The number one of Mediobanca, Albert Nagel, assures that the new Board of Generali – to be renewed at the meeting at the end of April – will be in continuity with the current one. In essence, this means that the confirmation of the CEO Philippe Donnet it is taken for granted, even if the problem relating to the presidency remains to be resolved. Naturally the orientation of Mediobanca, which is Generali's leading shareholder, will have to be compared with that of the other shareholders and above all of Caltagirone and Del Vecchio who have grown to around 5% in Generali, but the Piazzetta Cuccia line still counts also for Trieste.
“The current board of directors approved a plan in November that goes in the right direction – explained Nagel – because it envisages an important recovery of profitability by associating it with company development and a lowering of financial leverage. Since all of this was approved in November and we have full confidence in this type of path, it seems to us desirable that the new board of directors is in a position to allow the delivery of that plan and therefore, from this point of view, a board of directors tends to be in continuity".
Furthermore, Nagel pointed out that the expected sale of 3% of Generali by Mediobanca will not necessarily arrive by June: “From a strategic point of view, our orientation has not changed, i.e. we consider the investment in Generali as an important source of profitability which, from a corporate point of view, can be replaced, and it should be progressively replaced, with banking assets. What changes is the timing, we no longer have any kind of need linked to a calendar. Today we have an overabundant capital endowment that allows us to face any type of scenario and therefore in our business we will always be very interested in understanding which M&A activities are which, if of a certain size, also involve a release of capital from the shareholding in Generals".
Nagel's claims are not entirely satisfactory Jean Pierre Mustier"I would have liked to have a stronger pact than what was later decided – said the number one of Unicredit about Generali – because I think it is positive for Italy to have a strong shareholder base in Mediobanca, to ensure that Mediobanca and above all its subsidiaries, and I am thinking in particular of the large insurance company (Generali , ed), can be protected and remain Italian, independent and listed in Italy".
Mediobanca's shareholders have decided to sign a consultation agreement until 2021. "The other shareholders have chosen otherwise and we have followed the other shareholders", added Mustier, reiterating that for UniCredit the stake in Mediobanca remains "a financial investment".
The Board of Mediobanca approved today too the accounts for the first half of the 2018-2019 financial yearclosed with a net profit of 450,5 million, down by 5,4% compared to 476,3 million last year due to the absence of capital gains on the sale of Afs shares (94,4 million in December 2017). However, the figure beats the consensus estimates of analysts who estimated a net profit of 428 million.
Despite market volatility and macro deterioration, the institution delivers best semester ever for revenue and profitability. In detail, revenues are up 9%, to 1,277 billion, and operating profit, net of loan adjustments, is up 16%, to 606 million.
