The January 22 issue of Milano Finanza publishes highlights from the wide-ranging interview with Prelios Group CEO Riccardo Serrini conducted by Andrea Cabrini, director of Class CNBC, for the “CEO Talks” of the Class Group’s business and financial TV channel.
Referring to Prelios’ 2021 results, Serrini observes that “growth has outperformed projections for five consecutive years and now we are moving into a new phase. Last year, we closed with Ebitda of 125 million euro (106 million in 2020), revenues of 270 million and a ratio of gross operating margin to debt of less than 2.” For the Prelios Group CEO “the UTP sector reported very strong performance in 2021, but our real estate business was positive too. We added 6 billion to our assets under management, which currently amount to approximately 40 billion euro. We are comforted by the fact that growth was uniform, and cash flows are predictable over time as they are based on long-term contracts.” According to data from the ABI - Italian Banking Association, says Andrea Cabrini, distressed credits have been rising again since October 2021. Should we expect a new wave of UTPs over the coming months, due in part to the impact of Omicron on the economy? “So-called stage 2 bank loans, in other words loans that are still performing but considered to be high risk, increased by 23% in 2021 to 219 billion euro,” replies Serrini. “Clearly, some of the items on the list will slip down into the area of NPEs, and the first step are UTPs, loans granted to companies that continue to operate but are no longer able to keep up with the repayments. For some time, our forecasts have indicated a potential level of around 100 billion euro due to the new wave of the pandemic.”
On the topic of the new calendar provisioning criteria, the Prelios CEO says: “Calendar provisioning means reserves have to be created continuously and banks have to decide whether or not to dispose of their exposures. The regulator wants banks to focus on their core activity of collecting funds and investing. Management of distressed loans is an activity more suited to an industrial profile.” The Class CNBC director also raises the question of NPL securitization with public guarantees, a key element in unblocking the market, asking Serrini whether the GACS guarantee would also be useful for UTPs. “Yes, I think so,” Riccardo Serrini replies. “GACS securitizations have got the market moving again, after a nine-year standstill, but at the moment they are exclusively concerned with NPLs. I think they will be extended to UTPs, we’ll see what happens in June when the GACS scheme ends.”
Click on the link for Andrea Cabrini's full interview with Riccardo Serrini for “CEO Talks” on Class CNBC:
A questo link l’intervista integrale di Riccardo Serrini ad Andrea Cabrini per i “CEO Talks” di Class CNBC: