Mib in the red at 31,600; TIM still on top

(Alliance News) - On Monday, major European stock markets continue the day mixed, while the Canadian and U.S. stock exchanges will remain closed for Family Day and President's Day, George Washington's birthday, respectively.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is down 0.3 percent to 31,633.41, the Mid-Cap gives up 0.4 percent to 45,336.40, as does the Small-Cap to 27,497.68, and Italy Growth gains 0.3 percent to 8,150.66.

Paris' CAC 40 is in the red by 0.4 percent, as is Frankfurt's DAX 40, while London's FTSE 100 is in the green by 0.1 percent.

On the Mib, Telecom Italia takes the top spot, advancing 4.6 percent followed by A2A, Saipem and Snam, all in the green between 1.3 percent and 0.4 percent.

The board of Eni -- in the red by 0.2 percent -- on Friday disclosed 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 on Friday, gives up 2.7 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 were Pirelli & C, down 1.6 percent, Campari, down 1.9 percent, and Nexi, down 1.8 percent.

On the Mid-Cap, Juventus Football Club gives up 2.1 percent. It reported Friday that it closed the first half of the 2023-2024 fiscal 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 the direct effects related to the first team's non-participation in UEFA competitions."

UnipolSai also goes down, down 0.1 percent. The company's board of directors on Friday disclosed that it had analyzed preliminary results for fiscal year 2023, a period that ended with a consolidated net profit of EUR766 million, down from EUR651 million a year ago.

The board then proposed the distribution of a slightly increased dividend, rising to EUR0.165 from EUR0.16 in 2022.

Among the small-caps, Newlat Food gives up about 12 percent and ends up on the bottom after announcing Friday that it has broken off negotiations for the acquisition of 100 percent of the capital of Princes Limited and its subsidiaries, after reviewing "the values initially proposed" that were rejected by the seller, Mitsubishi Corporation.

Esprinet gives up 1.4 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 rises 1.5 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 December 31, B2B revenues, down 20 percent annually, had a weight of 30 percent of group revenues.

Esautomotion gives up 4.9 percent after announcing on 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 5.7 percent -- on Friday reported that consolidated revenues as of December 31 amounted to EUR6.2 million, up 23 percent from EUR5.0 million in 2022.

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

VNE's board of directors -- in the black by 7.9 percent -- reviewed preliminary key performance indicators on Friday reporting order revenues of EUR3.4 million in the last quarter of 2023 and EUR9.6 million in the full year.

It denotes, the company wrote in a statement issued Friday, "an important turnaround regarding the orders VNE has received in the last three months. The average monthly orders for the first nine months of 2023 stands at EUR703,000, compared to EUR1.1 million in the last three months of the year."

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0777 against USD1.0771 recorded at Friday's European stock close, while the pound is worth USD1.2614 from USD1.2591 on Friday evening.

Brent crude is worth USD82.65 per barrel versus USD83.27 per barrel at Friday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,030.95 an ounce from USD2,020.50 an ounce Friday night.

On Monday, the calendar calls for the German Buba to publish its monthly report at 1200 CET.

Despite the closing of the stock market, data on the industrial goods price index in Canada are expected at 1430 CET.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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