Milano, 05 September 2003

Yesterday the Board of Directors of Caboto, Gruppo Intesa’s Securities House, chaired by the newly-appointed Chairman Giangiacomo Nardozzi, approved the Half-Year Report as of 30th June 2003.

 

The comparison of 2003 figures with those for the first half of 2002 must consider that Caboto’s operations now consolidate the Capital Markets activities previously carried out by Banca Intesa as provided for in the Business Plan which sets out the concentration of all capital markets activities in Caboto.

 

Caboto closed the first half of 2003 with a net income of 101 million euro.

 

Net interest and other banking income as of 30th June 2003 equalled 228.1 million euro, +126.7% compared to the same period of the previous year. Operating costs equalled 71.1 million euro (+7.4%).

 

In the first half of the year the company strengthened its forefront position in dealing in the Italian financial markets, as testified by the important awards it received in the business areas in which it operates. All areas registered positive trends.

 

In the primary bond market, the company was involved in some of the main bond issues launched by large Italian companies and reached top position in the ranking of bookrunners in the Italian corporate bond issues market and confirmed its position as the top Italian institution in the global league-table, which aggregates all the issues of both Italian and foreign companies. 

 

The Rates Markets Area generated revenues of 67.4 million euro and profits on derivatives significantly contributed to the achievement of budget targets. The strong acceleration in business with corporate customers recorded in the first half is certainly among the reasons for this performance. Relevant revenues to date have already exceeded total revenues generated in the whole of 2002 on the same customer base.

Noteworthy is also the excellent positioning in the Specialist league-table achieved by the “Specialisti del Tesoro”.

 

As concerns the Credit Markets Area, flows recorded positive trends, favoured by the progressive contraction in the spreads and the integration of trading activities between the Milan and London offices.

 

Giovanni Gorno Tempini, Chief Executive Officer of Caboto, commented: “We are very satisfied with the results achieved in the first half. They confirm that our strategies are correct and stem from excellent team work, constant customer focus, an attentive product diversification policy and the competitiveness of Caboto’s operating capabilities”.

 

The Equity Markets Area also generated important revenues (86.38 million euro): in terms of market shares Caboto is among the top three players in the Assosim ranking on MTA - Italian Stock Exchange - (4.9%) and is the leading player in stock options (15.3%) and stock futures (21.1%) traded on IDEM.

As regards revenues, market making on both equities and equity derivatives for institutional and corporate customers, managed by the London branch, generated significant results both in absolute terms and relative to the same period of the previous year. Structured Equity products also benefited from the development deriving from the commercial efforts made by the distribution network of the Group.

 

The Group’s Alternative Trading System (RetLots Exchange^®) confirmed its role as reference market with traded volumes of 6.4 billion euro in the first six months of 2003 and approximately 1,200 listed instruments.