MILANO – Record revenues, profit in acceleration and remuneration for shareholders in sight. These are the numbers with which Mediobanca presents itself at the end of the year (its fiscal year does not correspond to the calendar year) in a period in which the experiences of the shareholding structure were above all taking the lead. When asked on the subject, the CEO Alberto Nagel replied: “We take care of the management of the bank and focus on this regardless of what happens in our shareholding”, that is the entry and growth in the shareholding structure of Piazzetta Cuccia di Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and Leonardo Del Vecchio. “We in our mandate as directors and as a board of directors manage the group in the best interests of the shareholders regardless of the changes that occur almost daily in the shareholding structure. I would say that the business is running in a profitable and orderly manner,” added Nagel.
Mediobanca closed the 2020/21 financial year with a record revenue, which rose to 2,628 million euros (+ 5% on the previous year), thanks to the driving force of the increased scale and profitability of wealth management and the solid business of corporate and investment banking (cib) and accompanied by a record also in commissions, up 18% to 745 million.
The profit, according to the note announcing the results, stood at 808 million euros, up 35% on 2019/20 and above the consensus of analysts, who expected profits of 789 million. Nagel, in call with journalists after the accounts for the 2020-21 financial year, remarked how the bank has resumed the path of growth and profitability, with record revenues, and how profitability has already returned to pre-Covid levels.
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Piazzetta Cuccia also announces that it is returning to pay the coupon to its shareholders after having ‘missed’ the appointment with the dividend last year, due to the ban imposed by the ECB on supervised banks. It will detach a coupon of € 0.66 per share, equal to a pay-out of 70% and a dividend of approximately € 0.6 billion. A new buyback plan has been approved which will involve up to 3% of the capital, which at current market values is worth another 266 million. The pay-out of 70%, a note reads, is also confirmed for 2022 while the treasury shares in the portfolio, equal to 22.6 million shares, are canceled.
As regards prospects, Mediobanca “expects growth in profitable assets, in particular in financial assets managed on behalf of customers in the” wealth management “segment and in credit volumes” in both the wealth management and consumer divisions. “This – explains a note – should allow for a growth in revenues with an interest margin gradually recovering, despite the continuing pressure on margins, and net commissions that consolidate the record level of the year just ended thanks to the growth of wealth management” .
Piazzetta Cuccia “will continue the progressive and continuous strengthening of the distribution network and digital platforms with the usual cost control. The quality of the assets is expected to remain at the excellent levels achieved”. “The good performance of the vaccination campaign bodes well for the confirmation of the improvement in the macroeconomic scenario, despite the resumption of infections and inflationary pressures”.
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