Mediobanca closed the first half of the 2011-2012 financial year with a consolidated net profit down by 75,9%, to 63,4 million euro, compared to 262,9 million in the first half of the previous year. The institute discounted new write-downs on securities for a total of 269 million.
After this morning's meeting of the board of directors on the accounts, the union pact board meeting is scheduled for the afternoon in Piazzetta Cuccia. Just before 14pm the chairman and CEO of the French insurance group Axa, Henri De Castries, was seen entering the Milan office of Mediobanca, who, however, has not released any statements on the reasons for his visit. But immediately after him Salvatore Ligresti also arrived in Piazzetta Cuccia, honorary president of Fonsai.
The Axa group had been indicated in recent days by press rumors among those who may be interested in participating in the reorganization of Fondiaria-Sai. An operation in which, among other things, the finance companies Palladio and Sator surprisingly got involved, which overall raked up around 8% of the company's capital and signed a consultation agreement between them. Mediobanca is the architect of the direction of the announced merger operation between the Unipol group and the Premafin-Fonsai-Milan chain, pending the go-ahead from the authorities and the shareholders' meetings.
Returning to the semi-annual accounts, the government bonds of Greece in the portfolio they lost value by 114 million (at 30% of the nominal value), thus bringing their overall write-down to 70%. The equity investment in Rcs was also written down by 55 million (with the book value brought to 1,23 euro per share) and shares available for sale by 59,4 million, of which 34 million in Delmi (as part of the exchange between the stake in Edison and the one in Edipower).
Il Roe normalized it was equal to 8% at the end of last December, while the Core Tier1 stood at 11% (compared to 11,2% at the end of June 2011). Revenues fell by 4,5% in the six months to 973,3 million, "exclusively" - reads the official press release - due to the lower contribution of strategic equity investments. In the second quarter of the current year alone (October-December 2012), Mediobanca achieved a net profit that fell to 6,6 million compared to 56,8 million in the second quarter of the previous year.
I divisional results saw a 5% drop in revenues for CIB (corporate & investment banking), to 448 million in the half year, and a net loss of 37 million due to 222 million writedowns/losses on the available-for-sale securities portfolio, including the 114 million writedowns on Greek government bonds.
The retail & private banking division recorded a net profit which rose to 95,8 million from 38 million in the first half of the previous year thanks also to the capital gain of 44 million realized on the sale of a property in the Principality of Monaco. Lastly, the six-month period recorded an improvement in funding and liquidity. Funding rose from 51,7 to 54 billion thanks to the three-year ECB loan in December (4 billion) and the increase in CheBanca! deposits. Financial availability rose again to 18,7 billion from 16,7 billion in September 2011.
