Dexelance ready for new acquisitions

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Dexelance is warming its engines for new acquisitions to be announced by the end of the year. It also aims, however, to grow organically with its four design, furniture and lighting brands, although the sector is expected to register a stable performance after the boom boasted in the pandemic years. This was indicated by the company's top management to Radiocor Il Sole 24 Ore, during the Salone del Mobile. The former Italian Design brand, which changed its name last 21 March, achieved a good first quarter, as indicated by its president and CEO, Andrea Sasso, who was present at the Binova kitchens stand, together with Giorgio Gobbi, the group's managing director, Giovanni Tamburi, founder, chairman and CEO of Tamburi Investment Partners, a shareholder in the company, and Antonio Arangiaro, founder of Cubo Design, a company that operates with the Miton Cucine and Binova brands and was taken over by Dexelance in 2022 (a transaction finalised in 2023).

"We had a good first quarter," Sasso announced, pointing out that he could not give more details, in view of the publication of the accounts, scheduled for 13 May. The manager repeatedly stressed that the group, which will be listed on Piazza Affari in 2023, will continue to grow this year, both organically and through acquisitions. "The global design market in 2023 achieved a turnover of around EUR 47 billion and is experiencing a normalisation phase, following the exploits of 2021 and 2022. We believe that this year will also be around the levels of 2023, registering a positive or negative change of around 1 per cent," he explained. "The contract sector is doing well, the retail sector a little less so, and this is worldwide. As far as we are concerned, we believe we can continue to grow and beat the market, as we have always done'. Dexelance, however, is also already working on acquisitions. 'They are in our DNA,' emphasised the president and CEO, 'we have always announced one a year and so we want to continue. Obviously we need the consent of the other partner, but by 2024 we count on announcing an operation'. Talks are already underway with many Italian and also foreign entrepreneurs, thanks to the listing and the help of the shareholder Tip, which 'have exploded contacts with companies'. The manager explained that the group is looking in the sectors in which Dexelance is already present, from kitchens, supplies and lighting to luxury contract custom, i.e. furniture for fashion and luxury shops, as well as new sectors such as bathroom and outdoor furniture. "Our Gervasoni brand achieves its 25 per cent of turnover with outdoor, but otherwise we do not have a specific company of this type. After Covid, however, we realised how important it is'. As for the resources that will be used, the ceo reassured: 'we have recently listed ourselves, we do not lack capital: we have a lot of cash and last year, during the ipo, we made a capital increase of about 80 million. In addition, we can always resort slightly to bank borrowing'. Excluding therefore possible capital increases

In the past weeks, some investors had wondered why Gobbi had sold about one per cent of the Dexelance capital in his possession. But the manager threw water on the fire, revealing that he had sold around 281,000 shares for personal needs and that he was holding on to the additional 2% of the capital still in his hands. The transaction took place last 21 March, when at the same time Investdesign took over the shares, raising the stake to 47.9%, as Giovanni Tamburi, founder of Tip, the company that has almost 71% of Investdesign, himself pointed out. "It was no accident that we took over Gobbi's shares. We wanted to show that there was no theme of non-confidence'. Tamburi recalled that Tip had initially entered the capital of Dexelance (then Italian Design Brand) in May 2023 by taking over 51% of Investindesign, a company that until the past few weeks had just 46.9% of the capital. In the summer of 2023 Tip had then risen by taking over a further 20 per cent of Investindesign. The shareholding structure, said Tamburi, should remain stable. "We are long-term investors, as we have been in other companies," he said.

Dexelance's shares are below the placement price in May last year, at EUR 10.88, but could recover, according to number one Sasso. "We are doing well, we are growing well. Even last year we were among the few groups to boast double-digit growth, higher than the market," commented the company's chairman and CEO. "I believe, however, that the stock market is always right," he added, "perhaps it is penalising us because it is penalising all SMEs, but sooner or later it will realise that there are good and bad SMEs, and I believe that we are among the very good ones. Giovanni Tamburi, founder of Tip, a shareholder in Dexelance, also commented: 'the situation is transient, we are moving forward without looking too much at how the stock is moving in the short term. The current trend does not worry us at all'.

The company's ambitions are high. Tamburi said, "we expect Dexelance to reach EUR 1 billion in revenues in the near future". The company ended 2023 with reported revenues of EUR 287.4m, up from EUR 199.5m as at 31 December 2022. Including the 12-month figures of Cubo Design, Axolight and Turri in the scope of consolidation, it reported revenues of EUR 310.8 million, up 16.6% compared to the pro-forma 2022 figure, and with organic growth, thus excluding the contribution of Axolight and Turri, of 3.9%. Cubo, a company that operates under the Miton Cucine and Binova brands and was taken over in 2022, is also aiming for a turnover of around 100 million. Founder Antonio Arangiaro explained: 'Dexelance has asked me to go from the approximately 60 million turnover in 2023 to 100 million in a short time. In the past, the company generated 70 per cent of its turnover abroad and the rest in Italy. "We had a problem in China and so we rebalanced to about 55 per cent abroad the rest in Italy, but we will still grow abroad'. The entrepreneur explained that he decided to sell the majority share to Dexelance 'to make the company big, thinking that unity is strength. At Dexelance they understood my philosophy. After all, I didn't need money, having already sold a company in the past, but I did need stimulation. Stimuli that I plan to give to Dexelance as well. That's why I continue to design and try to make the product as good as possible and at an increasingly affordable price'.