Mediobanca Raises Profit Outlook After Strong H1 Results
MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's Mediobanca on Monday beat expectations with its quarterly earnings and improved its outlook for its next financial year as it seeks to fend off an unsolicited bid from smaller rival Banca Monte dei Paschi.
The bank's net profit for the first half of its fiscal year, which runs from July to June, rose 7.9% year-on-year to 660 million euros ($681 million), above an analyst consensus of 635 million euros. Mediobanca guided for a net profit of more than 1.4 billion euros in 2026 and revenues of around 4 billion euros, up from 3.8 billion previously. It said it would return to shareholders more than 4 billion euros in the three financial years through 2026, up from the previous target of 3.7 billion euros.
It confirmed its targets for the current year by forecasting a "low double-digit growth" in fees, a "resilient" net interest income and earnings per share (EPS) growth of 6-8%.
In the first half of the year, Mediobanca's revenues were 1.85 billion euros, up 6.8%, driven by double-digit fee growth and a "solid" net interest income.
Analysts, in a consensus provided by the bank, forecast revenues of 1.77 billion euros.
($1 = 0.9697 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Valentina Za and Keith Weir)
