that are part of the same actual and legal group; special class preferred shares with the purpose of guaranteeing special political rights, non-transferrable and exclusive.
G
General Market Price Index (IGPM) -price index monthly disclosed by Fundação Getúlio Vargas, used to measure the domestic inflation. IGP-M includes the Consumer Price Index (IPC – 30% weight), Wholesale Price Index (IPA – 60% weight) and National Construction Price Index (INCC – 10% weight). Price collection period is from the 21st day of the previous month to the 20th day of the reference month.
GRANT – a water resources management instrument, by means of which the user is authorized to use water from a specific outflow of a water resource, in a defined place for a specific use and a specific period of time that can assure the user the use of waterresources right.
GRANTED VOLUME – Volume available to newgrants due to those already granted in the very water body, or other located upstream, which must always be equal to or lower than the volume to be granted.
GROUND WATER – it the water that infiltrates the soil and due to gravity flows beneath deep subsoil layers reaching the saturated zone, forming a reservoir of underground water (aquifers) that can be extracted and used. The saturated zone may be considered as a sole reservoir or a system of natural reservoirs whose total capacity and volume of soil space pores or fractures are full of water.
GROSS DEBT – sum of all short- and long-term financial liabilities (loans, debentures, etc.) of a company.
GROSS MARGIN- the ratio between the company’s gross profit and net operating income. Gross margin shows the percentage of each R$1 gained from sales after the payment of goods.
GROSS PROFIT – difference between Net Revenues and the Cost of Services Rendered.
H
HOUSEHOLD (CONSUMING UNIT) – a legally occupied single occupation property, or independent subdivision of a property, possessing private or communal facilities for the use of water supply and sewage collection services. Ex: a building with 10 apartments has one connection and 10 households or units.
HYDROGRAPHIC BASIN COMMITTEE – It is a joint committee that has regulatory, advisory and deliberative assignments and is the main venue towards knowledge, debating problems, planning and making decisions on the several uses of water resources of thehydrographic basing of its jurisdiction.
HYDROGRAPHIC BASIN COMMITTEES – cross-sector forums and committees that gather representatives from the federal, state and municipal governments of different sectors (sanitation, environment, health, agriculture, planning, tourism, electricity, civil company, among others).
HYDROGRAPHIC BASIN – a topographically defined area (bordering another hydrographic basin) in which all rainfall is drained by a watercourse (main river) or a connected network of watercourses (tributaries of the main river). The entire outflow is discharged through a single river mouth at the lowest point in the area.
I
IBOVESPA – main performance indicator of the Brazilian stock market, which shows the behavior of the main shares traded at BOVESPA.
IBX-100 or IBrX (Brazil Index)- index that measures the return of a hypothetical portfolio containing the 100 most traded shares in number of business and financial volume of Bovespa. The index’s theoretical portfolio is valid for four months, for the periods from January to April, May to August and September to December. Weighting is carried out according to the market value of the companies, minus the portion that belongs to the controlling shareholders. This index differs from Ibovespa since it shows market capitalization and free float criteria, whereas Ibovespa isbased on liquidity criteria only.
IBX-50 (Brazil Index)- index, weighted by market value and free float criteria, that shows the daily average variation of a portfolio with 50 shares traded at the São Paulo Stock Exchange. IBX-50 has the same features as IBX-100, but with the operating advantage of being easier reproduced by the market. IBX-50 was created in 2002 as an alternative to Ibovespa, which is weighted by the liquidity criterion only.
IGCX (Special Governance Stock Index) – its purpose is to measure the performance of a theoretical portfolio comprisingshares from companies that have good corporate governance levels. These companies must be listed in the Novo Mercado or be classified in BOVESPA’s levels 1 or 2.
Initial Public Offering (IPO) – a company’s first public offering of shares.
INTERCEPTOR -canalization crosswiseconnected to several connectors to capture dry weather discharge, with or without specific amount of rainwater from the combined or unitary sewage system.
