Explanation of the Barclays Research Corporate Credit Sector Rating System

Overweight (OW):
For sectors rated against the Bloomberg U.S. Credit Index, the Bloomberg Pan-European Credit Index, the Bloomberg EM Asia USD High Grade Credit Index or the Bloomberg EM USD Corporate and Quasi-Sovereign Index, the analyst expects the six-month excess return of the sector to exceed the six-month excess return of the relevant index.
For sectors rated against the Bloomberg U.S. High Yield 2% Issuer Capped Credit Index, the Bloomberg Pan-European High Yield 3% Issuer Capped Credit Index excluding Financials, the Bloomberg Pan-European High Yield Finance Index or the Bloomberg EM Asia USD High Yield Corporate Credit Index, the analyst expects the six-month total return of the sector to exceed the six-month total return of the relevant index.

Market Weight (MW):
For sectors rated against the Bloomberg U.S. Credit Index, the Bloomberg Pan-European Credit Index, the Bloomberg EM Asia USD High Grade Credit Index or the Bloomberg EM USD Corporate and Quasi-Sovereign Index, the analyst expects the six-month excess return of the sector to be in line with the six-month excess return of the relevant index.
For sectors rated against the Bloomberg U.S. High Yield 2% Issuer Capped Credit Index, the Bloomberg Pan-European High Yield 3% Issuer Capped Credit Index excluding Financials, the Bloomberg Pan-European High Yield Finance Index or the Bloomberg EM Asia USD High Yield Corporate Credit Index, the analyst expects the six-month total return of the sector to be in line with the six-month total return of the relevant index.

Underweight (UW):
For sectors rated against the Bloomberg U.S. Credit Index, the Bloomberg Pan-European Credit Index, the Bloomberg EM Asia USD High Grade Credit Index or the Bloomberg EM USD Corporate and Quasi-Sovereign Index, the analyst expects the six-month excess return of the sector to be less than the six-month excess return of the relevant index.
For sectors rated against the Bloomberg U.S. High Yield 2% Issuer Capped Credit Index, the Bloomberg Pan-European High Yield 3% Issuer Capped Credit Index excluding Financials, the Bloomberg Pan-European High Yield Finance Index or the Bloomberg EM Asia USD High Yield Corporate Credit Index, the analyst expects the six-month total return of the sector to be less than the six-month total return of the relevant index.

Sector definitions:
Sectors in U.S. High Grade Research are defined using the sector definitions of the Bloomberg U.S. Credit Index and are rated against the Bloomberg U.S. Credit Index.
Sectors in U.S. High Yield Research are defined using the sector definitions of the Bloomberg U.S. High Yield 2% Issuer Capped Credit Index and are rated against the Bloomberg U.S. High Yield 2% Issuer Capped Credit Index.

Sectors in European High Grade Research are defined using the sector definitions of the Bloomberg Pan-European Credit Index and are rated against the Bloomberg Pan-European Credit Index.
Sectors in Industrials and Utilities in European High Yield Research are defined using the sector definitions of the Bloomberg Pan-European High Yield 3% Issuer Capped Credit Index excluding Financials and are rated against the Bloomberg Pan-European High Yield 3% Issuer Capped Credit Index excluding Financials.
Sectors in Financials in European High Yield Research are defined using the sector definitions of the Bloomberg Pan-European High Yield Finance Index and are rated against the Bloomberg Pan-European High Yield Finance Index.

Sectors in Asia High Grade Research are defined on Barclays Live and are rated against the Bloomberg EM Asia USD High Grade Credit Index.
Sectors in Asia High Yield Research are defined on Barclays Live and are rated against the Bloomberg EM Asia USD High Yield Corporate Credit Index.

Sectors in EEMEA and Latin America Research are defined on Barclays Live and are rated against the Bloomberg EM USD Corporate and Quasi Sovereign Index. These sectors may contain both High Grade and High Yield issuers.

