Departs today, Monday 24 June 2024, the third tranche of the 2023 buyback plan signed by UniCredit, the Italian bank led by CEO Andrea Orcel which continues to make “excellent profits”, as confirmed by the latest quarterly report released by the group.
Shortly after announcing, last Friday, the conclusion of the second tranche of the share buyback programme, Piazza Gae Aulenti, thanks to the approval received in mid-April from both the shareholders’ meeting and the ECBtoday launched the third act of the buyback plan valid for the 2023 financial year, confirming a remuneration policy in favor of stakeholders that has been in place for years among the most generous in the European banking panorama.
UniCredit: Third Tranche Buyback Plan 2023 underway
With the note relating to the start of the new buyback move, UniCredit communicated the methods with which the operation will take place which, it should be remembered, it is the last part of the residual amount of the overall payout valid for the 2023 financial year, equal to 3,085,250,000.00 euros.
The role of authorized third-party intermediary has been conferred on BofA Securities Europe SA, which will adopt decisions on the purchases of UCG own shares in full independence, also in relation to the timing of the operations and in compliance with daily price and volume limits and program terms (so-called “riskless principal” or “matched principal”).
The purchases of UniCredit’s own shares, which will start today and will be carried out onEuronext Milan of the Italian Stock Exchange, they should be completed, based on the mandate given to the intermediary BofA Securities Europe, approximately by September 2024, according to what the credit institution itself reported.
UCG among the best on Piazza Affari together with Bper, Banco BPM, Mps
UniCredit stock is confirmed today on Piazza Affari among the best of the Ftse Mib index, together with the securities of the other Italian banks Bper (the best with a 4% increase), Banco BPM and Mps-Monte dei Paschi di Siena. The reason is not only the start of the third tranche of the buyback plan.
Middle there is the risk dossier, that is, the marriage between the Made in Italy credit institutions on which the market has never stopped betting.
At 10.46 Italian time, UCG shares rise by 2.6%, to 34.94 euros.
Also watch out for the trend of UniCredit shares on the Ftse Mib of the last period and last years:
the stock is up on a weekly basis by more than 5%while in the last month the performance is a drop of more than -3.7%.
Year to date, the shares rallied by almost +42%while on an annual basis the gain is more than +73%.
Over the last three years, shares have ultimately jumped more than +234%.
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The details of the buyback plan
Returning to the buyback plan, the bank managed by Orcel specified in the note that “the purchases must be made in compliance with the limits established by the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052, it being understood that the purchase price cannot deviate by more than 10% lower or higher than the official price that the UniCredit stock will have recorded in the Euronext Milan session, organized and managed by Borsa Italiana SpA, on the day before the completion of each single purchase transaction”.
Furthermore, “any subsequent modifications to the Third Tranche of the 2023 Buy-Back Program will be promptly disclosed to the public in the manner and terms established by the legislation, including regulatory, in force” and the shares that will be purchased within the Third Tranche of the Buy-Back Program Buy-Back 2023 will subsequently be cancelled.
It should be remembered that the first tranche of the buyback plan will be based on the 2023 net profitworth 2.5 billion euros, was concluded on March 7th.
Subsequently, a few days after the publication of the accounts for the first quarter of 2024, UniCredit had started the second tranche of the share buyback program, always implementing the authorization granted by the Company’s Shareholders’ Meeting of 12 April 2024.
With the second tranche, which ended last Friday, Piazza Gae Aulenti purchased 44,859,171 shares, equal to 2.67% of the capital, for a total value of approximately 1.59 billion euros.
UniCredit buyback and dividends: the gift to Orcel shareholders in 2024
On the occasion of the presentation of the accounts for the first quarter of 2024 in early May, UniCredit announced that “the approach to the distribution via advance, applicable to both the dividend and the buyback of treasury shares, is assumed to be approximately 40 percent of the total distributions ” is that “distribution in the calendar year 2024 is expected to be around €10 billion”.
This latest great gift to shareholders, it being understood that the distribution is subject to the approval of shareholders and supervisory authorities, was distributed as follows over the year:
- €3 billion via dividend paid in April 2024 (the coupon was detached to be precise on April 22, 2024 with payment from April 24).
- €1.1 billion corresponding to the buyback of own shares valid for 2023 already carried out during 1Q24 (i.e. not including the €1.4 billion relating to the share buyback for the year 2023 already carried out during the 2023 calendar year).
- €3.1 billion relating to the residual of the share buyback for FY23 (which includes the second tranche concluded last Friday and the third tranche which started today).
- Approximately €3 billion from the down payment on distribution for 2024.
As regards the following years, UniCredit has announced that it expects that, excluding inorganic growth options, average annual total distributions between 2025 and 2026 will be higher than distributions for 2024, with a dividend policy equal to or greater than 40% and share buybacks with a maximum limit corresponding to the organic generation of capital combined with the use of excess capital”.
@lauranaka
