The Board of Directors of Cattolica Assicurazioni, chaired by the Chairman Paolo Bedoni, yesterday evening approved the 2018-2020 Business Plan, which envisages achieving an operating profit in 2020 of approximately 375-400 million euro, up by over 60% on 2016, and to pay a dividend per share of more than 0,5 euro (about 50% more than in 2016). Return on capital (operating ROE) is expected to be over 10%, four percentage points higher than the 6% achieved in 2016.
Changes to governance are also in the offing. The aim of the board is to make management "leaner and more efficient and to encourage the entry of institutional investors as shareholders", explained the managing director Alberto Minali. The assembly will be proposed the adoption of the 'one-tier' system, with a reduction in the number of directors and the abolition of the executive committee. The ceiling on the shareholdings of legal entities is then raised to 5% and "appropriate forms of representation" are reserved for the list that will reach certain capital thresholds.
For the third-largest Italian insurance company in terms of market capitalization (and at the top for share rise in the insurance sector since the beginning of the year, +17,6%), this is the first strategic plan since the arrival, in April 2017, of the to Alberto Minali in the control room of the group in which the American financier Warren Buffett made his appearance a few months later. His Berkshire Hathaway became the largest shareholder with over 9% taking over, last October, the share held by Banca Popolare di Vicenza. Other shareholders above 2% (Consob data) include Norges Bank (3,092%), the Banca del Monte di Lombardia Foundation (3,162%) and the Cassa di Risparmio di Verona, Vicenza, Belluno and Ancona Foundation (3,437%).
“The business plan that will make the Cattolica group innovative, agile and responsive to new market challenges and also stronger and more profitable in the interest of all stakeholders. The 2020 targets are realistic but ambitious in terms of growth, technical excellence and innovation. We have embarked on a process of industrial and cultural change within the group, which involves business, human capital and the governance model. The concreteness of this Plan is confirmed by the 2020 dividend per share target: we want to repay our shareholders for the trust they place in us and we expect a remuneration increase of around 50%”, said the CEO Minali.
