The financial institution reported higher-than-expected revenue however forecasts a modest income slowdown within the yr forward as web curiosity earnings falls.
UniCredit introduced on Tuesday a acknowledged web revenue of €1.97 billion within the remaining three months of final yr, bringing annual web revenue to round €9.71 billion.
The yearly whole is up 2.2% whereas the quarterly end result represents a 29.9% year-on-year drop, a smaller decline that analysts had predicted.
Income, in the meantime, got here in at simply over €6bn within the fourth quarter, a 0.7% annual rise, and €24.84bn over the yr.
Full yr return on tangible fairness (RoTe) was recorded at 11.5% within the fourth quarter and at 17.7% over the yr.
UniCredit stated its working prices got here in at €2.51bn within the remaining three months of the yr, a 1.3% yearly leap.
Additionally within the earnings assertion, the Italian financial institution introduced that it could increase shareholder returns in 2025, pledging a money dividend pay-out at 50% of web revenue, up from 40% in 2024.
On final yr’s earnings, UniCredit stated it could return €9bn to traders, €1.44 billion of which was already paid out as interim dividend in November 2024.
Trying forward, the financial institution hopes to boost a web revenue of €10bn in 2027.
It’s additionally concentrating on a RoTE efficiency above 17% within the interval from 2025 to 2027, in contrast with final yr’s 17.7%.
The financial institution nonetheless warned that it expects a modest decline in income within the coming yr resulting from decrease rates of interest and the “additional compression” of its enterprise in Russia.
“Three years in the past we introduced UniCredit Unlocked with monetary objectives that many stated had been too formidable. We now have now overdelivered on all these objectives, outperforming on all metrics together with profitability and distribution targets, and are coming into the subsequent section of our technique,” CEO, Andrea Orcel, stated within the earnings assertion.
“On this section, we are going to speed up our progress, aspiring to additional widen the hole with our opponents, shut our valuation hole, and cementing UniCredit because the financial institution of Europe’s future and benchmark for banking,” he added.
UniCredit’s announcement comes because the financial institution is looking for to consolidate with different European opponents.
The financial institution is notably looking for to take over home rival Banco BPM and Germany’s Commerzbank, though each bids stay hostile.
The Banco BPM CEO warned final yr {that a} takeover may price over 6,000 jobs, whereas unions in Germany have expressed considerations {that a} merger with Commerzbank may result in job cuts and hinder lending to SMEs.