Little move today Piazza Affari which remained in surplace waiting for the Federal Reserve this evening. Traders expect little news from the US central bank statement with forward guidance expected to remain unchanged.
The Ftse Mib index closed today at -0.05% in the area of 24,459 points. Among the securities of the main basket, even today the banks that conquer the top are doing well, led by Bper (+ 2.75%) and Banco Bpm (+ 2.24%) on which M&A sirens are returning. Unicredit also did well with +1.36 percent. Also supporting the fund were the accounts of the German Deutsche Bank which reported record quarterly earnings since 2014.
Difficult day for Enel which left 1.22% on the ground at € 8.448. To weigh was the surge in BTP yields with the Italian ten-year reaching 0.87%, the highest level after more than 7 months. Among the big Milanese, however, Eni did well (+ 0.93% to € 10.204) in the wake of the rise in oil prices. Yesterday’s OPEC + meeting confirmed the volume hike plans scheduled until July that had been announced in early April, with no surprise changes. Best stock was Tenaris with + 3.3%.
Debacle on the other hand for Saipem which lost more than 5% to € 2.04 thanks to the weak results of the first quarter and the Mozambique node that puts the 2021 guidance in the balance. In the first quarter, Saipem’s revenues fell by 25.5% to 1.618 billion euros compared to 2.172 billion in the first three months of 2020 (Bloomberg consensus at 1.92 billion). Double-digit decline for gross operating profit (Ebitda) which fell by 69.6% to 73 million, while adjusted Ebitda slipped by 63.3% to 88 million against 125.4 of the Bloomberg consensus. The operating result (Ebit) was negative for € 49 million (-72.3%). In the quarter the loss was equal to 120 million euros against the red of 269 million a year ago.
For Saipem, there is also the Mozambique issue which does not allow it to confirm the guidance for 2021. The oil services group announced that on April 26, Total declared the force majeure (force majeure clause) on the Mozambique LNG project . “Given the recent suspension of activities and the note issued by Total, evaluations are underway in close cooperation with the customer to preserve the value of the project”, explains Saipem, which is currently not in a position to assess the financial impacts for 2021 and consequently to confirm or update the full-year guidance communicated in February.