Unicredit and Enel publish their accounts for 2016. The banking group, which will close the 10 billion capital increase before 13 March, closed the year with a net book loss of 11,8 billion, thus confirming the estimates provided last year January 30th. Excluding 13,1 billion of non-recurring items, net profits would have been 1,3 billion. Revenues for the year were stable at 18,8 billion (-0,3%).
In the fourth quarter of 2016 alone, the net book loss amounted to 13,6 billion. Excluding €13,2 billion of non-recurring items in the quarter, the loss would be €352 million, due to lower revenues and an increase in loan loss provisions partly offset by rigorous cost control.
“2016 was a crucial year for Unicredit. We have taken numerous incisive actions to overcome past negative legacies and operational criticalities in order to ensure the future success of the group”. This was stated by the CEO of the Unicreedit group, Jean Pierre Mustier, commenting on the results for the 2016 financial year, released today.
“We will continue to strengthen our simple pan-European commercial banking business model benefiting from a fully integrated CIB Division, while continuing to provide access to our unrivaled network in Western and Central Eastern Europe to our 25 million customers” , he added.
Unicredit also confirms "all the objectives of the Transform 2019 plan" that had been announced. Among other things, the "cash dividend distribution policy with a payout of 20-50% starting from 2017" was confirmed, as announced in the Transform 2019 plan. The board of directors therefore "resolved not to propose any payment of dividends for the 2016 financial year”.
Enel, on the other hand, closes 2016 with an increase in profitability, summarized by an ordinary Ebitda which grew by 1,3% to 15,2 billion, thanks to better margins recorded in Latin America and on the retail markets of Italy and Spain. Revenues instead fell in the same period by 6,7%, to 70,6 billion, from the 75,7 billion recorded in 2015. Ebitda amounted to 15,3 billion euros, unchanged compared to 2015, while l net financial debt reached 37,6 billion euros, a marginal increase (+0,3%) compared to the 37,5 billion euros recorded at the end of 2015.
“We are very satisfied with the results achieved in 2016 which are a consequence of the excellent implementation of our strategy. In particular, ordinary Ebitda is above market expectations and the target announced last November, despite the challenging macroeconomic context - said Enel's CEO and Chief Executive Officer, Francesco Starace - Growth in renewables, the efficient cost management, the good margins achieved in Latin America and the positive evolution of the retail sector in mature markets made it possible to counteract the contraction in revenues and the unfavorable exchange rate effect. The solid results of the 2016 financial year allow us to confirm the plan targets, continuing with the implementation of our new strategy for the years 2017-2019".
Net financial debt at the end of 2016 amounted to 37,6 billion euro, up by 0,3% compared to the end of December 2015. The difference with respect to the targets presented to the financial community is due to the significant change in rates exchange rate recorded in the last few months of 2016, with particular reference to the US dollar and sterling.
