Poste Italiane closes the first quarter with a profit of 485 million, up 38% year over year. The result exceeds analysts' forecasts, which on average did not go beyond 408 million euros.
As for the revenues, stood at 2,9 billion (+1,8% year on year) mainly driven by postal savings. In this case the consensus was 2,8 billion. The growth in turnover is also linked to the growth of financial services (+3,9%, to 1,5 billion), favored primarily by the renewal of the agreement with CDP, which saw commissions on postal savings rise to 450 million in the first quarter of 2018, against 355 million in the first quarter of 2017.
Il Operating income reached 703 million (+34%), while total assets under management reached 514 billion (+3,3%), thanks to a net collection equal to 4,4 billion. Insurance products generated net inflows of 3,1 billion, of which 0,2 billion in Multiassets Class III and unit linked, confirming the leadership in the sector. Net inflows of mutual funds in the first quarter of 2018 were positive, exceeding €200 million.
"The brilliant performance of the first quarter results is the result of the rapid impact of Deliver 2022, our five-year strategic plan built on the basis of conservative assumptions, with a very low execution risk - commented the CEO of Poste, Matthew Del Fante – All business areas contributed to these results, with a real impact clearly evident both at the operating level and at the net result level. In particular, the concentration of the whole group on cost discipline, combined with greater attention on the commercial side, is already producing results on the whole business".
On the side of Costs, in the first quarter there was a drop of 5,5% to 2,2 billion, in line with the targets indicated in the plan. Personnel costs fell by 3,4%. The average number of employees continues to decline as envisaged by the Deliver 2022 plan: in the first quarter of 2018 the figure stood at 135.740 units, compared to 137.916 in the same period last year, despite the hiring of around 3.000 employees on flexible contracts.
SECURITY UPDATE TRAINING
After the publication of the quarterly results, just over an hour from the opening Poste Italiane shares on the Stock Exchange runs up by 3,4%, to 8,384 euros. This is the best performance of the entire Ftse Mib.
