Ceramics group Italcer targets Milan listing this year
03/02/2023 13:52
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Italcer sees scope for international expansion
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Sights set on the United States in particular
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Aims to double earnings over next five years
By Elvira Pollina
MILAN, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Italian ceramics group Italcer
aims to list on the Milan stock market in 2023 as part of an
expansion plan seeking to almost double earnings over the next
five years.
A listing would support ambitions for "further growth in
international markets", said Italcer Chief Executive Graziano
Verdi, who sees potential for expansion in the United States in
particular.
It would also allow investment funds Mindful Capital
Partners and Miura, who respectively control 58.38% and 31.23%
of Italcer, to sell their stakes.
Italcer produces ceramic tiles and luxury bathroom
furnishings. It was set up six years ago and has expanded
through a series of acquisitions at home and abroad.
Though Italy's renowned ceramics industry is energy
intensive and has been hit hard by rising prices, Italcer has
been able to mitigate the impact thanks to government support
measures and investment in renewables.
Italcer's turnover totalled almost 360 million euros ($393
million) last year, producing core profit of some 80 million
euros.
The company employs 1,180 people, 920 of whom are in Italy,
where it has six factories. It has another three factories in
Spain.
AMERICAN AMBITIONS
"The listing should happen this year," Verdi said.
He added that he took encouragement from recent market moves
and easing fears of recession, adding that the company was in a
phase of expansion.
Bookrunners for the IPO are Credit Suisse CSGN.S , Intesa
Sanpaolo ISP.MI and Jefferies, while Lazard and KT&Partners
are advisors for a listing that is pencilled in for the second
half of the year.
Verdi did not give a potential valuation on a Milan
market which a number of well-known companies have left over
the past year. Franchi Umberto Marmi FUMA.MI , a supplier of
Carrara marble, trades at about 10 times its core earnings.
Italcer generates 80% of its turnover in foreign markets.
Its products are used in hotels and upmarket stores, boosted by
special coatings developed to protect against bacteria and
viruses after the COVID-19 pandemic.
"With the listing we can look in more concrete terms at
expanding in the American market, perhaps with a production site
... local ceramic production accounts for little more than a
third of overall consumption, so there are big gaps," he said,
adding that U.S. authorities have offered favourable incentives
for companies investing in renewables.
($1 = 0.9150 euros)
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina
Writing by Keith Weir
Editing by David Goodman
)