INDUSTRIAL SEWAGE – sewage from industrial use of water.
INSTALLATION PERMIT (LI) – authorizes the installation of the project or activity according to specifications of plans, programs and projects approved, including environmental control measures and other conditioning terms. Granted by COPAM and valid up to 6 months.
J
This page will be updated when information is available.
K
This page will be updated when information is available.
L
London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) – Interest rate normally charged by London banks that floats on a daily basis according to the market and together with Prime Rate, charged by North American banks, is the basis for most of international loans and financings.
LOSS AND WASTE – water loss in a public supply system (from mains, during treatment, from the distribution network, from residential connections and from user waste). Losses also include any catchments, storage or distribution of water for industrial or irrigation purposes which are inefficient, where there is visible water loss or where the water is used inappropriately.
M
MAINS – pipes designed to connect sources of raw water to water treatment plants, located outside the immediate environs of the sources; or pipes connecting treatment plants located in immediate environs of the sources to distant reservoirs which feed distribution networks.
MARKET CAP – Value of the company at the stock exchange, that is, hypothetically the amount that an investor would pay for the totality of a company’s shares by the current market quotation. In order to obtain this value, we multiply the quotation of eachtype of the company’s share by the number of outstanding shares.
MARKET MAKER – institutions with technical qualification and financial capacity to commit themselves to maintain permanent purchase and sale offers to specific number of shares or other investments. The stock market establishes the size of the minimum lot of shares and spread – additional risk rate – between the purchase and sale offer the market maker has to maintain in the market every day.
N
National Consumer Price Index (INPC) – price index calculated by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in metropolitan regions of Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife, São Paulo, Belém, Fortaleza, Salvador and Curitiba, and the Federal District and the city of Goiânia. It measures the variation in the prices of products and services consumed by families that earn from 1 to 8 minimum wages. Price collection period is counted from the first to the last day of the current month and disclosed after approximately eight business days.
NATIONAL SANITARY INFORMATION SYSTEM (SNIS) – System that combines information and indicators on the provision of water and sewage services from a group of service providers that operate in Brazil.
NET DEBT – sum of a company’s short-term or long-term financial liabilities (loans, debentures, fixed income securities, etc.). Out of this amount it shall be deducted the company’s cash and cash equivalents, that is, the sum of instruments that can be considered paper money.
NET MARGIN – a company’s financial analysis indicator. It shows the ratio between the company’s net income and its Net Operating Revenue. Net margin establishes the percentage of each R$1 insales minus all the expenses, including income tax. It is calculated as theratio between the company’s net income and its Net Operating Revenue
NET OPERATING REVENUE – The amount actually received by a company from selling its products, in other words, the gross revenue minus taxes levied on sales (IPI, ISS, PIS, COFINS and others) and discounts and deductions granted.
NET SERVICES REVENUE – It represents the operating net revenue added to other operating revenues.
O
OPERATION PERMIT (LO) – authorizes the activity or project, after previous and mandatory inspection to check the requisites of previous licenses, such as environmental control measures and conditioning terms specific for the operation. It is valid for four or six years and, therefore, is subject to periodic revalidation. LO can be cancelled when in compliance to the legal rule. It is granted by the Environmental Policy Council (COPAM).
OUTFLOW – the volume of water flowing through a given section of a pipe in a unit of time, usually expressed in liters per second (l/s), cubic meters per second (m3/s) or cubic meters perhour (m3/h).
P
PAY OUT – percentage of the company’s profit to be distributed to shareholders as dividends or interest on net equity.
PRELIMINARY PERMIT (LP) – granted in the preliminary stage of the project or activity planning and approved upon previous and mandatory inspection of the site, location and design of the project, it also certifies the environmental feasibility and establishes basic and conditioning requirements that shall be complied within the next steps of its implementation. It is granted by the Environmental Policy Council (COPAM) and is valid up to 4 years.