To view sector definitions and monthly sector returns for Asia, EEMEA and Latin America Research, go to https://live.barcap.com/go/research/EMSectorReturns on Barclays Live.

For important information about Asia, EEMEA and LatAm Credit Sector definitions, go to https://live.barcap.com/go/publications/link?contentPubID=FC2786307&restriction=DEBT on Barclays Live.


Explanation of the Barclays Research Corporate Credit Rating System

For all High Grade issuers covered in the US, Europe or Asia, and for all issuers in Latin America and EEMEA, the credit rating system is based on the analyst's view of the expected excess return over a six-month period of the issuer's index-eligible corporate debt securities* relative to the expected excess return of the relevant sector, as specified on the report.

Overweight (OW): The analyst expects the six-month excess return of the issuer's index-eligible corporate debt securities to exceed the six-month expected excess return of the relevant sector.
Market Weight (MW): The analyst expects the six-month excess return of the issuer's index-eligible corporate debt securities to be in line with the six-month expected excess return of the relevant sector.
Underweight (UW): The analyst expects the six-month excess return of the issuer's index-eligible corporate debt securities to be less than the six-month expected excess return of the relevant sector.
Rating Suspended (RS): The rating has been suspended temporarily due to market events that make coverage impracticable or to comply with applicable regulations and/or firm policies in certain circumstances including where the Investment Bank of Barclays Bank PLC is acting in an advisory capacity in a merger or strategic transaction involving the company.
Coverage Suspended (CS): Coverage of this issuer has been temporarily suspended.
Not Covered (NC): Barclays’ fundamental credit research team does not provide formal, continuous coverage of this issuer and has not assigned a rating to the issuer or its debt securities. Any analysis, opinion or trade recommendation provided on a Not Covered issuer or its debt securities is valid only as of the publication date of this report and there should be no expectation that additional reports relating to the Not Covered issuer or its debt securities will be published thereafter.

For all High Yield issuers (excluding those covered in EEMEA or Latin America), the credit rating system is based on the analyst's view of the expected total returns over a six-month period of the rated debt security relative to the expected total return of the relevant sector, as specified on the report.

Overweight (OW): The analyst expects the six-month total return of the debt security subject to this rating to exceed the six-month expected total return of the relevant sector.
Market Weight (MW): The analyst expects the six-month total return of the debt security subject to this rating to be in line with the six-month expected total return of the relevant sector.
Underweight (UW): The analyst expects the six-month total return of the rated debt security subject to this rating to be less than the six-month expected total return of the relevant sector.
Rating Suspended (RS): The rating has been suspended temporarily due to market events that make coverage impracticable or to comply with applicable regulations and/or firm policies in certain circumstances including where the Investment Bank of Barclays Bank PLC is acting in an advisory capacity in a merger or strategic transaction involving the company.
Coverage Suspended (CS): Coverage of this issuer has been temporarily suspended.
Not Covered (NC): Barclays’ fundamental credit research team does not provide formal, continuous coverage of this issuer and has not assigned a rating to the issuer or its debt securities. Any analysis, opinion or trade recommendation provided on a Not Covered issuer or its debt securities is valid only as of the publication date of this report and there should be no expectation that additional reports relating to the Not Covered issuer or its debt securities will be published thereafter.

Where a recommendation is made at the issuer level, it does not apply to any sanctioned securities, where trading in such securities would be prohibited under applicable law, including sanctions laws and regulations.

*In EEMEA and Latin America (and in certain other limited instances in other regions), analysts may occasionally rate issuers that are not part of the Bloomberg U.S. Credit Index, the Bloomberg Pan-European Credit Index, the Bloomberg EM Asia USD High Grade Credit Index or Bloomberg EM USD Corporate and Quasi Sovereign Index. In such cases the rating will reflect the analyst’s view of the expected excess return over a six-month period of the issuer’s corporate debt securities relative to the expected excess return of the relevant sector, as specified on the report.