European markets down ahead of Fed; Amplifon performs well

(Alliance News) - On Wednesday, the main European indices closed lower, with selling also prevailing on the Italian stock exchange, which returned to the 38,300-point level. Paris recorded the sharpest decline of the session.

Meanwhile, Wall Street is moving in a mixed fashion ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, expected in the European evening.

Thus, the FTSE Mib closed down 0.6% at 38,319.89, the Mid-Cap lost 0.6% to 51.885.49, the Small-Cap rose 0.2% to 29,772.06, while the Italy Growth advanced 0.1% to 7,740.04.

The FTSE 100 in London closed down 0.4%, the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.9%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt lost 0.6%.

Returning to Milan, on the Piazza Affari's highest capitalization list, Amplifon - at the top since the opening bell - advanced 2.8% to EUR19.05 per share, in its fifth bullish session.

Mediobanca performed well, up 0.6% to EUR18.84. During the session, the stock hit a new annual high of EUR18.985.

Italgas announced that it closed the first quarter with adjusted net income attributable to the group of EUR132.6 million, up from EUR117.6 million on March 31, 2024.

The Italgas board also approved the guidance for 2025, forecasting revenues of around EUR 2.45 billion.

Italgas, one of the few bullish stocks, advanced 1.4%, hitting a new annual high of EUR7.375 before closing at EUR7.27.

Azimut Holding - down fractionally to EUR 25.47 - increased its stake in HighPost Capital from 15% to 56% through its US subsidiary Azimut Alternative Capital Partners, thereby gaining control of the company.

Banco BPM - down 0.9% - closed the first quarter with a net profit of EUR 510.7 million, up 38% compared to EUR 370.2 million in the same period last year and more than double the figure for the fourth quarter of 2024.

FinecoBank - down 0.9% - reported that its results as of March 31 closed with a net profit of EUR 164.2 million, up almost 12% compared to the first quarter of 2024.

The financial margin stood at EUR 161.3 million, down by almost 11% compared to the first quarter of 2024 and by 5.3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024 due to lower interest rates.

Telecom Italia closed the first quarter with total revenues of EUR3.3 billion, up from EUR3.2 billion as of March 31, 2024, and confirmed its guidance for 2025.

TIM closed down 0.6% at EUR0.3564, after updating its annual high to EUR0.3613.

Leonardo - down 0.4% - formalized the establishment of its Aeronautica division and appointed Stefano Bortoli as managing director.

DiaSorin - down 3.0% - closed the first quarter with adjusted net income of EUR 64 million, up from EUR 59 million as of March 31, 2024. The company confirmed its guidance for 2025 with ex-Covid revenues up by approximately 8.0%.

Buzzi, whose quarterly results are due on Tuesday, closed at the bottom of the main index, down 3.5%.

On the Mid-Cap index, Ariston Holding performed well, up 5.4%, after announcing that it had closed the first quarter with net revenues of EUR 648.2 million, up from EUR 634.7 million as of March 31, 2024. Adjusted EBITDA for the three months amounted to EUR 64.1 million, up from EUR 55.8 million in 2024.

Lottomatica Group - down 1.5% - closed the first quarter with a net profit of EUR 51.5 million compared to EUR 29.9 million in the same period last year. Revenue rose to EUR 11.18 billion, up 28% from EUR 8.73 billion a year earlier.

Zignago Vetro ended at the bottom of the second tier with a 10% loss. The company reported a sharp decline in net profit for the first quarter, down 90% to EUR 1.1 million from EUR 11.8 million in the same period last year. Revenues fell 1.8% to EUR 155.4 million from EUR 158.3 million.

On the Small-Cap market, among the stocks with the highest trading value, Digital Value fell 2.4% after the previous day's gains.

Cellularline - flat at EUR 2.58 - closed the first quarter with a net loss of EUR 800,000 from EUR 2.6 million at March 31, 2024, with revenues of EUR 32.4 million from EUR 31.8 million.

Edison - down 0.3% - announced that its interim report for the year ended March 31 showed a net profit of EUR139 million, compared with EUR322 million in the first quarter of 2024.

IGD - up 1.8% - closed the first quarter with net freehold rental income of EUR 25.1 million, down from EUR 28.8 million as of March 31, 2024.

Profit for the quarter amounted to EUR 1.6 million, compared to EUR 4.3 million in the same period last year.

Among the losers, illimity Bank fell 0.2%.

Among SMEs, Redelfi performed well, rising 1.4% and recording the highest trading value.

TrenDevice saw double-digit growth, up 35% with over 430,000 shares traded.

AATech, up 1.1%, issued and allocated 20.5 million new warrants free of charge. The transaction, approved on April 15, provides for three warrants for each share held.

Intred - up 1.5% - closed the first quarter with revenues of EUR 13.9 million, up 8.1% compared to the same period in 2024, net of extraordinary effects related to school tenders and the integration of the subsidiary Connecting Italia, acquired in April last year.

The board renewed the 18-month buyback plan, which provides for the purchase of up to 100,000 shares, equal to 0.6% of the share capital, for a maximum of EUR 1.5 million.

At the bottom of the alternative listing, Talea Group lost 8.1%.

In New York, the Dow gained 0.5%, the Nasdaq lost 0.5%, while the S&P 500 was down fractionally.

Among currencies, the euro traded at USD 1.1347 from USD 1.1340 on Tuesday evening, while the pound traded at USD 1.3346 from USD 1.3364 on Tuesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude traded at USD 61.41 per barrel from USD 62.64 per barrel yesterday evening, while gold traded at USD 3,392.11 from USD 3,404.10 per ounce yesterday evening.

Thursday's macroeconomic calendar opens at 0800 CEST with the release of the Halifax house price index in the UK, alongside industrial production data and Germany's trade balance. Industrial production data for Spain is also expected at the same time.

At 11:00 CEST, UK mortgage rates will be released, followed at 11:40 CEST by a speech by Bundesbank member Balz.

At 1:00 p.m. CEST, the Bank of England will announce its interest rate decision, the key event of the day, followed by a press conference with Governor Andrew Bailey at 3:15 p.m. CEST.

In the afternoon, at 2:30 p.m. CEST, data on weekly unemployment claims, both initial and continuing, will be released in the US. At 3:00 p.m. CEST, Tuominen, a member of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank, will speak.

At 4:00 p.m. CEST, wholesale sales in the US will be published, while at 5:30 p.m. CEST, two US Treasury bill auctions will be held, for 4 and 8 weeks respectively. The day will end at 7:00 p.m. CEST with the auction of 30-year US Treasury bonds.

Among the companies listed on the Italian stock exchange, the quarterly results of Banca Mediolanum, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Brembo, Campari, Enel, Leonardo, Mediobanca, Poste Italiane, Recordati, and Snam are expected, among others.

By Antonio Di Giorgio, Alliance News reporter

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