European indexes down; TIM tops Mib

(Alliance News) - On Monday, major European stock markets open the day in the red meeting forecasts, on a quiet day from the perspective of macro economic data and corporate results, with the Canadian and American stock exchanges remaining closed for Family Day and President's Day, George Washington's birthday, respectively.

Thus, the FTSE Mib opens down 0.3 percent to 31,627.98, the Mid-Cap gives up 0.4 percent to 45,345.78, the Small-Cap is down 0.1 percent to 27,574.41, and Italy Growth gives up 0.7 percent to 27,574.41.

Paris' CAC 40 is down 0.3 percent, Frankfurt's DAX 40 gives up 0.2 percent and London's FTSE 100 is in the fractional red.

On the Mib, Telecom Italia is off to a good start, advancing 3.2% followed by A2A and Saipem, both in the green by 1.1%.

Eni's board of directors-which opens in the red by 0.1 percent-announced Friday that it had approved consolidated results for the year and the fourth quarter of 2023, which closed with a net profit of EUR4.75 billion from EUR13.89 billion in the previous year.

Adjusted net income attributable to Eni shareholders for the fourth quarter 2023 was EUR1.64 billion with a consolidated tax rate of about 48 percent. In FY2023, adjusted net income attributable to Eni shareholders was EUR8.3 billion and the tax rate was about 44%.

UBS also cut Eni's target price to EUR17.00 from EUR17.50 with a 'buy' recommendation.

Unipol, after closing up 21 percent, now gives up 2.2 percent and ends at the bottom. It reported on Friday that it had reported profit rising to EUR1.33 billion in 2023 from EUR866 million a year earlier. Following strong 2023 figures, the company decided to raise its dividend to EUR0.38 from EUR0.37 a year earlier. In addition, Unipol's board approved the merger of UnipolSai--and other subsidiaries--by launching a takeover bid on the latter at EUR2.70 per share.

Also hurt was Pirelli & C, in the red by 1.9 percent while STMicroelectronics was down 1.8 percent.

On the Mid-Cap, Juventus Football Club gives up 0.6 percent. It reported Friday that it closed the first half of the 2023-2024 financial year with a loss of EUR95.1 million, worsening from a loss of EUR29.5 million in the first half of the 2022-2023 year.

The company specifies in a note that "the first half of the current financial year is penalized by about EUR60 million at the economic level by direct effects related to the first team's non-participation in UEFA competitions."

At the top is Philogen, up 2.1 percent, followed by Fincantieri and Ascopiave, up 1.1 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.

Sanlorenzo does worst of all and instead gives up 2.6 percent.

Among small-caps, Newlat Food opens down 9.0 percent and ends up on the bottom after announcing Friday that it had broken off negotiations for the acquisition of 100 percent of the capital of Princes Limited and its subsidiaries, after revising "the values initially proposed" that were rejected by the seller, Mitsubishi Corporation.

Esprinet gives up 1.1 percent. On Wednesday it reported that it had revenues from customer contracts of EUR4.0 billion in 2023, down 15 percent from EUR4.7 billion in 2022.

The last quarter saw revenues of about EUR1.2 billion, down 15 percent from the same period in 2022 when they were EUR1.5 billion.

Among SMEs, Pharmacosmo opens up 5.0 percent after releasing figures for total revenues for 2023 that came in at EUR71.2 million, up 8.0 percent from 2022.

The group explains that it continues to focus its efforts on profitability and is driven by the retail channel, which is increasingly predominant over B2B: as of Dec. 31, B2B revenues, down 20 percent annually, accounted for 30 percent of group revenues.

Esautomotion opens down 3.3 percent after announcing Monday that it had consolidated revenues of EUR35.5 million in 2023, up 4.3 percent from EUR34.1 million in 2022.

Laboratorio Farmaceutico Erfo -- in the green by 2.2% to EUR1.18 -- on Friday reported that consolidated revenues as of December 31 amounted to EUR6.2 million, up 23% from EUR5.0 million in 2022.

As of Dec. 31, adjusted Ebitda generated by the company was about EUR1.6 million, accounting for 26 percent of revenues and down 11 percent from 2022.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed fractionally in the red at 38,470.38, the Hang Seng ended 1.1 percent down at 16,155.61, and the Shanghai Composite finished up 1.6 percent at 2,910.54.

In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones closed in the red 0.4 percent to 38,627.99, the S&P finished down 0.5 percent to 5,005.57, and the Nasdaq closed down 0.8 percent to 15,775.65.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0785 against USD1.0771 recorded in Friday's European stock close, while the pound was worth USD1.2625 from USD1.2591 on Friday evening.

Brent crude is worth USD82.78 per barrel versus USD83.27 per barrel at Friday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD2,033.75 an ounce from USD2,020.50 an ounce on Friday night.

On Monday, the calendar calls for the Spanish trade balance at 1000 CET, while an hour later comes the release of the Spanish consumer confidence index.

At 1200 CET, Germany's Buba publishes its monthly report.

Despite the close, data on Canada's industrial goods price index are expected at 1430 CET.

Among the companies listed on Piazza Affari, the results of GEL and Ferretti are expected.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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