UniCredit Raises 2022 Guidance After Strongest 1st Half in a Decade -- Update

By Ian Walker and Cristina Roca

UniCredit SpA on Wednesday raised its full-year guidance after reporting its strongest first-half performance in nearly a decade.

The Italian bank now expects to report revenue excluding Russia for the year of at least 16.7 billion euros ($16.9 billion) compared with previous guidance of EUR16 billion.

UniCredit said it has asked for the regulatory green light for a EUR1 billion buyback. It had previously cautioned that the buyback remained subject to its performance in Russia.

UniCredit posted a net profit of EUR1.82 billion for the quarter compared with EUR960 million a year earlier.

Excluding Russia, net profit was EUR1.48 billion, up from EUR889 million for the second quarter of 2021.

The bank booked a loan-loss credit of EUR2 million compared with a loss of EUR360 million for the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue rose to EUR4.78 billion from with EUR4.39 billion and a consensus of EUR4.50 billion, taken from FactSet and based on nine analysts' forecasts.

Common equity Tier 1 ratio--a measure of banks' capital strength--stood at 15.73% at the end of the quarter, up from 14% at the end of the earlier quarter and 15.5% at the same date a year earlier. UniCredit has a 2022-24 target of 12.5%-13.0%.

Write to Ian Walker at [e-mail] and Cristina Roca at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-27-22 0309ET