All the latest news on Nexi: facts, numbers and turmoil
What happens in Nexi between an avoided strike, stock market performance, exits from capital and more. The article by Emanuela Rossi
Strike thwarted but still troubled waters in Nexi, the giant of digital payments led by Paolo Bertoluzzo since 2016 (in the photo). Since last year, or since the merger – signed at the end of 2021 – with the competitor Sia, the group has been collecting some difficulties: drop in the stock on the Stock Exchange (to the lowest for 5 years) and consequent devaluation of the Mediolanum stake, sale of the Intesa stake Sanpaolo, unions criticize the remuneration of the top management of the group also owned by Cassa depositi e prestiti, controlled by the Ministry of the Economy, with 13.56% .
THE CRITICISM OF THE TRADE UNIONS
At the beginning of the month, the attempt at conciliation in Abi between the company and the trade unions had ended with a negative result and Fabi, First, Fisac, Uilca and Unisin had decided to proceed by July with a three-day strike.
In a joint note, the unions had noted: “The company justifies its rigidity with the presumed economic sustainability, fairness among colleagues and the ultimate goal of the good of the employees. We find the concepts of sustainability, fairness and 'employee good' at least curious with respect to the 'legitimate' compensation paid to Top Management: in 2019 the CEO ( Paolo Bertoluzzo ed ) and the CFO of Nexi were in 1st place (over 43 million) and in 4th place (over 17 million) for salaries among managers of Italian companies listed on the stock exchange (Sole24ore source). In 2022 CEO and executives had compensation in the order of millions of euros. In 2023 there is an LTI program which provides for an additional 5 million premium for a limited number of beneficiaries”.
A few days ago, however, the agreement arrived – and the suspension of the agitation – on the issues under discussion (Vap, ie the company bonus, supplementary pension fund, shifts and welfare). It is a "satisfactory general agreement with particular reference to the points that represented the most critical points" explained the trade union organizations which will now have to bring the text to the workers' assemblies for approval. However, the agreement represents "a substantial change of pace which we hope will open to a new era of trade union relations and a new and serene corporate climate based on mutual respect".
REMUNERATION OF NEXI'S TOP MANAGEMENT
As regards the notes of the trade union organizations on the salary front, it should be remembered that in past years the top management of Nexi were in first place in the salary ranking of Italian managers.
It should be specified that CEO Bertoluzzo in 2019 had earned a total of 43.17 million euros gross, of which, however, 39.1 million came from capital gains realized thanks to the warrants purchased at the beginning of 2017 (Bertoluzzo had invested 1.84 million). In that year Nexi had been listed on the Stock Exchange. listing of the digital payments company on the Stock Exchange allowed him to monetize the warrants purchased at the beginning of 2017 (he had invested 1.84 million) and realize capital gains of 39.1 million.
According to the Report on the policy on remuneration and remuneration paid , approved by the board on 6 March, since the renewal of the mandate (5 May 2022) for the period 2022-2024, the non-executive chairman of the board has received a total gross annual emolument equal to 480 thousand euros and an additional remuneration as a member of the Strategic Committee and the Control, Risk and Sustainability and Remuneration and Appointments Committees. During the previous mandate, the total gross annual emolument was equal to 300 thousand euros to which one was added for the role of chairman of the Board of Nexi Payments SpA, for which, however, no compensation is foreseen from 2022.
The chief executive officer and general manager, on the other hand, received a gross annual salary of 1,500,000, including both the salary from CEO and any other office held in group companies. Before 5 May 2022, the remuneration was instead equal to 1,200,000. As regards short-term variable remuneration – mbo (management by objectives), for 2022 the CEO and General Manager had a target incentive of 1.5 million euro. Overall last year the CEO and GM received a gross mbo of 1,532,794 euros with a percentage payout compared to the value of the target incentive equal to 102%.
THE DEVALUATION OF MEDIOLANUM
The pains of Nexi, or even caused by Nexi, are recorded in the Mediolanum house, one of the three financial groups in the Fininvest galaxy together with Mfe and Mondadori. In 2022, in fact, the group led by Massimo Doris (whose family is the majority shareholder with 40%) closed the first half with a net profit of 237.9 million euros, 11.5% less than to 268.7 million in the same period of 2021. A drop, Mediolanum pointed out, "solely" due to the Nexi stock held in the portfolio measured at fair value.
The decline had begun almost a year earlier, after the merger with Sia, and the stock had gone from over 18 euros to less than 9 euros in April 2022. Among the minority shareholders of Sia there was also Banca Mediolanum, which in 2022 fell less than 1 percent. As the newspaper summarized . Mediolanum "has written down the stock at current prices, recording an accounting deficit of approximately 40 million".
THE FAREWELL OF INTESA SANPAOLO
Last year, Intesa Sanpaolo sold around 67 million ordinary shares of Nexi, corresponding to around 5.1% of the share capital and the entire stake held, at a price of 8.7 per ordinary share, through an accelerated bookbuilding. In total, the consideration received by Ca de' Sass amounted to approximately 584 million, in line with the amount paid by the bank to enter Nexi (653 million euros for a 9.9% stake based on the strategic agreement signed in December 2019 on payments ).
It should be noted that the purchase of the stake was part of a broader agreement under which Intesa Sanpaolo sold the payment activities of its resellers to Nexi and entered into a partnership until the end of 2044. The investment yielded the institute led by Carlo Messina – who said he did not want to affect the rest of the agreement – a capital gain of 1.1 billion euros.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/tutte-le-ultime-novita-su-nexi-fatti-numeri-e-subbugli/ on Sun, 25 Jun 2023 05:48:08 +0000.