# Commission Decision of 8 May 2012 on State aid SA.22668 (C 8/08 (ex NN 4/08)) (notified under document C(2012) 3025) (Only the Spanish text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2013/126/EU), Division: Competitors data

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

Before turning to market data, we would emphasise again that the relevant benchmark is the ex-ante cost of equity capital. Ex-post observed returns are only an imperfect proxy for ex-ante expectations, as ex-post realised returns are not necessarily equal to ex-ante required returns. If investors are interested in the past performance of an industry, they should look at the ROCE, an ex-post return relatively neutral to the capital structure of different firms, since it includes both debt and equity. As the level of leverage in a company increases, the return on equity for shareholders increases, as compared to the ROCE.
In what follows, we analyse data on the ROCE of a representative group of competitors from various sources and observe that results are not out of line with our calibration exercise.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2013/126/annex/I/division/5 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2013-126/annex-I/division-5
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.