PRESERVATION – the strictest level of protection for natural resources and the environment, designed to preserve them absolutely intact for future generations. Not to be confused with “protection” and “conservation”, which permit the rational use of environmental resources.
PRICE/PROFIT INDEX (P/L)- ratio of the price of a share in the market, in a specific moment, by its annual net income. Therefore, P/L represents the number of years taken to recover the capital invested to purchase a share, by means of dividend payment.
PRIMARY TREATMENT – Unit processes applied to remove a high percentage of solids in suspension and floating solids, however, a slight or no percentage of colloidal or dissolved substances. It includes settlement, gridding and primary decantation.
PRIOR GRANT – optional grant modality whose purpose is to inform water availability to implement any type of project, especially those with long implementation periods; mandatory for the construction of dams and reservoirs. Prior grant does not entitle the holder to the right to water resources use.
PROGRAM AGREEMENT – instrument that sets forth and regulates the obligations of a State body, including its indirect management, towards another State body, or towards a public consortium, for public services provided by means of state cooperation.
PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM – It comprises works, facilities and services that have the purpose of producing and distributing potable water to a community, in quantity and quality that meet the population’s needs, for domestic consumption, public services, industrial consumption and other uses. It aims at improving public health conditions, both in the physical aspect, by eliminating water contagious diseases, as for the social aspect, by improving the easiness conditions in obtaining water.
Q
This page will be updated when information is available.
R
RAW WATER – Water in its natural form as available in rivers, creeks, lakes, ponds, dams or groundwater, i.e., before undergoing any treatment process.
RESERVOIR – Place where the water is stored to be used for human needs, usually formed by the construction of dams in rivers or by the water diversion to cavities in the land or built as part of water supply systems, before or after treatment stations. (FEEMA, 1990).
RIGHT OF USE OF WATER RESOURCES – according to Law, grant holders are ensured the right to use water according to its purpose.
RIPARIAN FOREST – vegetation adjacent to bodies of water, or that surrounds lakes, springs and dams, located in humid or soggy soils and subject to periodic floods. These are permanent preservation areas that allow the conservation of typical flora and fauna, regulating the flows of water and sediments, maintaining the quality of water and efficiently protecting the soil through its root system and tree crowns.
ROE (Return on Equity) – Financial analysis indicator that measures the return of capital invested by shareholders (shareholders’ equity). The indicator is calculated as the ratio between a company’s net income and its shareholders’ equity.
S
SANITARY SEWAGE – works and facilities to collect, transport, remove, treat and dispose the community’s wastewater, in appropriate manner from the sanitation viewpoint.
SANITARY SEWAGE TREATMENT – Combination of physical, chemical and biological processes to reduce the existing organic discharge in the sanitary sewage before being released in water bodies such as: biological purifier; activated sludge; anaerobic reactor; oxidation value; anaerobic pond; aerobic pond; aerated lagoon, facultative lagoon; mixed lagoon; maturation pond; condominium septic tank system. (National Basic SanitationSurvey, 2000).
SANITATION LAW – Law 11,445, of January 5, 2007. It sets forth the national guidelines for the basic sanitation and the basic sanitation federal policy.
SECONDARY TREATMENT – Unit processes applied to remove or reduce colloidal or dissolved substances, obtaining, consequently, the stabilization of organic matters by biologic oxidation. “It is designed, mainly, to reduce solids in suspension and BOD”.
SEPTIC TANK – it is primary treatment unit for domestic sewage, where the solid waste present in the sewage is separated and physically-chemically transformed. It is normally built in places where the there is no sewage collection system.
SERVICE INDEX – served population compared to the urban population from the operated localities.
SEWAGE TREATMENT STATION (ETE) – facilities and equipment used to treat sewage.
SLUDGE – solid material left from the sewage treatment process.
