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Intesa Sanpaolo closed the first nine months of 2023 with a net profit of 6.1 billion, up 85.3% compared to the same period of 2022. In the third quarter alone the result doubled to 1.9 billion (from 957 million), exceeding analysts’ forecasts. Returning to the nine months, net operating income rose by 19% to 18.8 billion, with net interest at 10.65 billion (+65.5%) and net commissions at 6.45 billion (-3.7%) .
Operating costs were essentially stable (+0.7%) at 7.9 billion, for a cost/income ratio that fell to 41.9%. As for capital solidity, the Cet 1 coefficient is at 13.6% after deducting approximately 4.3 billion in dividends accrued in the nine months and without considering the positive impact of the absorption of the 120 basis point Dta.
Targets revised upwards
In 2023 Intesa Sanpaolo expects «a significant increase in the operating result, deriving from solid growth in revenues driven by net interest (net interest expected to be well over 14 billion in 2023 and further growth in 2024 and 2025) and from a continuous focus on cost management, and a sharp drop in net value adjustments on loans, with a consequent growth in net profit to over 7.5 billion”. Previously Intesa expected a 2023 profit “well over 7 billion”, with net interest “over 13.5 billion”. Furthermore, for 2024 and 2025, Intesa sees “a prospect of net profit higher than that expected for 2023”. The bank underlines that «the implementation of the 2022-2025 business plan is proceeding at full speed and key industrial initiatives are well underway».
Dividends, advance payment doubled
The board of directors also approved the distribution of 14.40 euro cents per share as an interim dividend based on the 2023 results. More precisely, the Board of Directors approved the distribution of 2.63 billion, resulting from a unit amount of 14 .40 euro cents for each of the 18,282,798,989 ordinary shares. The interim dividend per share almost doubled in 2023 compared to 2022, rising from 7.38 to 14.40 euro cents, an amount which corresponds to a dividend yield of 5.7%.
«Intesa Sanpaolo’s first nine months of 2023 are the demonstration of our ability to continue developing a bank with high and sustainable profitability, promoter of the most important project for social cohesion in the country, committed to designing new strategies as a European leader . All stakeholders benefit and will benefit significantly from it. In the first nine months of the year, the growth in interest income made possible a decisive increase in profitability, consequently the accrued dividends amounted to 4.3 billion euros, of which 2.6 billion will be paid on 22 November as an interim dividend. Our bank is the first in Europe in terms of dividend yield; It should be underlined that approximately 40% of these are intended for Italian families and our shareholder foundations, allowing for important social interventions in the territories they belong to.”