Warm welcome from transalpine investors for ILBE (Iervolino and Lady Bacardi Entertainment), which listed its shares on Euronext Growth in Paris through direct admission. Yesterday the title of the production and co-production company focused on the creation and production of media content (including films, TV-shows, web series and more) closed with a jump of 17% to 3.02 euros, equal to a market cap of 88 million euros.
The choice of the second listing
With the double listing – ILBE was in fact already listed on Piazza Affari – the company founded in 2011 by Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi aims to increase its visibility in the French and international financial community by coming into contact with a series of investors particularly receptive to the Media & Entertainment markets; to land in the Paris Media & Entertainment ecosystem which will be able to offer new growth opportunities, particularly in terms of business partners; increase the liquidity of its ordinary shares also thanks to the stipulation of a liquidity contract.
The growth of recent years
Since 2018 the company, whose majority shareholders are Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi, has started producing films for the international market, based on the business model used by the main Hollywood majors, and has entered a new phase of growth.
ILBE has developed further in 2019 with the IPO on the AIM Italia market of Borsa Italiana (today Euronext Growth Milan) since August of that year, during which the company also launched new business lines in marketing and digital advertising, as well as in artistic star management.
“The expectations and needs of consumers of video content continue to evolve and technology is transforming production, from delivery to consumption of video products – remarks Andrea Iervolino -. The crisis due to Covid was a real catalyst in this sense. OTT platforms and social media for video content have seen their audience skyrocket. This context opens up new growth opportunities for the ILBE group, whose productions are mainly intended for streaming platforms, but also focused on innovative high quality short content formats. In addition to traditional productions, ILBE has the know-how to produce innovative audiovisual content and provide associated services to its partners “. “In this regard – adds Iervolino – the Arctic Justice animated film it is an exemplary case. Released in US theaters in 2019, it went on to become one of the three most viewed titles on Netflix US during the lockdown period. Following this success, we have accelerated our short content productions (spin-off of the same film) Arctic Friends and Puffins with Johnny depp which from 20 September 2020 are distributed in over 80 countries on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.
In 2020, ILBE recorded a turnover of 120.7 million euros, an EBIT of 22.8 million euros and a net profit of 19.5 million euros. In 2021 the company continued to grow. At the end of September 2021, ILBE registered consolidated revenues of 134 million euros in the third quarter (+ 77% compared to 75.7 million euros at 30 September 2020) and consolidated EBIT before net non-recurring charges (1.1 million euros of non-recurring charges of the parent company relating to remote work), of 18.2 million euros (+ 6.4% compared to 17.1 million euro as at 30 September 2020). The Group’s net profit at 30 September 2021 was € 13.8 million, compared to € 14.3 million in the same period of 2020.