illimity Bank S.p.A. (ILTY) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Fourth Quarter 2024 and Full Year 2024 Results Presentation [Operator Instructions]. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Corrado Passera, Chief Executive Officer of Illimity Bank. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, and good morning to everyone. Welcome to our 2024 presentation. 2024 was a pivotal year for our future growth. And today, I will present how we are positioned for a strong and sustainable future. Slide 3. The strategic shift towards an SME-focused bank is now being completed, supported by a lean and well-aligned organizational structure. Our 2024 financial results reflect extraordinary and nonrecurring measures while reaffirming solid capital and liquidity positions. Our subsidiaries and strategic ventures hold hidden value that sets us apart, driving strong growth and value creation. And then in relation to the unsolicited voluntary offer from Banca Ifis, the Board and its advisers is reviewing all strategic options to ensure the best outcome for our shareholders and stakeholders. Let's start with our strategic shift towards SME business, which confirms strong performance on Slide 4. Our Corporate Investment Banking division continues to deliver strong profitability and sustained growth. Pretax profit result up 9% year-on-year, reinforcing a solid financial trajectory. Business origination up 18% year-on-year, a clear signal of strong market demand for specialized credit. Cost income at 18%, reflecting outstanding operational efficiency, setting a clear benchmark for the group. This is an important point because these figures set the standards for the performance we aim to achieve across all business areas. Slide 5. In just a few years, Illimity has built a distinctive market position in SME lending and investment banking with a well-designed offer. Our distinctive business model leverages deep sector expertise from our specialized teams, which we refer to as our tutor approach. The market we serve is broad and diverse, offering a strong runway for growth across all key segments. Slide 6, organizational structure. Last month, we refined it. Two Deputy CEOs have been appointed, both bringing deep experience within Illimity. Enrico Fagioli, formerly Head of Corporate Banking and Chairman of Illimity SGR, now leads all business areas. Giovanni Lombardi, previously General Counsel and Secretary of the Board of Directors, now oversees central functions and operations. I thank both of them. Let's move now to Slide 7 with the key highlights for the full year results. Our operating profitability continues to grow. We will see plus 21%, despite shifting away from direct investments in NPE portfolios. As planned, we successfully completed an important transaction, unlocking the value of our Tech assets and generating a capital gain of EUR 53 million. In Q4, we recorded provisions and goodwill impairments with a total negative impact of EUR 118 million. Net result before goodwill impairments stands at EUR 39 million, which was offset by the goodwill write-offs on ability of Quimmo and Banca Interprovinciale, bringing the bottom line to just above breakeven. Our credit quality remains strong with an NPE ratio of 1.1%. We maintain a solid capital and liquidity position with a core Tier 1 ratio of 14.3%, substantially stable quarter-on-quarter with a liquidity buffer of EUR 1.2 billion. Let's look closer at operating performance on Slide 8. Operating result, excluding nonrecurring revenue, reached EUR 135 million, up 21%, showing organic growth. Net operating income remained resilient, supported by a 9% increase in fees. Total cost decreased by 12%, driven by reduction in both personnel and administrative expenses. Moving to Slide 9 to look at the strategic M&A transaction of 2024. In Q4, we finalized another key partnership in the IT world, this time with Apax Partners, creating Altermaind, a new AI-focused company in which we hold 48%. This move ensures the continued evolution of our tech capabilities. The transaction generated $53 million in capital gains and added 109 basis points to our capital, further strengthening our balance sheet. Moving to Slide 10. In the fourth quarter, we recognized provisions and goodwill impairments totaling EUR 118 million. This include [indiscernible] million in provisions due to revised collection estimates on restructured NPE portfolios following last year's further market deterioration, which affected, as we all know, multiple industry players. EUR 20 million in additional provisions for potential liabilities related to past contractual agreements. EUR 39 million goodwill impairment on Abilio/Quimmo and Banca Interprovinciale with no impact on the bank's capital. The net profit before such impairments is at EUR 39 million. Slide 11, net result. Our net result before goodwill impairments stood at EUR 39 million. As we all know, goodwill impairments have no effect on capital. The 2 impairments were recognized, as I said, on Abilio/Quimmo and on Banca Interprovinciale. Slide 12. The lending credit quality remains under control. 59% of total loans are backed by public guarantees or credit insurance. Net organic NPE ratio, excluding state guaranteed positions, remains low at 1.1%. The total organic NPE ratio, including publicly guaranteed loans, stands at 6.5%. Most NPE positions are UTP exposures under restructuring and not NPS. Ordinary cost of risk, excluding additional provision on restructured portfolios was 78 basis points. Slide 13. Our capital and liquidity positions are very solid. Core Tier 1 ratio stands at 14.3%, remaining substantially stable quarter-on-quarter. Liquidity remains strong with a buffer of EUR 1.2 billion and the regulatory ratios well above minimum requirements. Now as we turn to Slide 14, I want to highlight a very important point. There is a lot of hidden value in the activities we developed over the years beyond our core SME business. In this slide, Slide 14, we show 8 key businesses beyond our core banking activities that will represent sources of significant value creation. Subsidiaries like ARECneprix and Illimity SGR IT participations and partnerships, including Altermaind and engineering, tech ventures such as HYPE, b-ilty, Quimmo and Pehi. These businesses hold significant unrealized value, not yet fully reflected in our market valuation with the potential to generate substantial returns. Starting from ARECneprix, Slide 15. ARECneprix is our asset management firm, specializing in large UTP and Stage 2 positions with underlying real estate assets. EBITDA grew 4% year-on-year, reaching EUR 17 million. The decision to stop direct investments will not affect ARECneprix growth as its asset management and servicing operations are mostly developed with third parties, driven by growing demand for Stage 2 exposure management. Slide 16, Illimity SGR. Delivered a strong performance with a notable 82% increase in pretax profit year-on-year, driven by a revenue increase and efficiency gains. Assets under management reached EUR 650 million and the new private debt fund, ISC, secured over EUR 100 million in commitments. The new fund launched in October is the fourth in the last 3 years. Slide 17, HYPE. HYPE is a leading fintech platform in Italy with nearly 1.9 million accounts. In 2024, it achieved a net profit of EUR 1.2 million, a strong turnaround from a EUR 60 million loss the previous year and a EUR 16 million loss when we entered the JV. Significant potential remains in revenue growth and efficiency gains. With its large and growing customer base, HYPE holds substantial value in a market where new direct banks struggle with costly customer acquisitions. Valuations embedded in recent market transactions involving similar players highlight HYPE's value potential that could be substantially above its current book value. Furthermore, our 50% stake in HYPE enjoys co-control and protection rights. Let's move on b-ility on Slide 18. b-ility is our lending platform for small businesses. It more than doubled loan originations in 2024. Net loans to customers reached EUR 780 million, all backed by public guarantees. Profitability has significantly improved, achieving breakeven. Slide 19, Quimmo. Quimmo is our prop-tech. It has further strengthened its leadership in the judicial market with an 18% market share. It is also progressing in its open market strategy with a strong pipeline focused on high-end residential property. Current results are below expectations, mainly due to the slowdown in judicial cases caused by a decline in national bankruptcies over the past 2 years. Future profitability is expected to improve with continued cost rationalization and the recent uptick in bankruptcies, aiming for positive EBITDA by 2026. Slide 20. In 2024, Illimity launched Pehi, a new very valuable proximity channel based on the use of vending machines. In Italy, 835,000 vending machines are operational with approximately 31 million users. Currently, more than 1.7 billion transactions are processed annually through traditional proximity channels such as banks, post offices, tobacconist, generating approximately EUR 2.2 billion in interest and commissions. Why are we creating Pehi? First, it offers a very convenient payment solution directly through vending machine at workplaces, where 52% of vending machines are already located, eliminating the need to visit banks, post offices or tobacconist. Every 1% market share of total transactions corresponds to EUR 22 million revenues and minimal cost and investment are required to provide such services. We already have agreements with the 2 leading vending machine operators covering over 60% of the market to transform their vending machines into access points for a wide range of payments and services with PagoPA, payments already available. Slide 21, our new artificial intelligence-focused tech company, Altermaind. It is fully operational and positioned as an innovative player in digital solutions. We contributed our tech assets and IT team to support the company's growth, focusing on AI digital products, tech consulting and banking services, markets with strong growth potential and high valuation multiples. We sold a 52% stake to Apax for 62.4 million. We expect significant financial and strategic benefits in the coming years from our 48% stake. And then Slide 22. As we all know, Ifis has announced an unsolicited public offer for 100% of Illimity shares, which was neither agreed nor solicited. The Board and management of Illimity with the support of their advisers are working to allow our shareholders to properly evaluate the Ifis offer and any other strategic options. Illimity will provide its opinion in due course as required by law. At this stage, it's too early to comment on the terms and the full assessment will follow the publication of the offer document. The offer process is lengthy, especially with 2 banks being involved. Meanwhile, Illimity's regular operations continue as usual, prioritizing the best interest of the company and shareholders. The offer is delaying some previously planned M&A transactions, which could ultimately affect 2025 evolution and growth. Any transaction deemed beneficial for the bank and its shareholders will follow the necessary corporate process, including shareholder involvement where applicable. Silvia will now provide a comprehensive review of our full year results.

