Intesa Sanpaolo Doubles Dividend
February 05 2016 - 11:00AM
Dow Jones News
ROME—Intesa Sanpaolo said Friday that despite a slide in
quarterly profit it would double its dividend on 2015 earnings and
boost this year's payout by 25%.
Fourth-quarter net profit for the last three months of last year
declined 73% to €13 million ($14.6 million) and was substantially
lower than each of the three previous quarters of last year,
because of a one-off contribution to a bailout fund set up to
rescue four smaller Italian lenders.
In a statement, Intesa Sanpaolo said its net profit would have
notched €263 million if the charges for the resolution fund were
excluded. Analysts polled by FactSet expected the bank to post a
net profit of €70 million.
In December, the bank agreed to pay €380 million to a fund, the
so-called Resolution Fund, to rescue four local lenders by
increasing their capital to a level equal to 9% of their
risk-weighted assets.
Despite Italian banks being under pressure because of souring
loans and the fragile domestic economy, Intesa was able to increase
dividends because of lower loan-loss provisions, indicating an
improving credit trend for the country's biggest lender by branches
and growth in commissions from its banking activities.
The Milan-based bank said it plans to pay a €0.14 ordinary
dividend and €0.151 savings share for 2015, compared with €0.07 for
each ordinary share and €0.081 a savings share for the previous
year. The total 2015 dividend payout amounts to €2.4 billion, twice
as much as a year earlier.
In November, Chief Executive Carlo Messina had said the bank was
able to pay a higher dividend for 2015 than the €2 billion
earmarked given the positive results it had achieved.
On Friday, the bank confirmed it expects to payout a total of €3
billion in dividends on 2016 earnings.
Intesa said its fourth-quarter revenue fell 11% to €3.69 billion
on the year. The bank added that it forecasts 2016 revenue to be
higher than the previous year.
Fees and commissions for the quarter rose by 5.8% to €1.92
billion, compared with the same period a year earlier. The bank
said it benefited particularly from an increase in commissions on
portfolio management and insurance products.
By contrast, net interest income declined by 5% to €1.98 billion
compared with the last quarter of 2014.
The lender said it had set aside €923 million to cover for
potential losses on loans, down from €1.04 billion a year earlier.
It added that the loan-loss provisions of €3.31 billion for 2015
are the lowest since 2010.
In early afternoon trading, the bank's shares were up 2.3% at
€2.54, outperforming Italy's benchmark FTSE MIB Index.
Write to Liam Moloney at liam.moloney@wsj.com and Giovanni
Legorano at giovanni.legorano@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 05, 2016 10:45 ET (15:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Intesa Sanpaolo (BIT:ISP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Intesa Sanpaolo (BIT:ISP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024