MILAN (Reuters) – Intesa Sanpaolo (BIT:) has the possibility of proceeding with new buybacks but will have a cautious attitude on share buyback operations.
CEO Carlo Messina declared this during the conference call presenting the first quarter accounts.
“Our capital will improve and therefore there will be room to evaluate further share buybacks. You know I’m not a super fan,” Messina said, adding that there is an excessive focus on the short term in the market.
On Piazza Affari the Intesa stock is down 3.4% after the first quarter results which showed a net profit above expectations thanks to the recovery of net commissions. A positive trend which according to Messina continued in April and which will bring this component of revenues to double-digit growth for the entire year.
The stock widened its losses during the conference call in the wake of the prudent position reiterated by Messina on the buyback
(Valentina Za, Italian version Andrea Mandalà, editing Stefano Bernabei)