Flat opening in Europe; Tenaris tops the Mib

(Alliance News) - Europe's major stock markets opened flat on Monday morning, with the Mib the only one to start the week slightly higher as investors prepare for the European Central Bank's upcoming meeting later in the week.

At the same time, global bond yields remained elevated, driven by fears of an escalation in the Middle East conflict.

The FTSE Mib, therefore, opens up with 0.2 percent to 27,397.62, the Mid-Cap gives up 0.1 percent to 38,114.66, the Small-Cap gives up 0.1 percent to 24,500.18, and Italy Growth is in fractional green at 7,793.93.

London's FTSE 100 gives up 0.3 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is just below par and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is in the red by 0.2 percent.

On the main list of Piazza Affari, UniCredit -- in the green by 1.0% -- and Alpha Services and Holdings SA announced Monday that they have signed a binding term-sheet for the creation of a strategic partnership in Romania and Greece.

In Romania, the parties agreed on key economic terms to proceed with the merger of UniCredit Romania with Alpha Bank Romania SA, which will create the third largest bank by total assets in the local market, with an overall market share of 12% by total assets.

In Greece, meanwhile, the companies have agreed to create a contractual framework for implementing a business partnership to distribute UniCredit's asset management and unit-linked products to Alpha Bank's 3.5 million customers and to create a joint venture in insurance and pension investment products with UniCredit becoming a 51 percent shareholder in AlphaLife.

Also doing well are Tenaris and BPER Bank, up 1.3 percent.

Eni--in fractional green--reported Monday that it has signed a long-term contract with QatarEnergy LNG NFE, the joint venture between Eni and QatarEnergy to develop the North Field East project in Qatar, to supply up to 1.5 billion cubic meters per year of LNG.

The available volumes will be delivered to the "FSRU Italia" regasification terminal currently located in Piombino, with deliveries scheduled to start in 2026 for a duration of 27 years.

Telecom Italia opens in the red by 2.3 percent. The company announced Sunday that its board of directors will meet on Nov. 3 "to examine the binding offer on NetCo and the offer, of a non-binding nature, related to Sparkle, received from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. last Oct. 16, as well as to examine the question of which corporate body is competent to decide on the matter."

An informal board meeting will be held on Nov. 4 to continue questioning management and consultants, the company points out, and the board "will meet again formally on Nov. 5 to deliberate."

On the cadet segment, Banca Ifis--in the red by 0.9 percent--reported Thursday that the board has appointed Antonella Malinconico as the new preisdnete of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Beatrice Colleoni, on the other hand, will lead the Remuneration committee while Roberta Gobbi will replace the resigning Monica Regazzi as a member of the Appointments committee, of which she will also be chairman.

Brunello Cucinelli gives up 0.4 percent after closing up 4.8 percent on strong results. The company reported Thursday that revenues for the first nine months rose 28 percent year-on-year to EUR818.4 million from EUR642.0 million in the same period a year earlier. In Italy, revenues rose to EUR97.2 million from EUR78.0 million, in Europe -- excluding Italy -- they rose to EUR217.9 million from EUR184.2 million, in the Americas they improved to EUR284.7 million from EUR233.9 million, and in Asia they rose to EUR218.6 million from EUR146.0 million.

Salvatore Ferragamo lost ground, opening down 1.0 percent with price at EUR11.70 per share. The luxury goods company reported revenues down 8.3% year-on-year for the nine months, to EUR844 million, due in part to a decline in both the Retail and Wholesale channels, with sales down 10% and 17%, respectively.

On a geographic basis, in Asia-Pacific, sales fell 16 percent, EMEA saw a 3.1 percent increase in sales, North America saw sales fall 20 percent, and Central and South America saw a 3.1 percent drop in sales.

On the Small-Cap, Bastogi opened in the green 8.8% followed by algoWatt, up 5.4%.

Esprinet - in the red by 0.8 percent - announced Thursday that it will distribute Garanteasy in Italy, a cloud service built around consumer needs that makes it easy to manage any type of warranty on consumer goods by connecting all players in the warranty ecosystem: stores, e-commerce, manufacturers, insurance companies, service centers and payment systems.

Among SMEs, ALA opens down 2.0 percent after announcing on Monday that it had acquired an additional 40 percent of Hamburg-based ALA Germany GmbH, bringing its share capital to 100 percent. The 40 percent was taken over for a price of EUR450,000, paid to the seller from the IPO proceeds. The total investment for the 100% stake in ALA Germany is EUR750,000.

Emma Villas -- flat at EUR2.76 per share -- reported Monday that it had achieved a record summer season. As of October 17, according to management data collected by the Emma Villas Observatory, there were 5,930 bookings in Italy, exceeding by 4.2 percent the total bookings recorded in all of 2022, "a figure destined to improve further in view of the December holidays, where end-of-year bookings are traditionally concentrated," the company's note said.

Clabo opens up 2.7 percent after reporting Friday that net sales for the first nine months of the year rose 22 percent year-on-year to EUR47.8 million from EUR39.3 million in the same period a year earlier.

Revenues rose 8.6 percent to EUR48.7 million from EUR44.9 million, and Ebitda showed a 40 percent increase to EUR6.9 million from EUR4.9 million, with margin of 14.1 percent from 10.9 percent a year earlier.

In Asia, with Hong Kong closed for Chung Yeung Day, the Nikkei closed down 0.8 percent to 31,008.50 and the Shanghai Composite gave up 1.4 percent to 2,932.26.

In New York on Friday, the Dow closed down 0.9 percent at 33,127.28, the Nasdaq gave up 1.6 percent to 12,983.81 and the S&P 500 finished 1.3 percent in the red at 4,224.16.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0573 against USD1.0591 recorded in Friday's European stock close while the pound was worth USD1.2147 from USD1.2148 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD91.45 per barrel from USD93.20 per barrel at Friday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,978.55 an ounce from USD1,985.81 an ounce Friday night.

Monday's macroeconomic calendar is fairly bare of events, with Eurozone consumer confidence expected at 1600 CEST and French and US government bond auctions to be held at 1455 CEST and 1730 CEST, respectively.

Among the companies in Piazza Affari, Sogefi and UniCredit's accounts are expected.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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