(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari opened up as expected on Friday, on a day not particularly packed with macro data but with eyes on Moody's decision on Italy's credit rating.
The FTSE Mib opened Friday up 0.4 percent to 29,364.56, the Mid-Cap rose 0.5 percent to 41,577.94, the Small-Cap dropped 0.2 percent to 25,774.21, and Italy Growth gained 0.1 percent to 7,673.21.
London's FTSE 100 is up 0.5 percent to 7,446.07, Paris' CAC 40 rises 0.5 percent to 7,202.19 and Frankfurt's DAX 40 gleans 0.3 percent to 15,831.58.
On the main list in Piazza Affari, immediately up Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, up 2.4 percent, with as many as 1.8 million shares changing hands in a few minutes.
On the other side of the list, however, Assicurazioni Generali falls, down 1.2 percent despite the fact that it said earlier that it doubled its profit for the first nine months to EUR2.82 billion from EUR1.46 billion in the same period last year.
In contrast, adjusted net income rose to EUR2.98 billion from EUR2.30 billion while adjusted earnings per share increased to EUR1.93 from EUR1.46.
The group confirmed a strong capital position, with the Solvency II ratio at 224 percent from 221 percent at the end of 2022. The increase mainly reflects the strong contribution of normalized capital generation, which, together with the overall positive impact from market variances, more than offset negative impacts from regulatory changes, noneconomic variances, and capital movements such as the dividend accrual for the period, net of the recent subordinated debt issue.
Still doing well is Leonardo, up 0.88 percent, after announcing that the offering price of the 18.0 million shares of DRS offered to the public in the U.S. is USD17.75.
The completion of the offering is scheduled for November 21 and is subject to customary closing conditions. Following the completion of the offering, Leonardo is expected to hold approximately 73.3 percent of the issued and outstanding common shares of DRS or approximately 72.3 percent if the option to purchase additional shares from the underwriting banks is fully exercised.
"This transaction allows us to increase financial flexibility to focus on investments and acquisitions that create value for Leonardo while preserving a solid financial structure," said Roberto Cingolani, Leonardo's CEO and managing director.
On the Mid-Cap, luxury stocks recover after yesterday's negative close, with Salvatore Ferragamo rising 0.6 percent, Tod's gaining 1.2 percent, and Brunello Cucinelli up 0.6 percent.
Piaggio & C. gives up 0.1% after announcing that it has signed a EUR200 million revolving credit facility with a pool of banks with a four-year term, with an option to extend for an additional year at the company's discretion.
Fincantieri is breaking even. The company reported yesterday that it closed the first nine months with revenues up to EUR5.38 billion from EUR5.32 billion in the same period a year earlier. For the full year, Fincantieri expects revenues in line with 2022, a margin of 5 percent, and NFP almost unchanged from the end of last year.
On the Small-Cap, Safilo Group rises 1.4 percent and reverses the bearish trend seen yesterday by the entire fashion sector.
Brioschi--up 1.3 percent--sold its entire 70 percent stake in Milanofiori Energia to Getec Italia.
The sale price for the 70 percent stake owned by Brioschi is about EUR3.2 million and was paid in full by the buyer.
Somec is up 0.4 percent after reporting that its subsidiary Bluesteel has won a new contract in the UK worth about GBP9 million-about EUR10.5 million at today's exchange rate- related to the redevelopment project of an iconic tower, a symbol of 1960s London.
Bluesteel, part of the Naval Architectural and Civil Facades Engineered Systems division and active at the European level as a player in the fabrication and installation of curtain walls and window frames, will work on behalf of one of the UK's leading real estate companies, handling the design, supply and installation of the building's new entrance pavilion, the shielding of the plant area and the new volume that will be built to crown the tower.
Among SMEs, RES does not trade after announcing that it has obtained EUR8 million in financing from Banco BPM for the construction of the plastics recycling plant.
The five-year floating-rate credit line with eight months of pre-amortization is backed by an 80% SACE Green guarantee and finances the construction in Pettoranello, in the province of Isernia, of Phase I of the project to build an integrated center for the thrust sorting and recycling of plastics aimed at the production of secondary raw materials and the recovery of process waste by transformation into pyrolytic oil.
Still good Datrix, up 14 percent after gaining 12 percent yesterday. The SME has won a major European call for proposals - Horizon Europe - in the area of AI for healthcare.
The research project is called "Better," an acronym for Better Real-World Health-Data Distributed Analytics Research Platform, and aims to create a user-friendly platform that physicians in European hospitals will be able to use to view patient data - comparable and filterable by pathology or genetic parameters - and train predictive models, while complying with the most stringent privacy regulations globally related to health information, all through a federated learning and distributed AI approach.
In total, this is EUR10 million in funds allocated at the European level, about half of which will be used for genetic sequencing, since the genetic component is essential in the diseases being analyzed, divided into three macro-areas and as many applications: rare pediatric diseases, autism spectrum disorders in children and adolescents, and congenital visual problems, with a focus on retinal diseases.
In Asia, the Nikkei closed Friday up 0.5 percent to 33,585.20, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.1 percent to 3,054.37, and the Hang Seng was down 2.1 percent to 17,452.03.
In New York, the Dow closed yesterday down 0.1 percent to 34,945.47, the Nasdaq rose 0.1 percent to 14,113.67 and the S&P 500 gained 0.1 percent to 4,508.24.
Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0855 versus USD1.0856 recorded at Thursday's European stock close while the pound was worth USD1.2383 from USD1.2416 last night.
Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD77.45 per barrel from USD78.21 per barrel at Thursday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,986.41 an ounce from USD1,990.20 an ounce last night.
Friday's macroeconomic calendar includes, at 1000 CET, the Spanish trade balance.
At the same time, Eurozone current account and current account data are released. At 1100 CET, it is the turn of Eurozone inflation.
In the afternoon, from the US, at 1430 CET, data on building permits, new residential construction and building permits are expected.
Among the companies listed in Piazza Affari, results from Circle, Innovatec and Health Italia are expected.
By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter
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