Not only Bper. What makes Unipol’s accounts shine (but the stock market is indifferent)
All the numbers of the quarterly report of the Unipol group. The role of Bper. The capital gains for the disposals. And the reflections in Piazza Affari. The article by Emanuela Rossi
Increase in profit for the Unipol group in the first three months of the year thanks also to the consolidation of Bper, of which it is the largest shareholder with 18.9%, which acquired 532 branches of Ubi Banca as part of the Opas launched by Intesa St. Paul. The stock market, however, does not seem to have appreciated the quarterly report given that the stock at the beginning of trading recorded -1.6% and then remained in negative territory while recovering something during the day.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Unipol, Carlo Cimbri, sends reassuring signals to shareholders by promising the payment of the 2019 dividends, Eiopa and Ivass permitting.
PROFIT IN STRONG GROWTH
The first quarter of 2021 therefore ends well for the group led by Cimbri: consolidated net profit of 361 million euros (+ 168.8% compared to 134 million in the same period of 2020). An important contribution – notes a note from the group – is the 119 million of the pro-quota consolidation of the Bper group, whose assets benefited from the badwill generated by the acquisition of Ubi Banca branches. Net of this item, the profit is up by 80%, to 242 million. A plus sign also for the combined ratio, which indicates the profitability of technical operations, at 89.1%, an improvement compared to 92% last year. In this way, the pre-tax profit went from 220 to 419 million: this figure also benefited from the portion of Bper's result pertaining to the non-life sector (59 million) and the capital gain generated by the sale of Torre Velasca (71 million) , the Milanese skyscraper sold to the Hines group.
COLLECTION INCREASING ESPECIALLY IN THE LIFE SECTOR
On the collection front, still positive numbers for Unipol given that it rose by 2% to 3,181 million euros and the solvency index stood at 210% of the regulatory minimum (216% at the end of 2020). Direct deposits in the non-life sector fell by 3% to € 1,919 million, due to the decline in the motor sector (-8.8%) which was affected "by market conditions and the measures adopted by the group to protect customers, such as the initiative called #UnMesePerTe ”, with which customers were given one month of motor liability insurance during the renewal.
In the life business, on the other hand, premiums written increased by 10.7% to € 1,261 million, despite the decline recorded by the parent company UnipolSai (-6.9%), thanks to the growth of Arca Vita (+ 56.1%), which benefited from the expansion of the Bper network after the acquisition of Ubi Banca branches. The pre-tax result of the life business fell from 25 to 10 million mainly due to the lower contribution of financial income.
THE RESULTS OF THE SUBSIDIARIES
As regards the other sectors in which Unipol operates, the hotel sector suffered – due to the pandemic emergency and restrictions – which continued to be penalized by the closure of most of the accommodation facilities. On the other hand, the results for UnipolReC, the subsidiary that deals with credit recovery, were good, while those of the other businesses were essentially balanced. The pre-tax result of the real estate, holding and other activities sectors reached 32 million euros (-55 million at March 31, 2020) thanks to the contribution of 60 million from the pro-rata consolidation of Bper and a greater contribution from income from investments. Financial management closed the quarter with a return of 3.2% compared to 3.3% in the same period of 2020.
EXPECTATIONS FOR THE 2021 FINANCIAL YEAR
For the full year 2021, the note accompanying the first quarter accounts again points out, the group led by Cimbri expects a consolidated operating result "positive and in line with the objectives defined in the 2019-2021 strategic plan" unless there are no “currently unforeseeable events also linked to a worsening of the reference context”.
CIMBRI: TRUST WITH RESPECT TO TARGETS, READY TO PAY DIVIDENDS
Cimbri is satisfied and ready to please the shareholders who presented himself at the conference call with the analysts. "In the absence of new prescriptions, our will is to honor the commitments undertaken with the market, we await news from a regulatory point of view" said the CEO, adding to confirm the 2019 dividends "also in light of these quarterly results. We do not have to generate new profits to distribute them, our will and ability to pay them remain unchanged ”. Obviously, everything will depend on what the supervisory authorities Eiopa and Ivass decide, which they had invited to block the payment of coupons for fears of economic and financial repercussions due to the pandemic.
At the moment, the manager from Cagliari underlined, "there is no type of new prescription by the regulator with respect to the one already issued which expires on September 30, so in the absence of new provisions, our will is to honor the commitments undertaken with the market as soon as we have the opportunity to do so from a regulatory point of view ". Regarding the distribution "we will evaluate the most appropriate time to distribute the 2019 coupon, we want to have a robust Solvency to do so and we will keep it, our priority objective is to honor our commitments by the conclusion of the industrial plan, therefore by the end of 2022 , if then there are conditions to do it even earlier, we will evaluate it ".
In future times, Cimbri is confident: “In this quarter we have adopted great caution on all balance sheet items” considering that “the more margins we have, the more we will be able to manage our objectives. Regardless of the market – he added -, we look to our targets with confidence ".
A market that seems to be slowly returning to normal after the arrival of Covid-19. "The data of our black boxes project us towards a proximity to the circulation levels of 2019, it is a very clear trend – said the CEO during the call -. At the same time, we expect an increase in the frequency of claims: on what levels we will see it also during the summer but we do not believe we will return to the pre-2020 numbers also because for years we have seen a reduction in the frequency itself deriving from other factors, such as the greater safety and technology on cars ".
According to Cimbri, “if we associate this situation with a constant decline in prices and therefore in the average premium, in the auto sector we will certainly see a technical insufficiency of prices for next year in relation to claims trends”. Here he made the decision, in fact, to "adopt large prudence supplements on all balance sheet items".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/non-solo-bper-che-cosa-fa-brillare-i-conti-di-unipol-ma-la-borsa-e-indifferente/ on Fri, 14 May 2021 14:29:04 +0000.