ILBE S.p.A.
ILBE S.p.A.: Iervolino and Lady Bacardi Entertainment SPA (‘ILBE’) announces its admission to trading by direct listing on Euronext Growth in Paris
ILBE S.p.A.
Iervolino and Lady Bacardi Entertainment SPA (“ILBE”) The secondary listing shows ILBE’s aspiration to attract new investors to participate in the future success of the group, being part of a market that has grown in importance across Europe over the last years
Rome, 11 January 2022 – ILBE (Iervolino and Lady Bacardi Entertainment SPA), a global production company listed on Euronext Growth Milan since 2019, is listing its securities on Euronext Growth in Paris via direct admission. The first listing will take place on 12 January 2022 (ISIN: IT0005380602 – Ticker: ALIE).
ILBE, an international standing production company
Founded in Rome in 2011 by Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi, Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment (ILBE) is a production and co-production company focusing on media content creation and production (including films, TV-shows, web series and more) of international standing, suitable for the young audience of Digital Platforms and attentive to human values.
Since 2018, the company, which majority shareholders are Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi, started to produce movies for the international market, based on the business model used by the main Hollywood Majors, and entered in a new phase of growth.
In 2020 ILBE recorded revenues of €120.7 million, EBIT of €22.8 million and net income of €19.5 million.
With a limited risk business model, and a rich pipe of films and animation under production, ILBE is well positioned to expand into foreign markets and continue its profitable growth.
Andrea Iervolino commented on the group ‘s strategy: “Consumer expectations and their needs of video content continue to evolve, and technology is transforming production, from delivery to consumption of video products. The Covid crisis has been a real catalyst in this regard. OTT platforms and social media for video content have seen their audience skyrocket. This context opens new growth opportunities for the ILBE group, whose productions are mainly planned for streaming platforms, but also focused on innovative short content formats with highest quality. 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, the animated film Arctic Justice is an exemplary case. Released in US cinemas in 2019, it then became one of the three most watched titles on Netflix US during the lockdown period. Following that success of streeming we have accelerated our short content productions (spin-offs of the same film) Arctic Friends and Puffins with Johnny Depp which are from September 20, 2020 distributed in over 80 countries on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.”
Regarding the operation, Andrea Iervolino added: “As reported in the half year consolidated financial statements as of June 30th, 2021, with a backlog of around €44 million and projects under development of approximately €349 million over the next three years (2022-2024), ILBE is well positioned to accelerate its international development. This secondary listing in Paris illustrates our desire to attract new investors to participate in the future success of the group as we are now part of a market that has grown in importance in Europe over the last years. We believe that our company will benefit from a thriving French media and entertainment industry, notably by sitting next to companies that we regard as peers and by reaching a new investors’ community receptive to our business. ILBE is ready to take the next step in its development by leveraging a large ecosystem of internal talent and external partners. Welcome to all our future shareholders.”
Listing on Euronext Growth Paris to increase the group’s visibility and international reputation
By the admission of its Ordinary Shares on Euronext Growth Paris, ILBE seeks in particular:
Andrea Iervolino and Lady Bacardi have complementary track records united by a common ambition: “building a major production company with integrated ancillary services”
Andrea Iervolino began his career as a producer in Italy and then in the United States together with Luciano Martino (historic Italian producer, screenwriter and director), participating in the making of the film “Mercante di Venezia” (The Merchant of Venice, with avec Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes, Al Pacino) awarded at the 71st Venice Film Festival in 2004.
Lady Monika Bacardi is a successful and internationally known female entrepreneur, and the company’s largest shareholder and producer of all the projects.
In 2013. Andrea Iervolino and Monika Gomez del Campo Bacardi founded AMBI Distribution in the US, which soon established itself as one of the world’s leading cinema sales agents.
The Company then scaled-up in 2019 with its IPO in Milan in August 2019, a year during which the Company also launched new lines of business in digital marketing and advertising, and stars artistic management. This activity has been reinforced by the acquisition of Red Carpet Srl, a company specialising in such matters.
In 2020, the Company also made the acquisition of Arte Video Srl to reinforce its services to production component: authoring, encoding and digital delivery.
