The logo of Italian international banking group UniCredit stands on the facade of the group headquarters, located in the Porta Nuova district, seen from the perspective of Palazzo Lombardia on September 29, 2023 in Milan, Italy.
Emanuele Cremaschi | Getty Images News | beautiful images
UniCredit gave bonus investor guidance for the year on Tuesday after posting much higher-than-expected net income and boosting capital levels further.
Italy’s second-biggest bank said net profit in the January-March period was 2.6 billion euros ($2.8 billion), above the 2.13 billion average forecast by analyst consensus. compiled by the company.
For the full year, net income is expected to be above €8.5bn, having previously guided for 2024 net profit to be “fully in line” with the 2023 result of 8.6 billion euros recorded in tax assets.
UniCredit said it is raising its distribution guidance for 2024 to align with 2023, when it will pay out all net profits to shareholders. They have previously indicated that they will distribute 90% of earnings.
Core capital, a key measure of a bank’s financial strength, rose to 16.2% of risk-weighted assets from 15.9% at the end of last year, beating expectations.
CEO Andrea Orcel, a former UBS investment banker who came to UniCredit in 2021, securing another three-year mandate in April, has focused UniCredit on activities that maximize returns from deployed capital and delivered huge returns to investors, primarily through stock buybacks.
