Italy Financial News

(ANSA) - Rome, November 20 - Italian industry in September showed its biggest monthly rise in orders since January 2008, 5.2%, national statistics bureau Istat said.

Orders were down 20.4% year-on-year.

The news came a day after Istat said Italian exports rose by 6.6% in September - also the best monthly result since January 2008.

In year-on-year terms, exports were 18% down.

A week ago, on November 13, the Italian economy officially emerged from recession with the first growth in 15 months.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 19 - Italy will lose 384 billion euros over the next 15 years if it does not move forward with or delays completion of needed infrastructures, according to a new report.

The report from the Chamber of Deputies said that in the trash sector the infrastructures Italy needed included 100 incinerators and 165 compost plants, while in the transport sector the country needed 1,770km of new motorways and 848km of new rail lines.

Italy also needed 53,840km of additional water mains, the report added.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 19 - Although financial conditions improved in Italy in the third quarter of 2009, giving a boost to consumer confidence and domestic demand, uncertainty remains "in regard to both the timing and strength of a recovery," the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Thursday.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 19 - Italian exports rose by 6.6% in September, the best monthly result since January 2008, Istat said Thursday.

In year-on-year terms, exports were 18% down.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 18 - Italian confectioner Ferrero confirmed on Wednesday that it was considering joining American chocolate titan Hershey in a joint bid to acquire Britain's Cadbury.

In a statement released at the London Stock Exchange, the maker of Ferrero Rochet pralines and Nutella spread said it was "in the preliminary stages of evaluating its options in regard to Cadbury".

Should it come about, the bid would be made with American chocolate titan Hershey, which also released a statement to say that it was "reviewing its options and at this stage there can be no assurance that any proposal or offer will be forthcoming".

(ANSA) - Rome, November 18 - Italian confectioner Ferrero confirmed on Wednesday that it was considering joining American chocolate titan Hershey in a joint bid to acquire Britain's Cadbury.

In a statement released at the London Stock Exchange, the maker of Ferrero Rochet pralines and Nutella spread said it was "in the preliminary stages of evaluating its options in regard to Cadbury".

(ANSA) - Rome, November 18 - Over 1.7 million children in Italy are living in poverty, according to a report by Save the Children released Wednesday.

Compiled for a United Nations dossier leading up to International Children's Day on November 20, the report estimated that one in five Italians living beneath the poverty line are under the age of 18.

Over 61% of poor children in Italy are under 11 years old and over 72% live in the country's economically flagging south.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 17 - Some 75% of Italians this Christmas will buy domestic goods to put under the tree, a much higher percentage than in other countries, where an average of 59% buy national products for the holidays, the Coldiretti farmers union said on Wednesday.

The finding was part of a report called 'Xmas 2009 Survey' by the Deloitte research group which was presented at a seminar here entitled 'The Real Made in Italy is a Boost to Business and the Nation'.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 17 - Italy's Giulio Tremonti was voted the fifth best finance minister in the European Union on Tuesday by London business daily, the Financial Times.

Ranked against counterparts in the 19 biggest economies in the European Union, Tremonti's strong showing derived from his handling of Italy's ''notoriously wayward public finances'' during the global economic downturn.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 17 - Nearly one in four Italian children are living at or below the poverty line, European Parliament Deputy Speaker Roberta Angelilli announced on Tuesday.

Reporting on EU funding for the disadvantaged, Angelilli said that 27% of Italian households struggled to make ends meet, a figure which rises to 39% in the country's economically lagging south.

The EU average, including new entries Bulgaria and Romania, is 25%.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 17 - The 0.6% increase in Italy's gross domestic product in the third quarter of the year, over the previous three-month period, was a clear indication that "the most difficult period of the (economic) downturn is over," Italian Industry Minister Claudio Scajola said on Tuesday.

Speaking on a morning TV news program, the minster added that what was needed now was to "help business by stimulating the recovery".

(ANSA) - Rome, November 17 - Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary expects his budget airline next year will surpass Italian airline Alitalia in terms of passengers carried and become the leading carrier in Italy.

Speaking Tuesday at the presentation of Ryanair's new flights from Rome's Ciampino airport to Krakow, Poland, and Seville, Spain - which will begin in March 2010 - O'Leary said that his airline this year "increased the number of passengers (in Italy) it carried by 22% to 18 million, while Alitalia lost 23% of its passengers and also carried 18 million".

(ANSA) - Rome, November 16 - Italy's popular SuperEnalotto game has already raked in over three billion euros this year and is expected to break its all-time record of 3.15 billion euros set in 1999, game organizers Sisal said on Monday.

Money collected from SuperEnalotto bets already broke last year's record intake of 2.509 billion euros by mid-September and the 2008 record was a 29.3% jump over the previous year.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 16 - Italy's anti-trust authority on Monday gave its green light to Fiat to acquire bankrupt chassis-maker Bertone.

The watchdog said that the operation did not give Fiat a dominant position which could have hindered competition in the sector.

Fiat's bid for Bertone won out over one presented by former Lancia CEO Gian Mario Rossignolo, who has since acquired the De Tomaso marque.

Bertone has in the past designed models for Fiat as well as its subsidiaries Ferrari, Maserati and Alfa Romeo.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 16 - The world's eight richest nations must make good on their pledge to invest $20 billion towards feeding the world's hungry, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said during a world food summit on Monday.

The premier made his appeal to the 60 world leaders who turned out for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's food security summit in Rome.