The shares of Unipolsai and Moncler shine on the Milan Stock Exchange. While Piazza Affari tries to rebound after yesterday's crash, in mid-morning the shares of the insurance company and the duvet brand respectively gained 3,42% and 4,25% - to 2,604 and 12,50 euros -, putting I mark the two best rises of the Ftse Mib. In both cases, the higher-than-expected quarterly accounts triggered the purchases.
UNIPOLSAI: PROFIT +4,5%, INCOME +2,1%
Yesterday, with the markets closed, Unipolsai announced that it closed the first three months of the year with a net profit up 4,5%, to €186m, and direct insurance premiums of €4,1bn (+2,1 %), of which 2,1 billion in the non-life business (-6,9%) and 1,99 billion in the life business (+13,7%). The combined ratio stopped at 94,1%, down from 92,7% at the end of 2013 post reinsurance, while the solvency margin was 1,6 times the regulatory requirements.
Equita – which issued a buy opinion on the stock, with a target price of 3 euros – considers the results to be “better than the estimates, thanks to the combined and non-core activities”. According to analysts, the consolidated profit attributable to the group - expected at 144 million, against 174 million realized (+93%) - "benefits from the combined better than estimates (92,8% combined post reinsurance from 93,7 % expected, ed), better-than-expected non-life financial management and lower losses recorded in non-core activities, including Atahotel and clinics (-1 million against the -15 million expected)”. Life is just below the estimates.
The surprise on the profit front is “even more significant – adds Equita – if one takes into account that the first quarter also discounts the effect of the increase in taxation on the revaluation of the stake in the Bank of Italy (-21 million)”. The experts explain that they have "substantially confirmed the net profit estimates", with a valuation that "rises by 4% due to the interest rate effect including also the effect of the recently issued convertible".
MONCLER: PROFIT +43,2%, ADJUSTED EBITDA +14,5%
Even Moncler is rewarded by analysts, who define the first quarter as above estimates and the outlook for the full year as encouraging. In the first quarter, revenues increased by 16% at current exchange rates (+19% at constant exchange rates), to 145,4 million euros, adjusted ebitda increased by 14,5%, to 45 million, and l 'net profit of 43,2%, to 23,5 million.
The results are better than Equita's forecasts in terms of ebitda, estimated at 44 million and net profit (22,5 million), while turnover is "in line" with wholesale, which "compensated for the lower effect of openings in retail, where instead the growth of SSS (Same-store sales) was higher than expected at +10% (against our estimates at +8% and the competitors' average at +4%)”.
With regard to the outlook, the experts – who issued a buy opinion on the shares, with a target price of 16,2 euros (the stock trades at 12,46) – are focusing the spotlight on the 24/25 openings for the year announced by against 20 expectations, on the "SSS growth" in April "similar to the first quarter" and on the "good order book for the autumn/winter, which anticipates a mid-single digit growth of wholesale for 2014 (estimates at +3% )”.
As regards the performance of the stock, Equita explains that "the recent underperformance (-15% in 3 months) seems unjustified in light of the strong momentum, the quality of the business model (brand positioning, retail capacity) and the high growth , or a growth (cagr) of earnings per share (eps) of 21% compared to +11/2% of competitors”.