Thank you, Corrado, and good morning, everyone. Let's move straight ahead to the balance sheet figures on Slide 24. In 2024, we completed our strategic shift, moving away from direct investments in NPEs and converting the majority of these into senior notes and fund units. As a result, our loan book is now predominantly focused on SME lending. Net customer loans grew by 17% year-over-year despite a record level of early repayments, which totaled over EUR 500 million for the year, more than double the amount reported in 2023. Business origination for the full year '24 exceeded EUR 1.6 billion, remaining in line with 2023. At the desk level, growth was primarily driven by factoring and liability, while early repayments had an adverse impact on structured finance and turnaround. Business origination in asset-based financing performed well, contributing to a 4% increase in customer volumes. On a quarterly basis, customer loans remained largely stable. Financial assets increased both on a yearly and quarterly basis due to higher government bond holdings where we invest our excess liquidity. These bonds typically carry an average duration of less than 3 years and yield of approximately 3%. Goodwill decreased following the impairments booked in Q4. The reduction in intangible assets reflects the software contributing to the newly established IT company undermined finalized in Q4. Finally, our funding was up both on a yearly and quarterly basis, driven by the hosting components. We will provide more details shortly. Now move to profit and loss on Slide 25. Profitability was impacted by several nonrecurring items as well as our strategic shifts. Point number one, net interest income has increased by 8% on a quarter-over-quarter basis, primarily driven by an improvement in funding costs that kicked at the end of 2024 and has started declining. Year-on-year, the trend was affected by the higher cost of funding compared to last year and the reduction in distressed credit direct investments. Point number 2, net fees were up in the quarter, following an increase in credit servicing and real estate brokerage business. Year-on-year fees grew by 9%, driven by advances in business originations, increased investment banking activity and new funding mandates in the servicing business. Point number 3, other income includes certain nonrecurring components. In 2024, the sale of Newco Altermaind to companies owned by the Apax Fund generated a EUR 52 million positive impact alongside a negative adjustment of EUR 11 million related to certain fair value assets. In comparison, 2023 also saw extraordinary positive components, notably EUR 54 million gain from a transaction involving the IT platform. Excluding these nonrecurring components, the underlying trend remained flat on a quarterly basis. Year-on-year, growth in other income was driven by derivative business activity with customers, which more than offset a lower contribution from NPE investment business. Overall, operating income after adjusting for nonrecurring components amounted to EUR 294 million for full year '24, representing a slight decrease compared to the previous year. Point number 4, operating costs decreased both quarterly and annually, benefiting from reduction in variable compensation and overall cost savings measures, also partly deriving from the shift away from NPE direct investments. As a result of the above-mentioned dynamics, operating profit, excluding nonrecurring items, amounted to EUR 94 million in 2024, marking a 21% increase over 2023. Point number 5, loan loss provision charges consisted of 2 components: adjustments to certain assets in the former specialized credit division following recent developments impacting the dynamics of the underlying portfolios, resulting in a EUR 48 million impact and around EUR 11 million provision related to our organic SME business, including both corporate banking and BP, reflecting also updates to the generic provisions model. Point number 6, other nonrecurring charges include EUR 39 million for goodwill impairment and EUR 20 million for contingent liabilities referring to past contracts. In summary, the profit before tax for the fiscal year 2024 amounted to EUR 54 million. And for the fourth quarter of the same year, it was EUR 14.5 million. And net profit, excluding nonrecurring items, reached EUR 40 million for the fiscal year 2024 and approximately EUR 99 million for the fourth quarter. Now let's move to capital on Slide 26. Our capital base is solid with a common equity Tier 1 ratio at 14.3% and a total capital ratio at 18.2%. This quarter was characterized by several moving parts that you can see highlighted on this slide. As a positive contributor was the divestment of 52% of the Newco Altermaind, which generated capital through both the income from the disposal and the transfer of software previously owned by Illimity. Another positive aspect was the partial removal of the prudential filter applied to certain senior securitization notes, taking into account the impairment recognized on these items. A positive contribution came from the net profit reported in the quarter before any goodwill impairment. And finally, as a result of the Board of Directors' decision not to propose the dividend payment at the next AGM, we reversed the previously accounted dividend. These effects more than compensated for the negative impact from the cleanup activities undertaken by the bank in the latter part of the year as well as provisions for contingent liabilities, the impact of calendar provisioning and other minor effects. It should be noted that the goodwill impairment has no impact on our regulatory capital. Risk-weighted assets were slightly up in the quarter. Finally, let's move to funding on Slide 27. Funding was slightly up in the quarter while keeping a well-diversified mix. Retail funding from our retail platform, illimitybank.com remained largely flat, whilst we tactically increased funding from the advising platform. Wholesale funding was slightly down quarter-on-quarter due to lower repos. Our average blended cost of funding peaked at 4% in 2024 and has started to decline. I now hand back to Corrado for final remarks.

