Intesa Sanpaolo Profit Rose in 4Q, Tempered by Dealmaking Slump

By Ed Frankl

Intesa Sanpaolo SpA said Friday that profit and revenue beat expectations at fourth-quarter earnings, though a slide in dealmaking activities hit fee income.

The Italian lender said net income in the three months to the end of December was 1.07 billion euros ($1.17 billion), well up from EUR179 million in the same period of 2021.

Operating income, its top-line figure, rose 13% to EUR5.67 billion.

Those numbers beat expectations of net profit of EUR900 million and revenue of EUR5.41 billion, according to analysts' estimates provided by FactSet.

Net interest income surged 57% to EUR3.06 billion, helped by rising rates.

However, the bank took EUR2.22 billion of fee income in the period, sliding 12%, Intesa said, as management, dealing and consultancy activities declined.

Shares at 1130 GMT were down 2.8% at EUR2.39

The Turin-based lender declared a final dividend for 2022 of 8.68 European cents a share, making a dividend of 16.06 cents in the full year.

The company said it would now execute a EUR1.7 billion share buyback, the second half of a EUR3.4 billion share buyback agreed last year.

It confirmed its midterm net-income target for 2025 of EUR6.5 billion, having hit EUR5.5 billion in 2022 as a whole.

Write to Ed Frankl at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 03, 2023 06:53 ET (11:53 GMT)

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