SOLID WASTEWATER – Heterogenic materials resulting from human activities, named litter, being organic, mainly green and animal wastes, and inorganic such as glass, paper, plastic, polymer, metal, etc., which may be partially reused, reutilized or remanufactured, generating, among other aspects, protection to public health and the economy of natural resources. Almost all solid wastes can be transported to landfills and represent a serious aesthetic, economic and, specially, sanitary problem, there is always the risk of polluting underground and superficial water resources.
SPECIAL TAG ALONG STOCK INDEX (ITAG) – index calculated and disclosed by Bovespa, designed to measure the return of a theoretical portfolio composed of shares of companies which offer better conditions to minority shareholders, in case of control sale. The theoretical portfolio comprises all shares to which the company offers tag along above the legal requirements, and which has been traded in at least 30% of the floors of stock exchanges on the twelve months prior the portfolio’s creation.
STATIC SEWAGE SYSTEM – Individualized sanitary sewage treatment system built to ensure the proper final disposal of wastewater, and that requires periodical sludge cleaning so it does not spoil the effluent quality.
SURFACE SPRING – composed by streams, rivers, lakes, dams, weirs, bus, etc. located on the surface.
T
TARIFF PASS-THROUGH TO MUNICIPALITIES – It refers to the pass-through of part of the net operating income, calculated at a certain municipality, as provided for in the concession agreement with saidmunicipality.
TAX CLAIMS-the value of credits ascertained, pursuant to the Law that made COFINS and PIS/PASEP non-cumulative taxes. These credits are generated from contribution rates on expenses with electricity,outsourced services hired with legal entities, lease of assets and properties, depreciation and on material acquired, to offset COFINS and PIS/PASEP embedded in the prices of products and services acquired by a company.
TERTIARY TREATMENT – Unit operations that are developed after the secondary treatment, aiming at the improvement of effluent’s quality, for instance, the disinfection, removal of phosphate and other substances.
TREATED SEWAGE – sewage that went through a treatment to remove polluting substances and unhealthy organisms.
TOTAL OPERATING COSTS AND EXPENSES – Cost of Services Provided + Administrative Expenses + Selling Expenses + Other Operating Expenses.
U
UNDERGROUND SPRING – water from underground that can come to the surface (fountains, fresh water fountain, and springs) or it can be artificially raised by pump motor (shallow wells, deep wells, drainage galleries)
UNITS – a legally occupied single occupation property, or independent subdivision of a property, possessing private or communal facilities for the use of water supply and sewage collection services. Ex: a building with 10 apartments has one connection and 10 units.
V
VOLUME TO BE GRANTED – Maximum volume that may be granted in a water body and whose amount is comprised by the sum of the already granted volume and the volume still available to be granted.
W
WATER CATCHMENT – group of structures and devices built or assembled by a spring to provide public water supply service for human consumption.
WATER FLUORIDATION – is one of the stages of water treatment, which consists of adding small amounts offluoride to the water, in order to improve tooth development and reduce tooth decay in the assisted population.
WATER METERING – the use of equipment to measure the volume of water consumed by a property connection.
WATER METER – a device that measures and displays the volume of water flowing through, i.e. water consumption.
WATER NOT CONVERTED INTO REVENUES (ANCR) – The difference between the volume distributed and the volume actually consumed divided by the average number of connections in the period.
WATER TREATMENT STATION (ETA) – facilities and equipment used to treat raw water.
WATER WITHIN FEDERAL DOMAIN – it is within Federal domain for rivers (therefore, superficial water) when thewater flows along more than one State and/or forms the boundary with other States or countries, or water gathered in dams built by the Federal government.
WATER WITHIN STATE DOMAIN – it is within State domain for superficial water when it is born and flows into the same State (into the ocean or as an affluent of a Federal river) and for all groundwater.
X
This page will be updated when information is available.
Y
This page will be updated when information is available.
Z
This page will be updated when information is available.
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