Thank you, Silvia. Very few words. 2024 has been a pivotal year, as I said, marked by a strategic shift due to a clearly unfavorable external and regulatory environment that drastically reduced the attractiveness of the NPE business for us. Resilient operating performance, solid capital position laid the foundation for long-term growth. Our future growth is underpinned by expanding our high-growth SME business, capitalizing on strong market position, strong market demand and sector expertise. Another important point, transformational cost efficiencies, ensuring a leaner, more agile organization. We are at 60% cost income, but we aim to go below 50%, thanks to the strategic shift and the new organization. Third, very important element, we will maximize value from noncore assets I described before. Thank you for your attention, and we now look forward to addressing your questions.

[Operator Instructions] First question is from Davide Giuliano, Equita.

I have 4. In your financial statement, you report approximately EUR 1 billion in securitization, which represent a significant portion of your assets and have been subject to write-downs. Could you provide more details on their underlying assets? How much is linked to internally originated NPE exposure? How much to NPE position acquired on market and how much to transaction for financing purposes? Can we rule out further write-downs in the future? The second one, this quarter, your personnel costs were lower than my expectation, while SG&A expenses were higher. Can you comment on why personnel costs were so low in this quarter, only EUR 9 million compared with more than EUR 20 million in the previous quarter? Additionally, you recorded approximately EUR 20 million in the income statement related to potential contractual liabilities. What do this refer to? Could you please remind us how the contracts with Apax and engineering work? The third one, from the outlook, it seems that first half 2025 will experience a slowdown. What does this mean in terms of NII and net fees? Can you provide us with the precise sensitivity to 100 bps parallel shift in the curve? And can you provide guidance for 2025? And the final one regarding capital, why was only part of the prudential filter applied by the Bank of Italy reversed in the quarter? Could you provide more details on this point?

