No candidacy by Moncler to become an aggregating pole of made in Italy luxury. The president and CEO of the down jacket group, Remo Ruffini, has recently been skeptical about the possibility that an Italian response to the French Lvmh and Kering will be born in the near future, which over the years have become real giants of luxury with M&A blows. even in Italy.
Ruffini reiterates that he does not see aggregations in luxury in Italy, as no entrepreneur, except for Renzo Rosso, it seems to have the potential and the desire to do so, and on the other hand there does not seem to be the will to sell on the part of the families that have controlled the respective brand for generations. Ruffini in the interview granted to the Corriere, however, said he was interested in the creation of value rather than ownership of shares, and therefore also willing to have a lower stake in Moncler as long as it is part of a transaction that creates value and improves the profitability of the group. Words that have been interpreted by some press as a sign of the will to act as a unifying pole.
Meanwhile, the Moncler stock is sailing on the Piazza Affari all-time highs (today peak at € 57.48) with + 14% Ytd and + 74% approximately in the last 12 months.
The analysts’ comments in Ruffini words
“In our opinion, however – comment the Equita analysts – at the moment the group is focused onintegration and development of Stone Island, as also emerged from recent interviews “. The Milanese sim refers to that issue in the Financial Times last week, in which Ruffini said: “I just want to work consistently on Stone Island, we remain focused on taking it to the true luxury world. We don’t think we have the time and mental energy to think about other brands ”. On the other hand, the statements expressed to the Courier could leave room for the hypothesis that Moncler could merge into a larger group, as in the past hypothesized a possible interest of Kering. “However – continue from Equita – we do not expect any news in the short term even on this front, considering that even before the acquisition of Stone Island Ruffini had expressed the desire to remain independent and want / be able to independently develop their own growth options, an approach that we think is all the more valid now that the group is focused on Stone Island ”. The Milanese sim has a Hold rating on Moncler with a target price of 52.5 euros.
Intesa Sanpaolo experts underline that the difficulty of getting together in Italy in the luxury sector is nothing new. “However, in our opinion, all the changes in the business will put pressure to accept mergers and Ruffini reiterated not to look at the percentage of control, but at good governance,” adds Intesa who is convinced that the acquisition of Stone Island should not remain. an isolated episode in Moncler’s long-term growth strategy.