The fate of Entersoft will, as everything shows, be the Epsilon Netwith the main shareholders reaching a deal, which raises the valuation of the listed in 650 million euros. That means, for those who don’t understand, approx 33 times the annual profits of 2023!
The agreement provides that the American fund General Atlantictogether with the main shareholder John Michos (owns 55%) and the National Bank (controls 7.5%) will jointly submit a public offer for the rest of the share capital (37%), with the aim of gathering 100% and exit from the Stock Exchange.
The offered price is 12 eurosi.e. a level of 18.8% higher than yesterday’s price of 10.10 euros, when Epsilon was also worth around 550 million euros on the stock market.
The re-rating in IT
The case of Mr. Michou’s company, which is quite similar to that of Entersoft, which was also acquired – by a consortium under the Olympia Group – for a price corresponding to at least 20 times the annual earnings of 2023comes to confirm once again the high valuations in the IT industry.
And for this reason, today we see all the respective stocks registering significant gains in the Stock Exchange. It is indicative that the Quest increases by 5.8%, h Ilyda by 9.3%, Q&R by 4.09%, Profile by 1.32%, Ideal Holdings by 6.30%, h Performance Technologies by 2.73%, h Real Consulting by 3.34%, h Logismos by 2.16% and CPI by 2.78%.
It’s not just a coincidence that IT/Technology companies are trading at a multiple of profitability P/E up to 30x, something that is not found in other sectors of the Greek market.
The 1,900% rally
Epsilon Net, which was founded in 1999, was listed on the Alternative Market of A.H. in February 2008, while the 2020 crossed her threshold Main Marketafter first implementing a share capital increase.
During that period, the company’s stock started trading on the Main Market from price of 0.63 euros. And today it has reached 12.00 euros, that is, the price of the public offering. This translates into an outrageous rally of over 1,900% in the last 4 years.
In addition to the main shareholder, Nikos Michos, the National Bankwhich last year acquired 7.5% of the shares at a price of 7.49 euros/sharewith the result that today he has secured one capital gain over 60%.
The beneficiary foreign fund
From there, the fund BARCA, which controls 6% of Epsilon Net’s shares, is preparing to sell its stake at a rather high profit, estimated at at least 1,000%. It is recalled that BARCA had also benefited from its sale Entersoft to the Olympia Group, as he maintained it 7.2% of the listed.
