The board of directors of IFI – Istituto Finanziario Industriale S.p.A., which met today in Turin under the chairmanship of Gianluigi Gabetti, examined the consolidated results for the first six months of 2006.
The first half of the year closes with a consolidated profit of the IFI Group of € 129.7 million. Compared to the corresponding period of 2005, which included significant nonrecurring income reported by the IFIL Group, the result shows a decrease of € 257.9 million.
Consolidated equity of the Group at June 30, 2006 is € 3,142 million (€ 3,084 million at the end of 2005). The increase of € 58 million is due to the consolidated profit of the Group for the period (+€ 129.7 million), the share of negative translation differences (-€ 92.1 million) and other net changes (+€ 18.8 million) reported by the IFIL Group and other variations (+ € 1.6 million).
The net financial position of IFI S.p.A. at June 30, 2006 shows a negative € 91.2 million, with a positive change of € 186.5 million compared to the position at the end of 2005 (-€ 277.7 million). This change is due to the sale of the entire investment in Exor Group (+ € 206.6 million), the receipt of dividends (+ € 54.3 million), the purchase of a 1.39% stake in IFIL ordinary capital stock (-€ 65.5 million) and other net changes (-€ 8.9 million).
For the parent, IFI S.p.A., profit for the first half of 2006 is € 152.4 million and shows an increase of € 104 million compared to the corresponding period of 2005 (€ 48.4 million), mainly due to the gain on the sale of the investment in the company Exor Group to Exor Group itself.
Major events during the first half of 2006
During the first half of 2006, IFI purchased 14,447,876 IFIL ordinary shares on the market (1.39% of the class of stock) for an investment of € 65.5 million. IFI currently holds 64.98% of IFIL ordinary capital stock and 4.99% of savings capital stock.
Sale of the investment in Exor Group
On April 7, 2006, IFI S.p.A. sold the entire investment in Exor Group to Exor Group itself. The sale resulted in a gain of € 104 million for IFI S.p.A. and a gain of € 7.3 million on consolidation and led to a significant reduction in debt. On May 4, 2006, Exor Group cancelled the treasury stock thus purchased, with a consequent reduction in capital stock.
Business outlook
For IFI S.p.A., forecasts are for a profit that will be considerably higher than that of 2005. On the basis of the indications formulated by the IFIL Group for 2006, the IFI Group is expected to show a consolidated profit, although lower than that of 2005, which included significant nonrecurring income.
Increase in the investment in IFIL
