If only at the end of April the CEO of Generali, Philippe Donnet, seemed to have already started working on the new industrial plan, now his attitude appears more cautious, more focused on waiting. “We await the investor day of next December 15 to present the new plan” Donnet declares in the press release with which the Trieste insurance group, early in the morning of August 3, raises the veil on the numbers of the first half of 2021. And during the conference phone in the morning reiterates the concept: “I do not comment on the rumors, the rumors, and what is said in the board, I am focused on doing my job in the interest of all the shareholders and in preparing the next strategic plan”.
Only on 29 April, the CEO of Generali had already said he was working on the new industrial plan from 2022 to 2024. Which, he had announced, “will be in continuity with the current one and will have as its objective – from a strategic point of view – the definition of ambitious growth objectives and strengthening of the group’s ability to generate sustainable value and results over time ».
Except that, just recently, the part of the shareholders more oriented to change the helmsman of the group – and therefore Donnet himself – who finds the most aggressive exponent in the partner and deputy vice-president, Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, had expressed some perplexity to leave that a CEO who may not be confirmed gets to work on the new plan.
After all, as just confirmed by the insurance company, the decisive appointment to understand if there is still room for the French manager in the future of Generali is that of 27 September. “The board – always reads the note from Leone on the half-year report – has also decided to start preparatory activities for the procedure for the definition of any list of candidates by the board itself in view of the renewal of the administrative body expiring in the 2022, procedure that will be submitted to the Board for examination at the meeting scheduled for September 27th ».
This is precisely the front that is creating the most tensions among the shareholders. On the one hand, in fact, there is the first shareholder of Generali, Mediobanca, which appears in favor of the approach according to which the outgoing board of directors will prepare a list of names for its own renewal, in April next year. On the other hand, there is once again that wing of shareholders led by Caltagirone, which seems to be also supported by the Turin Crt Foundation, by the Benetton family and in some respects by Leonardo Del Vecchio (among other things, almost 20% of Mediobanca, where Caltagirone is also growing), which expresses skepticism at the idea that the outgoing board of directors, where the bank of Piazzetta Cuccia plays a leading role, decides about its future.
While waiting for the team to be found among the shareholders and within the board of directors in view of September, Generali announced that it had closed the first six months of 2021 with a net profit of 1.54 billion, doubled compared to 774 million. for the same period of 2020. Among other data, gross premiums are up by 5.5% to 38.09 billion, and the operating result has risen by 10.4% to 2.996 billion. «It is not obvious to have such good and solid results in a challenging context. We are focused on doing what we need to do and we will be focused until the last day of 2021, ”said Donnet.