Generali beats first-half forecasts, starts €500 million share buyback
Generali beats first-half forecasts, starts €500 million share buyback MILAN, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Italy's top insurer Generali GASI.MI beat estimates with its first-half results on Thursday thanks to the contribution of all of its businesses and said it would start a new €500-million tranche of its share buyback programme next week.
The insurer finds itself caught up in the broader takeover tussle in the Italian financial sector as the country's biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo ISP.MI seeks to buy rival Banca Monte dei Paschi (MPS) BMPS.MI, which holds a 13% stake in Generali through its subsidiary Mediobanca MDBI.MI.
The operating result, the figure most closely watched by the market, rose 11.2% to €4.5 billion ($5.2 billion), beating a company-provided consensus forecast of €4.38 billion.
($1 = 0.8678 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Keith Weir)
((gianluca.semeraro@tr.com; +39 06 80 307 741;))
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