Amplifon in the spotlight, market on the upswing and positive sentiment towards GN Hearing

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Another strong session for Amplifon: the share is among the top performers on the FTSE MIB, up by over 1 per cent to €11.78, a far cry from the lows of around €8 reached last March. A mix of news regarding the stock is driving the price higher, starting with positive comments from Bofa’s Healthcare Conference 2026. The conference, as summarised by Bofa analysts, provided generally reassuring indications for the sector, but – they emphasise – with upside potential increasingly dependent on the specific performance of individual companies. Amplifon’s management, the analysts report, confirmed that it ‘sees a recovery in the growth of the hearing aid market to around 3 per cent, supported by stabilisation in France and improving trends in Italia and Spain’. Management confirmed that market momentum continued into the third quarter. Focus on the acquisition and integration of GN Hearing: net synergies of €60–80 million will mainly stem from increasing GN Hearing’s internal sourcing from the current 40% to 90% by 2029. Synergies from GN, Fit4Growth and operating leverage will support profitability in 2027, whilst the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio will stand at around 3.5 times at closing, with a target reduction of around 0.3 times per year.

The positive sentiment surrounding the share was also indirectly bolstered by GN’s strong performance on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange , the group from which Amplifon is set to acquire the hearing division. GN shares closed at a five-month high yesterday following a positive report from Sweden’s leading bank, SEB, which recommends buying the shares and highlights, amongst other things, the strong performance of the group’s products.

Finally, it is worth noting that EssilorLuxottica has launched the new Nuance Audio Plus in the US, an evolution of over-the-counter hearing aids for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. The target customer base, as Intermonte analysts explain, differs from that of Amplifon (which focuses on patients with more debilitating hearing loss) and therefore the overlap in the customer base is limited; however, they also state that the main impact of Nuance may be the expansion of the category, increased penetration of the hearing care market and a reduction in social stigma, rather than any real disintermediation of the traditional channel.