MILANO – The day after the board of directors that approved the plan signed by the CEO Philippe Donnet by a majority, Generali presented the strategic document to the market. A step that comes in the midst of the conflict between shareholders and waiting for the Caltagirone-Del Vecchio front to launch its alternative plan, at the beginning of next year, in view of the spring meeting in which the final battle will be consummated to understand which will be the next management of the Lion.
“I do not comment on yesterday’s board meeting. The board has approved the strategic plan we are presenting today,” said Donnet speaking on call with reporters, responding to the non-unanimity of the approval.
Here, then, are the numbers of Donnet’s plan. With the new three-year strategy “Lifetime Partner 24: Driving Growth” to 2024, Generali aims for profits of up to 5 billion with a + 6% / 8% range of the compound annual growth rate of earnings per share. It also provides net cash flows available at the parent company level of over 8.5 billion and 5.2 / 5.6 billion cumulative dividends against the 4.5 billion of the 2019-2024 plan. Among the possible remuneration of shareholders, it is expected that the residual resources of the Generali 2021 plan, not spent on acquisitions, will be used for a buyback of own shares: a buyback of 500 million is envisaged at the end of Generali 2021, the first in 15 years. The note before the opening of the markets also states that 1.1 billion in investments in digital and technological transformation are planned, up 60% compared to Generali 2021. 3 billion are earmarked for M&A and 100 are expected. million in revenues from third parties in asset management.
“The consolidated commitment of Generali as a Life Partner places our customers at the center of everything we do. With our new plan we will make a further leap in quality and confirm Generali as an innovative Group focused on customers and on the use of data. “, the statement entrusted to the note by Donnet. “The ambitious goals and initiatives we announced today are possible thanks to the success of our previous strategic plans. Today, Generali has a solid financial and capital position, diversified sources of income, constant and profitable growth and a proven ability to generate returns for shareholders at the top of the sector. We are ready to build the next three years on the basis of these results – he continues -. Our leadership in the insurance sector, the asset management skills that we have developed and consolidated internally, our network of 165,000 agents and our growing commitment to make a positive contribution in the social and environmental fields, demonstrate that Generali is in the ideal position to achieve sustainable growth for the benefit of all stakeholders “.
In the field of innovation, the new plan includes a 250 million venture capital fund to seize high-potential opportunities in insurtech.
On the acquisitions, Donnet remarked on a conference call that “it is not the most important part of the plan, also because this cannot be planned and if a plan is based only on M&A it is not a plan”, responding to the fact that the budget for external growth, between 2.5 and 3 billion, was less than the 4 billion of the previous plan. The manager stressed that if other operations such as the run off of Generali Leben are implemented, the budget could still increase. The strategy? “It is always the same: select opportunities that create value for all stakeholders and shareholders, strengthen ourselves in the insurance business in the markets in which we are already present, for example in Asia, as we did in Malaysia, focusing on selected markets. it concerns asset management, where we want to be a global leader, the target is wider and mainly includes Great Britain and the United States “.
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