Mediobanca's profit beats forecast, but outlook disappoints

MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's Mediobanca on Thursday failed to impress investors with its full-year outlook after net profit beat forecasts in the three months through March, sending its shares lower.

The bank, whose fiscal year runs from July to June, forecast full-year revenues of around 3.2 billion euros ($3.5 billion). While that is higher than a target of 3 billion set under a plan to 2023, it was already priced in by the market, analysts said.

"Company outlook implies lower pace in the last quarter of the year," Jefferies said.

Net profit came in at 235 million euros, up 24% year-on-year and above a 215 million euro company-provided consensus.

Revenues posted the second-best quarter ever rising 10% to 760 million euros, as anticipated.

Wealth management and consumer banking boosted the net interest margin, which rose 22%, while fees, down 8%, suffered from weakness in corporate investment banking (CIB) operations.

As of 1430 GMT, shares in Mediobanca fell 3.7%, underperforming a 1.2% drop in banking index.

Citi flagged the CIB slowdown had been stronger than anticipated and that no positive surprise had come from the revenue trend and outlook, both broadly in line with consensus.

Mediobanca Chief Executive Alberto Nagel said Thursday's share reaction reflected partly expectations about the bank but also general market tensions.

"We don't look at a single day, but we go ahead with our plan", he told a post-results press briefing.

Mediobanca will unveil a new three-year plan on May 24, in a key test for Nagel who has recently come under pressure by two major shareholders - the Del Vecchio family's holding company Delfin and Italian tycoon Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone.

At the helm since 2008, Nagel has been criticised for not adequately growing Mediobanca's business and putting a brake also on insurer Generali, in which Mediobanca is the main shareholder. ($1 = 0.9084 euros)

(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro; editing by Federico Maccioni and Valentina Za)