The Mediobanca group closes the third quarter of 2015-16 with a net profit of 121,3 million euros, down on the 205 million of 12 months before, but up 58% on the previous quarter. The CEO Alberto Nagel, in a conference call, predicts an improvement in the dividend for the current year "if there are no extraordinary events", announces the new industrial plan for November and specifies in RCS that there are currently no alternative proposals and that Mediobanca will carefully evaluate the one presented by Cario Communication.
The title is in progress on the Stock Exchange, in bucking on other banks that travel in deep red, and marks +0,48% at 10,15 after having touched a peak of +2,2% at the beginning of the morning.
On banks, says Nagel, "Renzi and Padoan have acted with pragmatism and courage" but he also hopes for an acceleration that will allow the system to acquire more adequate dimensions: "What the Italian banking system needs - he stated in a conference call - is a credible industry consolidation plan that is too fragmented. We do our part” with investment banking skills, “but the point is that we need an acceleration of consolidation”, added Nagel.
Coming to the quarterly, in the first ones nine months the net result totaled 442,4 million, with a decrease of 5% on the previous year to be attributed “solely” – explains the bank – to non-recurring items, ie the contribution of 57 million to the Resolution Fund.
The figures are clearly better than the expectations of analysts who were aiming for an average profit of 90 million for the quarter and 411 million for the nine months.
The intermediation margin was stable at 1,51 billion (+0,2%) in the 9 months, which is supported on the one hand by8% increase in the interest margin to 906 million thanks in particular to consumer credit and, on the other hand, to be affected by decline in treasury income (-46% to 97,4 million) and commissions (-6,8% to 336,4 million).
In 8% increase in loans to 34,8 billion, as well as the funding (+6% to 45,5 billion). Loan loss provisions decreased (-22% to 319 million) and the cost of risk (to 126 basis points). The cost/income ratio is 42%.
In terms of assets, the Cet 1 index is 12,5% (12,4% as at 31 December) and 13,2% fully phased (from 13,4%). The Mediobanca Group – underlines the press release – “offsets the marked negative trend of the financial markets and interest rates at historic lows with the diversification of activities and the high quality of assets” which leads to growth in industrial results.
DIVIDEND
“We are reasonably confident that this quarter will also be a good quarter,” Nagel said. "Obviously the interest rate scenario impacts, but the diversification of revenues is such as to make us assume that the current quarter will also be an interesting quarter". With regard to the prospects for the profit for the year and the coupon, the CEO of Mediobanca then indicated that if in the context "there are no negative extraordinary events, we should be able to close the year in an equally positive way and therefore aim for an improvement in the dividend".
VENETO BANK
"We will evaluate" an intervention in the context of the IPO "whether it would be useful or indispensable for the listing" of the bank, Nagel went on to specify. And he recalled that the willingness to intervene with Pop Vicenza, with an investment of 75 million euros and the assumption of a 5% stake, was also linked to the fact that Mediobanca was among the arrangers of the BPVI IPO, while it is not in the case of Veneto Banca.
