“We closed 2017 in line with all business plan objectives or ahead of schedule, and presented excellent results. Our strategy is the right one and it has also led us to increase the dividend for shareholders by 6%, with the current payout at 0,85 cents”. As the CEO Group of Generali, Philippe Donnet, dressed in an elegant light Prince of Wales, opened the proceedings of the Trieste shareholders' meeting, proudly addressing the audience of shareholders of the group which, under his management (which expires in spring 2019) has returned to running and at the center of market attention.
Donnet indeed, in his speech, did not fail to recall that since the Investor Day of 2016, when the current industrial plan was presented (the next one will be presented on November 21 in Milan, in the new Generali headquarters at CityLife), Generali stock on the Stock Exchange “was up 40%, outperforming the Euro Stoxx Insurance index, up 18,4%. A clear trend reversal compared to the previous period, which saw Generali bring up the rear of the European insurance sector with a loss of 60% compared to -8,8% for the Euro Stoxx”.
The managing director then recalled all the objectives already achieved in the industrial plan: the international presence, the rationalization of the operating machine and costs (just yesterday evening Generali sold its entire stake in Generali Belgium to Athora Holding, for a value of over half a billion euro), a top combined ratio (92,8% in 2017) despite the greater impact of catastrophic events, the rebalancing of the Life portfolio to compensate for the still low rates and then innovation, which as also underlined by the president Gabriele Galateri di Genola will be at the center of the next plan.
“In the next plan – Donnet said – we will present a very different strategy from the one we are currently focusing on, there will be further financial optimization and expansion of our group”. “We will focus on managed savings with the offer of new products and there is ample room for growth in the Life business, in particular for the elderly”, he then specified in response to questions from shareholders. “We are in the fourth industrial revolution – President Galateri had previously declared – e a group like Generali cannot fail to take up the challenge of digital technology and the Internet of things. We are already very active on this, for example we manage 1,5 million connected vehicles, which transmit important data to us, but we will do even more in the next plan”.
Galateri also mentioned a topic that is “definitely underestimated like that of cybercrime. To date, one billion people in the world are affected by this activity, which has already caused damages of 500 billion dollars. We also have to face this challenge”. Donnet, on the other hand, closed his speech by recalling Generali's vocation for social responsibility and sustainability: “These are values that fill our brand with meaning. In 2017, the BoD approved the Charter of Sustainability Commitments, which is based on two pillars: doing business in a sustainable way, aiming for excellence in our internal processes, and experiencing the community, playing an active role where we operate, beyond our daily activities. We have identified 12 key points and I would like to mention the Human Safety Net project".
Donnet was also indirectly called upon to respond to the Greenpeace protest, before and during the assembly held at the Trieste Maritime Station: "From now until 2020 we will invest 3,5 billion in green sectors (infrastructure and green bonds), and we have divested 2 billion euros in coal-related assets”. In a press release, Generali specified that it will divest its equity investments and divest its bond investments, bringing them to maturity or evaluating the possibility of divesting them before maturity: "We will accompany the transition from fossil fuels to renewables, but without ideological barriers", clarified Galateri in reply to a question from a shareholder.
“As regards exposure in countries where the economy and employment are heavily dependent on coal – explains the company's note released during the meeting – Generali's strategy focuses on accelerating the transition and on involving customers and stakeholders. Particularly in Poland, the tenth largest coal consumer in the world and the second largest in Europe, the reduction could take many years. In any case, this is a limited exposure of Generali: compared to the total premiums of Non-Life products, the exposure in these markets is equal to approximately 0,1%, while for investments it is equal to 0,02%”.
The meeting saw the participation of representatives of foreign funds, with a share of 22,91% of the capital, a slight decrease compared to last year because this time no election of corporate bodies was on the agenda. The main shareholders are found to be: Mediobanca with 12,97%, Caltagirone with 4%, Leonardo Del Vecchio with 3,16% and Benetton with 3,04% of the capital. The shareholder register shows that Italian shareholders with 23,1% of the capital exceed foreign institutional investors.
