Babcock International Group Plc (LON:BAB) has told investors its first instance appeal against a competition decision in Italy has been unsuccessful.
The Italian Competition Authority previously fined Babcock Mission Critical Services (BMCS) Italia €51mln, along with fines on seven other companies, in relation to a publicly available tariff list produced by a trade association of which BMCS Italy was a member.
In a stock market statement, Babcock said: “BMCS Italy does not understand the basis of this decision, given that the tariff list did not apply to any of the services provided by BMCS Italy and was not relevant to BMCS Italy's activities.
“In particular, BMCS Italy is convinced that the tariff list never related to the helicopter emergency medical services and, indeed, this lack of relevance was explicitly stated on the front of the list from 2012, two years prior to the acquisition of BMCS Italy by Babcock in 2014.”
“The ICA had confirmed that, whilst it had also investigated the possibility of bid rigging arrangements relating to HEMS, no basis was found for such allegations against BMCS Italy or any other party.”
Babcock added that it BMCS Italy considers compliance with antitrust laws to be of the highest priority and that previously the ICA reduced the fine imposed on BMCS to “reflect the quality and robustness of its antitrust compliance programme.”
It told investors that the subsidiary will continue to service its existing contracts and to compete for future tendering opportunities.