1Q2011 Results: premiums € 100.3, net income € 67.4 million

Transactions insured amounted to € 31.4 billion, with the highest levels of exposure in Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Brazil

Today, the board meeting of SACE SpA examined the first quarter results at 31 March 2011.
 

At the end of March transactions insured amounted to € 31.4 billion, falling by 2.4% compared to the end of 2010. Russia, with transactions insured for € 4.5 billion, and Turkey with € 1.7 billion continued to be the first two countries in terms of exposure, followed by Saudi Arabia (€ 1.6 billion). Exposure in Brazil rose to € 1.4 billion following some substantial transactions in the oil and mining sectors, making this the fourth biggest country in the portfolio (seventh at the end of 2010).
 

Highlights of the results at 31 March 2011:
 

• gross premiums written amounted to € 100.3 million, compared to € 110.4 million for the same period in 2010;
• claims stood at € 7.4 million, falling compared to the previous year (€ 13.9 million);
•  the result of the non-technical account was € 38.9 million (€ 90 million at 31 March 2010), mainly due to the reduced contribution of financial management;
• net income amounted to € 67.4 million, 39.6% down on the € 111.6 million posted in 1Q2010.
   

“The results for the first three months of 2011 are consistent with the 2011-2013 industrial plan,” declared CEO Alessandro Castellano. “The reduction in volumes insured compared to the previous two years is in line with the global trend reported by other export credit agencies and reflects continuing macroeconomic uncertainty. As economic and financial imbalances remain and political instability is an issue in various parts of the world, we have confirmed our counter-cyclic role and increased our support for internationalisation projects of Italian companies, especially SMEs”.
 

Some of the most significant transactions approved in the first quarter of this year are listed below:

• € 200 million guarantee on the loan granted by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to Fiat Auto Serbia, to support more than 60 Italian enterprises involved in the project to expand and modernise the production facility in Kragujevac;
• € 500 million guarantee on the loan for the second phase of the Nord Stream project, in which the Italian firm Saipem has been awarded the contract to construct and install the second submarine gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea;
• guarantee on a $ 435 million loan to SABIC, one of the world’s leading petrochemical companies based in Saudi, to expand the existing steel plant in Hadeed as part of a project that also involves the Danieli group, based in the Friuli region of Italy;
• guarantee on a $ 300 million loan to the Brazilian company Vale S.A., the world’s biggest iron ore mining company, to foster commercial relations between Vale and Italian companies in the sector, especially the many small and medium-sized enterprises that work in Brazil.