Here are the accounts of Unicredit that Mustier leaves
The 2020 loss. The news at the top. The prospects. What emerges from the Unicredit accounts
Unicredit greets 2020 with a loss of 2.78 billion, beyond analysts' estimates, and Jean Pierre Mustier who leaves the CEO and general manager seats in advance – as of today. Therefore, it will not be the French manager who will pass the baton to Andrea Orcel, who will officially take office after the approval of the shareholders' meeting, scheduled for April. In the meantime, new Charon, Ranieri de Marchis, the current co-Chief Operating Officer, is leading the group as CEO, to whom all the powers of Mustier go and who will remain in office until Orcel is appointed.
THE FERRY DRIVER DE MARCHIS
De Marchis has been with Unicredit, at the time Unicredito Italiano, since 2003 as CFO. Previously, since 1990, he held several senior positions in the General Electric Group. Between 2005 and 2009 in the institute then based in Piazza Cordusio he was Deputy General Manager while in 2009 he was appointed Head of Internal Audit and in 2016 co-Chief Operating Officer. "With his vast experience – said the chairman, Cesare Bisoni – Ranieri will guarantee operational continuity and the continuation of our commitment to achieving the Group's objectives, up to the appointment of Andrea Orcel as CEO after the Shareholders' Meeting".
ACCOUNTS FOR 2020
So Gae Aulenti closes a 2020 with a loss of 2.78 billion and an underlying net profit of 1.3 billion, after making provisions for 5 billion in loan adjustments to cope with the economic impact of the pandemic. For 2021, the group confirms the underlying net profit target of over 3 billion.
A negative sign also for revenues, at 17.1 billion, down 9 per cent on a trend basis, and the interest margin, at 9.4 billion (-6.3 per cent on an annual basis), mainly due to interest rates lower loans (-1.1 billion over the year). Commissions also fell, amounting to 6 billion, down by 5.2 percent compared to 2019, and income from trading activities, to 1.4 billion, or -15.4 percent due to lower customer activity. (-0.3 billion year on year).
In terms of capital ratios, the fully loaded pro forma Cet1 ratio reaches 15.08 per cent and the pro forma fully loaded Cet1 MDA buffer at 605 basis points. Finally, non-performing loans: the ratio of gross loans to total gross loans of the group is 4.5 per cent.
THE DIVIDEND PROPOSAL
The April shareholders' meeting will also approve the coupon detachment proposal – after 1 October 2021 – made by the board which foresees for 2021, combining ordinary and extraordinary distributions, a total dividend amount of 1.1 billion, established from buybacks of treasury shares for 0.8 billion and cash dividends for 0.3 billion. Furthermore, also for the current year, the extraordinary distribution of capital equal to 652 million euro is envisaged, entirely in the form of buy-backs of own shares.
MUSTIER'S FAREWELL …
After the accounts, Mustier's leave, who wanted to give his personal welcome to Orcel "who will join the bank after the shareholders' meeting in April". According to the French banker, who attended his latest conference call at the helm of the bank, “Andrea brings to the Group a wealth of experience and an extraordinary series of results in international finance. It has all the numbers to guide UniCredit in the next stage of its journey ”.
Mustier, however, also wanted to put some dots on the i. "UniCredit's result in terms of underlying net profit was extraordinary, considering the impact of Covid-19 on all markets and the € 5 billion of provisions for loan adjustments that we accounted for in 2020, anticipating the expected future impacts". According to the outgoing CEO, "our ability to successfully face the last 12 months was possible thanks to the important strengths of the bank, which boasts a very solid balance sheet, a deeply integrated risk and cost culture and a focus
on achieving long-term sustainable results. The bank – he pointed out – is well positioned to continue to support customers and face the future with confidence ”. Certainly, however, he said in response to journalists who urged him, “it is premature to talk about Andrea Orcel and the future strategies of the group, it is a topic to be addressed after the assembly. So today I'm just talking about the results ”.
As usual, Mustier received thanks from Bisoni “on behalf of the Board of Directors and of all UniCredit for having successfully led the group over the years”.
… AND WHAT BUBBLES IN A POT
A few words on what will be the new Unicredit. "We will have an assembly in April and the arrival of the new CEO," said the CFO, Stefano Porro during the conference call. At that point "the new CEO and the board of directors will review the strategy and communicate it to the market in the appropriate time". When asked about the future strategy, Porro pointed out: “It is premature to talk about it now before arriving at the bank” by Orcel. For months now, after the conclusion of Intesa Sanpaolo's Opas on Ubi Banca, there has been talk of Unicredit's possible moves in banking risk, starting with Montepaschi, even if rumors indicate that Banco Bpm is another possible candidate for the merger.
WHAT THE ANALYSTS FORESEE
The performance announced today, as mentioned, is below the estimates of the 23 analysts following the stock, collected by the bank in view of the publication of the accounts. For the whole of 2020, median revenues were indicated at 17.190 billion from 18.839 billion in 2019, net operating profit at 2.075 billion from 5.527 billion the previous year and the balance sheet in the red for 2.331 billion from the profit of 3.373 billion in 2019. concerns the unit dividend, the panel reported € 0.16 for 2020, € 0.36 in 2021 and € 0.47 in 2022.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/ecco-i-conti-di-unicredit-che-lascia-mustier/ on Thu, 11 Feb 2021 07:07:36 +0000.