New slide for Bff Bank, Milan Public Prosecutor's Office investigates for false accounting

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - The investigations of the Milan prosecutor for false accounting weigh on Bff Bank. The stock of the bank specialised in factoring is among the worst in Piazza Affari with a drop (in the late morning of 17 February) of about 6% around 3.6 euro per share, while the Ftse Mib is up about half a percentage point. In detail, following the press rumours, the bank announced that it was 'already aware of the preliminary investigations by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, which, to the bank's knowledge, began at the end of 2023 and are still at the preliminary investigation stage'. Moreover, it has 'from the outset, made its willingness to cooperate with the Public Prosecutor's Office and to provide any useful information to the investigating bodies'. At the same time, Bff emphasised thatthe 'extraordinary actions' announced in recent days are 'the result of autonomous evaluations and initiatives of the management', as well as assuring that it 'will proceed to update the market on the outcome of these investigations in compliance with current regulations'.

After the Bankitalia inspections, Bff ended up in the storm again at the beginning of February following the maxi-accruals, the related clearance on the 2025 accounts and the sudden change at the top. Since the beginning of the month, the stock has lost over 20% (-12.2% on 16 February alone) and now trades below the placement price at Piazza Affari (where the then Banca Farmafactoring debuted at EUR 4.7 in April 2017). Analysts, however, are observing the situation with caution: Banca Akros has a 'Neutral' rating on the stock with a target price of EUR 5.5, while Equita has a 'Hold' recommendation with a price target of EUR 6.