By Valentina Za
MILAN, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Italy’s second-largest bank UniCredit said it aimed to lift its profit to 11 billion euros ($13 billion) this year, after topping analysts’ forecasts for 2025 with earnings boosted by stakes in rivals bought under CEO Andrea Orcel’s expansion strategy.
UniCredit, which had previously guided for a net profit of 10 billion euros in 2027, said on Monday it had an ambition to get to 13 billion euros in 2028 with “exceptional” average growth of 7% a year in 2026 to 2028.
UniCredit has spent billions of euros from its large excess cash reserves to become the main shareholder in Germany’s Commerzbank and Greece’s Alpha Bank, though it has stopped short of full takeovers.
Under the leadership of Orcel, a veteran dealmaker, UniCredit has also invested, sometimes temporarily, in other financial institutions in what Mediobanca Securities analysts have dubbed a “game of stakes”.
The bank, which also has large operations in Germany, Austria and eastern Europe, posted a net profit of 2.17 billion euros for the fourth quarter, benefiting from 336 million euros of tax credits from past losses to surpass a bank-gathered average analyst forecast of 1.96 billion euros.
($1 = 0.8450 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Sonali Paul and Jamie Freed)
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