The data on February's collection was positive Soul Holding, but accounts down slightly due to a lower contribution from performance fees. Despite this, the board of directors decided to propose to the shareholders the distribution of a dividend of 0,25 euro per share and the stock immediately took off on the Stock Exchange: at 16 pm Anima Holding was earning 2% against a FtseMib on parity .
Talking about the net collection, in February the group recorded a positive flow of 170 million euro, a result which brings the total amount since the beginning of the year to 118 million. In detail, in the first two months of 2017, asset management inflows were positive by €470 million, while those relating to open-ended funds were negative by around €352 million.
Marco Carreri, CEO of Anima Holding and Anima Sgr underlined that “2017 began in a context similar to the last part of the previous year, and consequently with a collection trend in retail similar in terms of characteristics and volumes; in this segment we are nonetheless recording signs of improvement, although the confirmation of the trend reversal will only come when doubts about the solidity of the Italian credit system have been definitively removed from the table”.
As for the accounts, Anima closed 2016 with total net revenues of 253,7 million euros, down by 13% compared to the 291,2 million recorded in 2015. According to what is stated in the note published by the company: “The decrease is entirely attributable to the lower contribution of incentive fees which in 2016 amounted to 20,6 57,3 million euros (compared to 2015 million euros in XNUMX)".
The net profit in 2016 instead amounted to 101,2 million euro, down from the 126,9 million euro of 2015. The figure discounts, inter alia, the effect of higher charges – amounting to around 9 million – relating to the agreement with the Revenue Agency of 7 July 2016.
The consolidated net financial position as at 31 December 2016 was positive for 192,9 million euro, an improvement compared to 185,2 million at the end of 2015.
On the basis of the results achieved, the board of directors intends to propose to the shareholders' meeting which will meet on April 27th, the distribution of a dividend for 2017 of €0,25 for each ordinary share of Anima Holding. The coupon will be payable starting from May 24, 2017 (with coupon detachment May 22, 2017 and record date May 23, 2017).
But today's Anima news doesn't stop there. The holding company is currently engaged in opening "very very preliminary channels of dialogue" with Banco Bpm on the possibility acquisition of Aletti Gestielle, which has always been in the sights of the group together with Arca.
This was stated by CEO Marco Carreri who declared in an interview with Reuters: “Arca has a complicated governance, Gestielle is an operation we are looking at with greater interest because we have a historical relationship with BPM and they know that we are interested”.
Carreri also stated that the shareholder and partner Poste Italiane brought 500 million in funding in the first two months of 2017 and confirmed that Poste Italiane will contribute 15 billion in funding over five years.
Today's news seems to have attracted the interest and consensus of investors in Piazza Affari, where just over an hour after closing, Anima share gains 2,06%, clearly beating the performance of the Milan Stock Exchange, which currently travels just below parity (-0.03%).
