Earnings above expectations for Mediobanca in the first half ended 31 December. From June to December, the profits of the company led by Alberto Nagel grew by 28% compared to the previous year, reaching 526 million euros. Analysts had instead expected profits of 482 million euros. Taking into consideration the second quarter alone, profit rose by 25,4% to 264 million euro against the 220 million expected by the market
The semester of Mediobanca
In addition to the record profits, it is worth noting the strong increase in revenues, up 12% to 1,459 billion, with the interest margin up to 734 million (+2% y/y). In the second quarter alone, revenues rose by 7% to 753 million.
Returning to the six months, commissions increased by 15,8% to 443,2 million, overheads rose by 7,2% to 633,4 million, for a cost/income ratio dropped to 43% "despite the seasonality of costs (+8% personnel expenses and +7% administrative expenses), accentuated by the strong recovery in operations and the continuous investment in distribution and innovation", underlines Mediobanca in a Note.
The company confirmed the payout ratio at 70%.
The heritage
Turning to the assets data, the Cet1 phase-in coefficient it went from 16,3% to 15,4% including the 70% pay-out, also due to the start of the buyback which weighs about 65 basis points. The fully loaded figure thus dropped to 14,1% from 15,1%. Total assets rose from 82,6 to 89,1 billion with loans and deposits on the increase. In particular, loans to customers only rose by 4,9%, to 50,8 billion), an increase due to contributions to Corporate and Investment Banking (21 billion against 19,3 billion), to Consumer (13,3 billion against 12,9 billion) and to the CheBanca! (from 11,1 to 11,3 billion); leasing decreased slightly (from 1,8 to 1,7 billion). However, the collection has grown by 5,5% to 59,3 billion, thanks to the boost from wealth management (from 27,2 billion to 25,2), which covers 46% of total funding. Wealth management financial assets grew in the first half from 71,5 to 79,4 billion as a result of new flows of 4,4 billion, of which 2,9 billion in the last quarter.
Finally, existing moratoriums they amount to around 373,4 million (0,7% against 1,4% of gross loans in June 2021), down after the peak in May 2020 (around 5% of loans) and represent around 15% of the total granted during the pandemic (2,5 billion).
The results of the individual divisions
Finally, on the front of the economic trend of individual divisions, wealth management closed the half year with a profit of 72,4 million (+54,4%), consumer credit with 190 million (+38%), Corporate & investment banking with 131,7 million (-22,7. 185%), principal investing with 43,8 million (+3.663,1%) with the book value of the investment in Generali rising from 3.761,9 to 186,5 million after profits of XNUMX million.
Mediobanca estimates for the second half of the year
For the next six months Mediobanca estimates "a stabilization of credit volumes even if the recovery of consumer credit, a product with higher margins, will continue". “The investment banking pipeline and the profitability expectations of wealth management are good – adds the institute – which should benefit from the increased average volumes and the constant attention to the development of new products for customers'. “Based on the intense commercial activity, a solid development of revenues is expected which may however be influenced by the greater volatility of the markets and the lower incidence of non-recurring elements', concludes Piazzetta Cuccia.
Mediobanca stock
After the publication of the accounts, Mediobanca stock lengthened its pace and gained 2% to 10,565 euros.
