BPER Group’s preliminary 2016 consolidated results approved

Growth in the Group's ordinary profitability: Net profit comes to € 71.5 million (€ 62.1 million in 2015), net of non-recurring items and excluding the contributions to the Resolution and Deposit Guarantee Funds; book net profit of € 14.3 million (€ 220.7 million in 2015).

Cash dividend of € 6 cents per share proposed for the Parent Company BPER Banca (€ 10 cents in 2015).

Asset quality continues to improve with the help of particularly conservative provisioning policies:

-       Gross stock of non-performing and bad loans has decreased by 1.9% and 1.0% from the end of 2015, thanks to a number of bad loan assignments - for a total gross amount of approximately € 700 million during the year, without a significant impact on the income statement - carried out as part of a broader strategy for the management of non-performing loans.

-       ratio of gross non-performing loans stands at 22.1%, down by 122 bps in the year

-       inflows to non-performing loans from "performing" loans down by 6.1% compared with 2015 (-32.5% compared with 2014); inflows to bad loans have also fallen by 5.4% compared with 2015 (-34.5% compared with 2014)

-       a significant increase in the flows from non-performing loans back to "performing" (+16.9% y/y), confirming greater efficiency in the management of problem loans

-       further increase in the coverage ratio of non-performing loans to 44.5%, despite higher assignments of bad loans during the year (+86 bps since September 2016 and +32 bps since the end of 2015), with net adjustments to loans down by 12.2% y/y

Net lending to customers with significant growth of 4.1% (gross +3,5%) compared with last year, also due to the inclusion of the CR Saluzzo Group in the scope of consolidation,and despite the assignments of bad loans, with a strong increase in new disbursements of mortgages and personal loans of +19.1% y/y  

Core business revenues down by 3.6% in the period, more than offset by the reduction in net adjustments to loans (-12.2% y/y)

Financial solidity at the top of the Italian banking system with a Phased In CET1 ratio of 13.8% (13.3% Fully Phased). Capital buffer over the ECB's minimum requirement for 2017 (SREP at 7.25%) by more than 650 bps

Work has begun on preparing the new Business Plan that will be presented to the market by the end of the summer, earlier than the natural expiry of the current plan at the end of 2017, due to the fact that the macroeconomic, market and interest rate conditions have changed compared with its initial underlying assumptions