It's raining, indeed it's hailing Mediobanca (-4,37% at €6,15) after having touched the €6 barrier downwards. The great escape from risk, therefore, does not spare Piazzetta Cuccia on the day of the assembly which, by tradition, is held on the day of the march of Rome as the great banker wanted, just to underline that it was a fatal anniversary in which there was no it was nothing to celebrate.
Just like today, under the skies of the pandemic that conditioned the official debut of the Del Vecchio era in Mediobanca. A debut marked by the decision of Delfin, the finance company of the owner of Essilor/Luxottica, to vote for the minority list for the board presented by Assogestioni which includes Angelo Gamba and Alberto Lupoi, instead of supporting the historic couple Alberto Nagel and Renato Pagliaro. A move that did not jeopardize the confirmation of the current board's list (with the exception of Marie Bolloré and Alberto Pecci) but underlines Del Vecchio's desire to have his "hands free" in view of future moves, especially as regards the fate of Generali. The list of candidates for the renewal of top management presented by the board obtained the vote of 44,17% of the capital, equal to 67% of the capital present, thus electing 13 directors. The list of Assogestioni instead stopped at 19,7% of the share capital, 29,2% of the capital present, conquering two seats on the board of directors. Defeated the Bluebell Capital Partners fund.
Nagel, essentially, he deserved confirmation or at least non-aggression in the eyes of the new reference shareholder thanks to the results: a half profit (200,1 million) much higher than the consensus, but also a "generous" dividend policy once the ECB (as it seems) lifts the ban on distributing profits . For that moment, the institution has already provided for a payout” 'relating solely to the dividend component' of 70%, 'taking into account the high capitalization'. This is an increase compared to the 50% recorded in the 2018-2019 financial year, the last dividend distributed before the current stop, made possible by the undisputed leadership in the major extraordinary market operations: the takeover bid by Intesa on Ubi, the merger corso FCA -Psa, the sale of Borsa Spa to Cdp-Euronext, the merger of Nexi- Both awaiting the operations on Atlantia-Cdp and Monte Paschi.
A good way to respond to the accusation of depending too much on Generali which, thanks to the extraordinary charges relating to the closure of the dispute connected to the sale of the Swiss subsidiary BSI, this time made a more modest contribution than usual to Mediobanca's profit. But the Lion of Trieste will give the greatest satisfaction in the future, according to a report by Deutsche Bank which this morning promoted the company's stock from hold to buy (target at 16 euros). Leone's earnings have proved resilient to Covid-19 with a solid outlook and S&P's recent Italian debt upgrade should not be overlooked. Deutsche Bank's analysis suggests that Generali can generate a distributable (and sustainable) free cash flow yield of more than 13%, significantly above the average of its competitors by following a path similar to that of Allianz, i.e. "a more disciplined approach to capital management". Just as Del Vecchio probably likes it.
(Last update: 16.12 on 28 October).
