(Alliance News) - On Tuesday, major European stock markets confirm expectations and open in positive territory on a day when PMI data for the Eurozone and some of its most important economies are expected.

Thus, the FTSE Mib opens in the green 0.6 percent to 33,913.25, the Mid-Cap is in the green 0.5 percent to 46,170.92, the Small-Cap is up 0.7 percent to 28,109.32, while Italy Growth is up 0.3 percent to 8,078.68.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is up 0.3 percent, London's FTSE 100 is up 0.4 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is up 0.7 percent.

In macroeconomic news, Italy's public deficit grew more than expected last year, reaching 7.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product, once again the highest in the EU, according to official data revised Monday.

The national statistics agency Istat had published a preliminary estimate in March, reporting a deficit of 7.2 percent of GDP, following that of 8.6 percent in 2022.

The upward revision is due to the higher-than-expected cost of the generous "Superbonus" tax incentive aimed at improving the energy efficiency of homes, Istat experts said Monday during a hearing in Parliament.

Back in Milan, on the Mib, Telecom Italia opens on top, up 2.8 percent, on the day of the shareholders' meeting and thanks to signals coming from several quarters on the irreversibility of the sale of the network to the US fund KKR. The top management is expected to be reconfirmed tomorrow and it is considered very likely that Vivendi will simply abstain.

As Alliance News columnist Francesco Bonazzi writes, "a shareholders' meeting is scheduled to renew the board of directors. Shareholder Vivendi has not submitted any list, but is expected to choose to abstain. The list of the outgoing board, led by CEO Pietro Labriola, should thus win hands down, and this would be a guarantee that the sale of the network would go through by the summer, without any second thoughts."

"In this respect, last Friday there was news that KKR had notified the European Antitrust Authority of the transaction, and that the authority had set May 30 as an indicative deadline for completing the investigation."

"Also in these days, the book value of Telecom Sparkle was set at EUR481 million as of last December 31. According to press rumors, Telecom Italia would like to sell Sparkle for about EUR800 million to the Asterion fund and the Treasury itself."

Recordati, in the green by 1.3 percent, reported Monday that it reported revenues of EUR607.8 million in the first quarter, up 10 percent from the same period in 2023.

On the same day, the shareholders' meeting approved the financial statements for the year 2023 and renewed the authorization to purchase and dispose of treasury shares for a maximum number of 3.5 million shares that can be purchased and for a maximum potential outlay of EUR200 million.

The board of directors of Saipem -- on the bottom at the opening, down 3.2 percent -- on Monday approved the group's interim report for the period ended March 31, reporting an adjusted profit of EUR57 million, compared to breakeven in the corresponding period of 2023. "In addition to the positive change recorded in adjusted operating income of EUR32 million, there is the effect of the improvement in the balance of financial and tax management for a total of EUR25 million," the company note said.

In the first quarter of 2024, revenues amounted to EUR3.04 billion from EUR2.58 billion in the corresponding period of 2023.

Iveco Group rises 0.4 percent. The company's board of directors announced that Olof Persson will replace Gerrit Marx in the role of group CEO effective July 1, when Gerrit Marx will leave Iveco Group to take over as CEO at CNH Industrial.

On the Mid-Cap, OVS rises 1.1 percent. The company announced Thursday that it ended the year ended Jan. 31, 2024 with a reported net profit of EUR52.4 million, up from EUR39.6 million in the same period last year.

The board of Piaggio & C. -- in the green by 0.2 percent -- on Monday confirmed Matteo Colaninno as executive chairman of the board and Michele Colaninno as chief executive officer.

On the Small-Cap, CSP International - in the red by 1.1 percent - reported that it ended 2023 with a net profit of EUR100,000, down from EUR500,000 as of Dec. 31, 2022. Turnover in the period stood at EUR91.6 million from EUR94.2 million in 2022.

Tessellis - down 2.2 percent after Monday's 19 percent green at the close - reported Friday that it had received a notice from Jefferies Financial Group Inc. in connection with the acquisition of the indirect controlling interest. Specifically, Jefferies Financial Group notified the company of the acquisition of the majority of voting rights in Opnet - which holds 59.26% of Tessellis' share capital - through its subsidiary BEI Italia Wireless, following the conversion of convertible preferred shares into ordinary shares, held by BEI Italia Wireless in Opnet.

Netweek--not yet affected by trading--approved consolidated financial statements as of Dec. 31, which closed with a consolidated net loss of EUR13.4 million, which compares with a net loss of EUR1.9 million in the previous year.

Sogefi is up 0.7 percent after announcing on Monday that it made a net profit of EUR15.0 million in the first quarter from EUR13.2 million in the same period 2023.

Revenues amounted to EUR263.2 million, down from EUR274.0 million in the same period of 2023.

Among the SMEs, Redelfi -- flat at EUR5.52 per share -- announced Monday that it has signed, through its wholly owned U.S.-registered subsidiary Redelfi Corporation, with Elio Energy Group LLC, a U.S. developer already a partner in BESS Power Corporation, the operating agreements for the development of an additional 2.4 GW of Battery Energy Storage System projects in the U.S. territory. The new pipeline will be developed by the U.S.-registered newco Redelio Renewables LLC, in which Redelfi Corp. and Elio Group have a 50 percent stake, respectively.

CY4Gate - in the green by 3.2 percent - announced Tuesday that following the acquisition of XTN, it has signed a number of important contracts with leading Italian companies operating in the financial services sector for the acquisition and functional extension of the Cognitive Security Platform, a platform produced by XTN Cognitive Security and a recognized national and European player in the field of fraud and digital threat detection and response.

The contracts have a total value of more than EUR1 million for the duration of 12 months.

Prisms falls 1.3 percent after it reported that it closed 2023 with a net loss of EUR11.3 million from one of EUR10.8 million as of Dec. 31, 2022.

Production value for the period was EUR18.3 million, down from EUR20.9 million in 2022.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed in the green by 0.3 percent, the Hang Seng rose 1.9 percent and the Shanghai Composite gave up 0.7 percent.

In New York on Monday, the Dow Jones finished up 0.7 percent at 38,239.98, while the S&P is closed in the green 0.9 percent at 5,010.60 and the Nasdaq ended the session up 1.1 percent at 15,451.31.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0668 from USD1.0644 on Monday in European equities closing while the pound was worth USD1.2336 from USD1.2337 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD87.32 a barrel from USD87.05 a barrel Monday evening and gold trades at USD2,322.80 an ounce from USD2,335.71 an ounce Monday evening.

Tuesday's macro calendar features the UK manufacturing PMI at 1030 CEST.

At 1400 CEST from the U.S. will come the building permits data and at 1545 CEST the PMI of tertiary sector purchasing, while at 2230 CEST the weekly oil stocks data will be due.

In Piazza Affari, the quarterly results of Eni and Fervi, among others, are expected.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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