Mib rises after Eurozone GDP; focus on U.S. data

(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari continued to rise in mid-session Wednesday after data on the Eurozone economy and ahead of U.S. inflation data.

Eurozone Gross Domestic Product rose 0.3 percent in the first quarter on a quarterly basis after increasing by the same amount in the fourth quarter of 2023.

On an annual basis, Eurozone GDP rose 1.0 percent after growing 1.2 percent in the last quarter of last year.

The FTSE Mib is up 0.6 percent to 35,349.74, Mid-Cap is up 0.5 percent to 48,416.57, Small-Cap is down 0.5 percent to 29,505.22 while Italy Growth gives up 0.1 percent to 8,226.91.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is down 0.2% to 8,212.44, London's FTSE100 is up 0.2% to 8,445.08 while Frankfurt's DAX 40 is up 0.5% to 18,811.05.

On the Mib, banks do well after yesterday's already excellent day: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena takes the top spot and slews 2.7 percent and drags Banco BPM up 1.6 percent and BPER bank, up 1.2 percent. The exception is Banca Mediolanum, which gives up 0.6 percent.

On the day when quarterly data are expected, ERG falls in mid-session, down 0.1%.

Italgas rises 1.5% after the release of quarterly accounts. Pre-tax profit improved to EUR170.5 million from EUR153.0 million while net income rose to EUR125.3 million from EUR111.9 million.

Among energy companies, Hera lost ground, down 0.7 percent. The company unanimously approved consolidated results for the first quarter, net income rising to EUR153.3 million from EUR140.3 million as of March 31, 2023.

Net income attributable to group shareholders rises to EUR143.1 million compared to EUR128.2 million as of March 31, 2023.

On the Mid-Cap, Danieli & C - up 0.2 percent to EUR34.50 - on Tuesday appointed Alessandro Brussi, already vice chairman, as the new chairman of the board of directors on an interim basis until the shareholders' meeting that will be called to approve the financial statements to June 30, 2024.

ENAV gives up 3.3 percent after reporting Tuesday that it closed the first quarter with a loss of EUR13.8 million, an improvement from a loss of EUR21.8 million in the first quarter of 2023.

Revenues amounted to EUR193.6 million, up 9.5 percent from the first quarter of 2023, when they were EUR176.8 million, mainly due to air traffic performance and the related increase in revenue from operations.

Reply drops 0.9 percent. The company disclosed Tuesday that it posted a first-quarter pretax profit of EUR73.1 million from EUR62.1 million in the same period of 2023.

GVS -- up 5.6 percent -- disclosed Tuesday that it ended the quarter with net income of EUR9.9 million up 7.7 percent from EUR2.5 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenues amounted to EUR105.4 million from EUR104.9 million in the first quarter of 2023.

Lottomatica rises 0.7 percent after it announced Tuesday that it has successfully completed the pricing of a total amount of EUR900 million in bonds.

On the Small-Cap, IRCE -- in the red by 1.8 percent at mid-session -- reported that it closed the first quarter with a profit of EUR2.3 million from EUR2.6 million as of March 31, 2023.

Turnover for the period was EUR100.1 million from EUR113.2 million in 2023.

Fiera Milano gives up 1.7 percent. In the first quarter, profit was EUR7.6 million, down from EUR8.4 million as of March 31, 2023. Revenues, however, improved to EUR72.4 million from EUR48.1 million in the same quarter last year.

The board of directors of Gabetti Property Solutions -- down 1.7 percent -- on Tuesday approved the consolidated figures as of March 31, closing with a net loss of EUR700,000, lower than the substantial breakeven as of March 31, 2023.

Goes on the bottom doValue, in the red by 6.3 percent. The company reported that it closed the first quarter with a gross book value of EUR116.9 billion, essentially stable compared to Dec. 31, 2023.

Specifically, GBV was affected by several dynamics: new entrusted portfolios of EUR1.8 billion, Collections of EUR947 million, disposals from clients totaling EUR308 million. To these will be added in the short term EUR1 billion of mandates still in the onboarding phase.

In the first quarter, the group reported gross revenues of EUR97.1 million, down 3.3 percent from EUR100.4 million a year earlier. Revenues were positively impacted by a strong performance in Italy, with higher NPL and ancillary revenues in Italy, while recording lower completed disposals in Greece and lower revenues related to the REO business in Spain due to a still weak real estate market in the Iberian Peninsula.

Among SMEs, SolidWorld Group - up 4.2 percent - reported that it has launched Leatherworks, the first Artificial Intelligence application developed in-house to revolutionize the design of leather accessories.

By 2024, the "Made in Italy" Leatherworks software will be used for the first time by one of France's leading luxury handbag manufacturers, which bought it for EUR700,000.

IMD International Medical Devices - not yet affected by the exchanges - on Tuesday approved the purchase of a 12.36 percent representative stake in the share capital of IMD Generators Srl from Bonazzi Christian at a price of EUR25,000 to be paid in cash upon completion of the acquisition.

As a result of this transaction, IMD's stake in its subsidiary IMD Generators will be increased from 66.40% to 78.76% of the share capital. Bonazzi Christian will continue its collaboration with IMD Generators in the area of R&D activities.

iVision Tech rises 8.2 percent after it approved some key management figures as of March 31, 2024 on Tuesday, with Ebitda growing in absolute terms by 10 percent from EUR470,000 in the first quarter of 2023 to EUR510,000 as of March 31, 2024.

In New York, the Dow closed Tuesday up 0.3 percent to 39,558.11, the Nasdaq rose 0.8 percent to 16,511.18 while the S&P 500 gained 0.5 percent to 500.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands to USD1.0827 from USD1.0816 in Tuesday's European stock close while the pound was worth USD1.2623 from USD1.2585 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude trades at USD82.35 per barrel from USD82.47 per barrel Tuesday evening. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,352.80 an ounce from USD2,353.83 an ounce on Tuesday.

On Wednesday's macroeconomic calendar, at 1100 CEST from the Eurozone, employment, GDP and industrial production are expected.

At 1300 CEST, from the US, the mortgage report is due, followed at 1430 CEST by the inflation and retail sales data.

At 1630 CEST, it will be the turn of the release of the crude oil stocks figure, the EIA report and the Cushing Invenatrio. Speeches by Kashkari and Bowman of the Fed are then expected.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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