MILAN (Reuters) – State-owned Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena raised its profit outlook on Tuesday after posting much higher- -than-expected second quarter earnings, helped by tax credits.
MPS, which Italy saved from collapse in 2017, said it expected its pre-tax profit to total 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in 2026. That is up from a 909 million euro target under a strategy through 2026 it presented two years ago.
Reaping the benefits of its turnaround under Chief Executive Luigi Lovaglio, a former UniCredit veteran, Monte dei Paschi (MPS) saw its April-June net profit boosted by tax credits it is now able to claim back – after years of losses – given its improved profitability.
MPS had already partly hiked goals set in June 2022 by guiding for a pre-tax profit of 1.3 billion euros this year.
It said it would distribute 75% of profits as dividends, hiking its previous 50% payout target, while keeping a core capital ratio of 18%, the highest among Italy’s major banks.
The bank posted a net profit of 826.5 million euros in the second quarter, roughly double a company-provided consensus forecast from analysts of 381 million euros.
Revenues in the period totalled 1.02 billion euros, slightly ahead of expectations and little changed from the first quarter.
MPS said it would invest 500 million euros in technology under its new strategy through 2028, when it expects to reach a pre-tax profit of 1.7 billion euros.
It envisages falling loan loss provisions and a focus on fee income to offset the declining boost from interest rates.
($1 = 0.9139 euros) (This story has been corrected to fix the Q2 profit figure from 862.5 million euros to 826.5 million euros in paragraph 6)
(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Gavin Jones)