So let me just recap. The first question is referring to the let's say, the senior notes that were targeted by our activity of valuation and therefore, provisions. If that is the question, those senior notes were previously from portfolios of distressed credit, NPL and UTP that we both on the market within the NPE divisions, the former distressed credit, specialized credit divisions. And as a result of a thorough activity that we do on a regular basis and based on the development within the underlying portfolios, we decided to take adjustments to the value of those securitization notes. So those were purchased portfolios and they were not, let's say, organically originated loans from the business of the bank. Let's move to staff cost. Q4 were below what is to be considered in a quarterly run rate and the reason being because we kind of reduced the variable component also given the results. We have worked hard also to keep our staff costs flat despite the bank was increasing and hiring in certain areas. So we do believe that the staff costs will remain on an annual run rate on a quarterly run rate in line with the previous quarters like EUR 20 million, EUR 22 million per quarter. This should be the trajectory for next year. So the EUR 20 million provisions are referring to potential liabilities that may arise from past contractual commitments, and we have decided to fully provision them in this financial year 2024 to prevent any future potential impact on profitability in the future, depending on how the country will move, we might have some reversals. But for now, we decided to be prudent on that item.

Net interest income sensitivity and guidance.

So let's start with sensitivity. We have adjusted our NII sensitivity during 2024. And we have now a, let's say, low to mid-single-digit sensitivity to NII from movement into the forward interest rate curve. In terms of the guidance for NII, so what we do believe in 2024, we have seen the shift completing from what was the previous NPE direct investment business into what we call now the senior notes and unit fund. And the impact of that shift would have been a better risk management at the company level, but a bit of a lower overall net interest margin. So the guidance that we can provide at this stage in terms of NII is that the NII will remain a bit under pressure in 2025. We would have a declining lending margins resulting from lower market rates because it's true that we have reduced the sensitivity, but we haven't cut it down to there. We are still slightly positive sensitive to rates. And we will expect to partially offset that pressure with a gradual reduction in funding costs. On the funding cost, I can give you an element. The overall funding cost, the blended cost was 4% for the fourth quarter 2024. If we look at the monthly cost of funding, it was declining already from the peak of 4% in October to 3.8% in December. The new funding that we have made in January was at 3.5% cost. So the decline in the cost of funding is happening, but it's going to be a bit gradual. And probably the last one is on the prudential filter. So basically, we have recovered EUR 6 million, and this is in line with the impairment that we have taken. So the more we collect or we impair, the more we can recover of the filter.

[Operator Instructions]. Next question is from Michele Baldelli, BNP Paribas.

I have just a question about calendar provisioning. Do you expect in 2025 to have an amount related to this? If you can give certain kind of guidance about this item, please?

So we can grow rapidly, EUR 15 million in next year.

And similar to what we had in 2024.

The first one is again, on contracts and the provision that you made are the provision related to Apax or engineering? And the second one, you said that Bank of Italy you removed essentially EUR 6 million of the prudential filter, but the prudential filter was linked essentially to the adjustment that you made in the quarter. And the prudential filter, however, was much higher. When do you expect to recover this prudential filter? And can we rule out further write-downs in the future?

The contract, I think that Silvia was very clear. We have been very prudent, and we decided to provision the maximum liability we might have on future contracts. And obviously, we are referring to the engineering contract. It's a partnership that is developing well. But theoretically, we might incur in the next 10 years in that kind of liability. There is no connection between the 2 partnerships. One is a joint venture, especially on artificial intelligence and banking services. With engineering, as you know, we gave them exclusivity on the sale on a number of our software. And both businesses are certainly capable to provide us with satisfaction. But in order to be as prudent as possible, we made the provision we mentioned. Second, the filter is already discounted in our capital. For the time being, EUR 6 million of the EUR 28 million have been freed and the rest will happen together with the collection of the position they referred to.

Maybe just as a follow-up, basically, the EUR 6 million reflects a kind of a case-by-case assessment of the adjustments made. So we made legal adjustments to the population where this EUR 28 million filter applied to, and we have recovered on a case-by-case basis.

So the worst is already accounted for in our core Tier 1 and only good things can happen on those positions according that the filter is over there.

[Operator Instructions]. Mr. Passera there are no more questions registered at this time.

If there are no more questions, we can only confirm what we said, important transition year, clear strategy, an important set of businesses that are beyond the core business that can provide value. A tender offer that we will manage as attentively as possible in the interest of all our shareholders. Thank you to everybody.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones.