Mib up after ECB; accounts sink Campari and Saipem

(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari closed Thursday's session moderately higher after the European Central Bank decided to break the cycle of rate hikes, leaving them unchanged for the first time in ten meetings.

The interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and deposits will remain unchanged at 4.50 percent, 4.75 percent and 4.00 percent, respectively.

"The information received basically confirmed its previous assessment of the medium-term inflation outlook," the ECB said.

"At this point in our fight against inflation and after ten consecutive hikes, now is not the time for forward-looking guidance. Now is the time to really stick to our reliance on data and we will do that," ECB President Christine Lagarde said at a press conference in Athens, where the central bank's Governing Council met.

The central bank's number one added that Governing Council members did not discuss rate cuts at its last meeting, saying the debate would be "absolutely premature."

The FTSE Mib closed Thursday up 0.3 percent to 27,507.90, the Mid-Cap lost 0.6 percent to 37,560.60, the Small-Cap fell 0.1 percent to 23,993.74 and Italy Growth gave up 0.9 percent to 7,617.37.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 closed down 0.8 percent, Paris' CAC 40 gave up 0.3 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 40 fell 1.1 percent.

On the main list of Piazza Affari, Campari thudded, giving up more than 6.8 percent after sharing its results for the first nine months of the year, with group profit for the nine months to September 30 of EUR473.8 million, down 2.0 percent from the same period a year earlier when it was EUR483.3 million.

Net sales were EUR2.20 billion, up 9.8% from EUR2.00 billion in the same period of 2022.

Saipem also on the bottom, down 5.3 percent. The company reported Wednesday that in the first nine months of the year it reported revenues of EUR8.36 billion, up 19% from EUR7.03 billion in the same period a year earlier.

As of September 30, adjusted Ebitda stood at EUR640 million, up 44% from EUR445 million in 2022.

Pirelli & C is among the few bullish performers, rising 1.1 percent after announcing Thursday that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Pirelli Tyre Spa of the Pirelli Group, a global leader in tire production, have signed a joint venture agreement to build a tire factory in Saudi Arabia.

PIF will hold a 75 percent stake in the JV, while Pirelli will have the remaining 25 percent and will be a strategic and technological partner to support the development of the project, providing technical and commercial assistance.

The top is STMicroelectronics, up 5.0% after opening down. On Thursday, it announced that it ended the third quarter of the year with net revenues at USD4.43 billion, up 2.4% from the previous quarter and 2.5% from the same period in 2022, when they were USD4.32 billion.

Quarterly net income is USD1.09 billion down slightly by 0.8 percent with USD1.10 billion in the same period 2022.

Stellantis - down 0.6 percent - and Leapmotor announced Thursday that Stellantis plans to invest about EUR1.5 billion to acquire roughly 20 percent of Leapmotor, in which Stellantis will become a major shareholder. The deal also includes the establishment of Leapmotor International, a 51-49-share joint venture led by Stellantis, with exclusive rights to export and sell as well as manufacture Leapmotor products outside the Chinese region.

UniCredit rebounds, up 1.5 percent after a negative start. On Wednesday, ratings agency Standard & Poor's upgraded the bank's stand-alone credit profile from 'bbb' to 'bbb+,' one notch above Italy's sovereign rating.

FinecoBank drops 0.5 percent, with S&P Global reaffirming its long-term 'BBB' rating with stable outlook, while maintaining its short-term 'A-2' rating.

Intesa Sanpaolo gains 0.6 percent after it reported Wednesday evening that the extraordinary tax calculated on the increase in net interest income amounts to about EUR828 million for the group and about EUR797 million for the parent company.

The board of directors resolved that it will propose to the shareholders' meeting, when approving the annual financial statements, that an amount of about EUR1.99 billion, corresponding to 2.5 times the amount of the tax of about EUR797 million, be allocated to non-distributable reserves.

