Net income at Italy's Poste Italiane rose 44% in the second quarter to 469 million euros, mainly thanks to strong growth in the payment and mobile division and cost-cutting in the mail and parcel segment, the company said on Thursday. Poste said it expects to report an operating profit of 2 billion euros in 2022, up from 1.85 billion euros last year.
Italian postal service Poste Italiane is considering expanding its payments operations through the acquisition of card processing and electronic payments group LIS Holding, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday. LIS Holding, which controls LIS Pay, is a unit of IGT Lottery, an Italian sub-holding owned by New York-listed International Game Technology, the gaming group controlled by Italy's De Agostini holding company. A transaction involving LIS Pay would be the latest evidence of robust merger and acquisition activity in the payments sector, which is rapidly consolidating on the back of rising competition and the large investments in technology needed.
MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's postal services group Poste Italiane on Thursday raised its full-year guidance after reporting increased third-quarter revenue and operating profit. Poste Italiane, which confirmed an interim dividend of 0.185 euros per share, also expects 2021 revenue to increase by 100 million euros from the original target of 11.2 billion euros. Poste Italiane revenue rose 7% to 2.76 billion euros in the querter.