L'Espresso announces a capital increase of almost 80 million euros to finance the merger with La Stampa. This was announced by the publishing group after the board of directors meeting on the annual financial statements, explaining that the board of directors "has decided to submit to the shareholders' meeting the proposal to increase the share capital, to be released through a contribution in kind by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (Fca) and Ital Press Holding, of shareholdings representing overall the entire share capital of Italiana Editrice (Itedi)”, which publishes La Stampa.
The total amount of the increase "has been determined at 79,969 million" and the operation will be carried out through the issue of 96.651.191 new ordinary shares of the Espresso group, each with a nominal value of 0,15 euro, of which 74.421.417. 22.229.774 will be assigned to FCA and 43,40 will be assigned to Ital Press. Upon completion of the transaction, the Cir holding will hold 14,63% of the capital of the Espresso group, while FCA will hold 4,37% and Ital Press XNUMX%.
The capital increase, underlines L'Espresso, "constitutes the implementation method of the project to integrate the group's activities with Itedi's activities". The completion of the integration, "which is subject to the authorization of the competent authorities and the occurrence of the conditions precedent typical for transactions of this type (such as obtaining the corporate authorisations), is expected for the first half of 2017".
As for the annual accounts, L'Espresso closes 2016 with a net profit of 10,4 million, down on the 17 million of the previous year. The decrease in the net result is linked to the capital gain realized in 2015 with the sale of the Deejay TV channel. Revenues in 2016, on the other hand, amounted to 585,5 million, down by 3,2%.
The board of directors will propose to the shareholders' meeting, convened for 27 April, "not to distribute any dividends and to allocate the profit to the retained earnings reserve, since the legal reserve has already reached 20% of the share capital".
The completion of the integration, "which is subject to the authorization of the competent authorities and the occurrence of the conditions precedent typical for transactions of this type (such as obtaining the corporate authorisations), is expected for the first half of 2017".