Enel -- up 0.5 percent -- and its listed subsidiary Enel Chile announced Wednesday that they had finalized the sale to Sonnedix of their entire shareholdings in the share capital of Arcadia Generación Solar, a Chilean company that owns a portfolio of four operating photovoltaic plants totaling about 416 MW of installed capacity. The buyer paid a total consideration of USD556 million, or about EUR525 million, corresponding to 100 percent of the enterprise value agreed by the parties.

In addition, Enel announced Wednesday that it had finalized the sale to the Greek company Public Power Corporation of all the interests held by the Enel group in Romania.

PPC paid a total consideration of about EUR1.24 billion, corresponding to about EUR1.90 billion in terms of enterprise value referring to 100 percent.

On the Mid-Cap, Fincantieri reverses course from its opening and rises 3.5 percent after a downward opening. On Wednesday, it announced that it has signed with the Consortium coordinated by Naviris and bringing together the company, France's Naval Group the Spain's Navantia and other components from Greece, Denmark and Norway, all contract documents related to the Modular and Multirole Patrol Corvette for the implementation of the first phase of the European Patrol Corvette project.

The total value of this first phase is EUR87 million and is strongly supported by the European Commission through the European Defense Fund.

Salvatore Ferragamo closed 3.1 percent in the red. On Wednesday, it reported that the board of directors unanimously approved the purchase for USD42.0 million by the company and its subsidiary Ferragamo Hong Kong of minority stakes in the three joint ventures Ferragamo Moda (Shanghai) Co., Ferragamo Retail Macau and Ferrimag, formed to distribute Ferragamo products in the Greater China area.

The stakes-which will be purchased by Imaginex Holdings and Imaginex Overseas-are 25 percent of FMS and FIM and 24.8 percent of FRM, with the result that the company and FHK will become its sole shareholders.

At the high end, we see Ariston Holding, up 3.2 percent, Intercos Group and Danieli & C, up 2.2 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.

On the Small-Cap, Risanamento is up 11 percent after spending part of the day suspended for excess volatility. On Wednesday, the company announced that its general manager, Davide Albertini Petroni, has resigned and will remain in office until Dec. 31.

Esprinet--declining 0.5 percent--reported that the deed of merger by incorporation into of its wholly owned subsidiary 4Side has been finalized.

Among SMEs, TraWell Co rises 3.4 percent. The company announced Wednesday that it has won the tender to renew the provision of its integrated baggage protection services at Nice International Airport for seven years.

The new agreement includes a new multi-service concept store for passengers in addition to integrated baggage protection services.

Cofle--in the red by 5.3 percent--reported Wednesday that the board of directors reviewed consolidated sales for the first nine months of the year, which came in at EUR46.8 million, up nearly 18 percent from the same period last year, when it was EUR39.7 million.

The board also resolved to propose to the shareholders' meeting the adoption of a plan to purchase and dispose of treasury shares up to a maximum number not exceeding 20 percent of the company's capital. The amount that can be used for the purchase of treasury shares was set at EUR1 million.

In New York, the Dow is up 0.1 percent to 33,068.62, the Nasdaq falls 0.5 percent to 12,757.45, and the S&P 500 gives up 0.2 percent to 4,177.69.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0542 against USD1.0573 recorded at Wednesday's European stock close while the pound is worth USD1.2127 from USD1.2128 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD88.98 per barrel from USD87.46 per barrel at yesterday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,979.31 an ounce from USD1,977.38 an ounce last night.

Friday's macroeconomic calendar opens with Japanese inflation, at 0130 CEST, and then moves to Europz, where French and Italian consumer confidence data will arrive at 0845 CEST and 1000 CEST, respectively.

From Spain, Gross Domestic Product and retail sales data will be released, at 0900 CEST, while for Italy, industrial sales numbers will be known, at 1100 CEST.

In the afternoon, room for the U.S. PCE, at 1430 CEST, an hour and a half before Michigan's consumer confidence.

Among the companies in the Piazza Affari, the accounts of Esautomotion, Imprendiroma and Indel B are expected.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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