Key success factors based on proven knowledge of the international audiovisual production industry and its players
ILBE business formula relies essentially on the following main strengths:
1 core business and 2 growth drivers supporting strong financial results
Operating mainly in the field of audiovisual works production, ILBE has launched in 2019 two businesses ancillary to its core business:
Key Financial Highlights
In 2020 ILBE recorded consolidated revenues of €120.7 million, EBIT of €22.8 million and net income of €19.5 million. The Company’s consolidated revenues as at 30 June 2021 amounted as EUR 114.2m and were distributed as follows:
* Others mainly include grants and tax credits from production
At the end of September 2021, ILBE recorded data which confirms the company’s growth with consolidated revenues of €134.0 million as at Q3 (+77.0% compared to €75.7 million as at 30 September 2020) and consolidated EBIT before non-recurring net charges (€1.1 million of non-recurring expenses of the parent company relating to remote working), of €18.2 million (+6.4% compared to €17.1 million as at 30 September 2020).
The Group’s net profit at 30 September 2021 amounted to €13.8 million, compared to the €14.3 million of the same period in 2020.
A limited risk business model with new barriers to develop in European local markets
ILBE shows a business model which bears limited risks thanks to a financing scheme typical of content production: it does not directly finance its production activities and retains full control over content rights. ILBE is thereby uniquely positioned to play in the growing media content production industry, which is expected to benefit from even more investment to come from SVOD platforms (subscription video on demand) in a near future in a European market that is now protected by quotas set forth by EU regulation.
ILBE automatically acquires, from the outset, full ownership (or a share, if it acts as a coproducer) of all the exploitation rights of the Audiovisual Works in perpetuity and for the whole world, in all languages and on all distribution channels. The Issuer exploits the Rights thus acquired both by transferring them outright and by granting distribution licenses.
Sales Agents and distributors thus advance to ILBE a part of the future proceeds expected from the exploitation of the Audiovisual Works. The so-called Guaranteed Minimums are paid when the contractual performance obligation is done. After the distributor has recovered, from the exploitation of the licensed Rights, an amount equal to the Guaranteed Minimums and, as a rule, some distribution costs, an additional percentage of the proceeds (i.e. Backend) or of the assets (i.e. Rights) should be expected.
ILBE’s business model thus allows a containment of the main operational risks typical of film and television productions.
Company’s strategy based on 5 priority objectives
The Company’s strategy is essentially based, as regards the film production activity, on:
To achieve those goals, ILBE will consider M&A opportunities and take advantage of its intellectual property rights on its in-house Animation Pipeline.
Furthermore, in the Digital Advertising sector, the Company intends to focus its activities on advertising aimed at end users and on premium advertising content, with an offer structured by vertical channels.
Growth prospects: a pipe of films and animation under production not yet released
Today, ILBE successfully completed three film productions (The Poison Rose, Waiting for the Barbarians and Tell It Like A Woman) as well as 190 episodes of the Web Series Arctic Justice and 129 episodes of the series Puffins.
ILBE also has a pipe of films and animation under production not yet released (State of Consciousness, Dakota, Beautiful Sleeping Babies, Lamborghini, Muti, Puffins: Impossible, The Christmas Witch and Christmas Thieves).
In addition, ILBE has licensed rights in its library relating to 26 films, which it markets in Italy.
Breakdown of capital and voting rights
The below diagrams show the distribution of the Issuer’s capital ownership and voting rights, including all classes of shares:
Terms and conditions of the operation
Transaction partners
*** About ILBE (www.ilbegroup.it/com) Iervolino and Lady Bacardi Entertainment S.p.A. (ILBE) is a global production company, previously called Iervolino Entertainment (IE), founded by Andrea Iervolino, engaged in the production of cinematographic and television content including mainly films, TV shows and animated web series. The Company also operates through its subsidiaries Arte Video, Red Carpet, IES Serbia and Wepost (formerly Iexchange), and has been listed on the AIM Italia market of Borsa Italiana (now Euronext Growth Milan) since August 2019. In 2020 ILBE recorded revenues of €120.7 million, EBIT of €22.8 million and net income of €19.5 million.
Contacts
Disclaimer The Information Document is available free of charge at ILBE’s headquarters. It can be downloaded from the website: https://ilbegroup.com, section Investor Relations. Companies admitted for trading on Euronext Growth are not subject to the same rules as companies on the regulated market. Rather, they are subject to a less extensive body of rules adapted to small growth businesses. The risk associated with an investment on Euronext Growth may therefore be greater than investing in a company on the regulated market.
Regulatory filing PDF file File: Iervolino and Lady Bacardi Entertainment SPA (’ILBE’) announces its admission to trading by direct listing on Euronext Growth in Paris |
Language: | English |
Company: | ILBE S.p.A. |
Via Barberini, 29 | |
00187 Rome | |
France | |
Internet: | https://ilbegroup.it/ |
ISIN: | IT0005380602 |
Euronext Ticker: | ALIE |
AMF Category: | Inside information / Other releases |
EQS News ID: | 1267965 |
End of Announcement | EQS News Service |