The first edition of the "Mid & Small Conference in Milan" is underway, organized today at Palazzo Mezzanotte by Virgilio IR with the support of Alantra, UBI Banca and Barabino & Partners.
The meeting is dedicated to small to mid-cap companies that do not belong to specialized sub-funds or markets. A selection of 17 companies, with capitalizations ranging from a few tens of millions of euros to over one billion, will present their case histories and the most recent data during a day of one-to-one meetings with institutional investors.
In fact, more than 220 meetings have been requested by 48 investment houses, 35 of which domestic and almost a third (30% of the total) foreign, confirming the fact that many global investors are looking for new investment opportunities, which they can find in a sector such as that of Italian small and mid-cap companies.
Each company present collected an average of 12,9 meeting requests.
“These are healthy companies, with solid balance sheets, with low debt levels that have good access to credit – said Pietro Barbi, founder and CEO of Virgilio IR -. The reception that this initiative has found among investors confirms that the sector is extremely vital and managers, always looking for good opportunities, have valid reasons for meeting them. We strongly backed the initiative because up to now the Italian companies in this sector did not have a dedicated conference which, by aggregating them, would guarantee visibility and opportunities to meet with institutional investors, acting as a stimulus to the performance of the securities”.
According to the research on the sector presented today by Alantra - investment bank active in corporate broking for midcap companies - the Small Mid Cap indices have had negative performances since the beginning of the year, with a significant deterioration starting from the highs of May 2018. The sector in fact, it lost about 20% and the reasons can be found both in the uncertainty at the macroeconomic and country risk level (the drop is particularly evident compared to its European peers), and in the low liquidity of smaller capitalization companies.
However, considering that Small Mid Cap companies today trade on average at lower multiples (14x earnings) than at the beginning of the year (18x earnings), good investment opportunities exist, selecting the most solid situations based on fundamentals and quality of management.
The Mid&Small companies participating in the first edition of the Conference are B&C Speaker, Banca Sistema, Credito Emiliano, Fiera Milano, Geox, Giglio Group, GPI, ItaliaOnline, Ivs Group, Luve, LVenture Group, Piaggio & C, Sit, Sol, Tas, Triboo, Valsoia.
