EGM under the microscope: Promotica reports a sharp rise in profit margins

What can one say? The sharp rise in margins is partly due to the lower proportion of the cost of goods purchased relative to revenue (which rose by 25.7 per cent to 83.9 million despite ongoing geopolitical tensions in supply markets, mainly outside Europe); furthermore, staff costs rose by only 13.1% to 9.3 million, whilst the number of employees remained virtually unchanged at 103. The increase in service costs was significantly higher (+45.7% to 35.2 million, due to higher freight and logistics costs – Promotica favours, where possible, the transport of goods by sea, which has a lower environmental impact than air freight but is now hampered by tensions in the Middle East) and costs for the use of third-party assets (+90.2 per cent to 4.5 million; these consist of rentals, lease payments and royalties).

Promotica kicked off 2026 with new campaigns for the Italian retail sector: “Collect new experiences” for Coop Alleanza 3.0 (which offered exclusive products from the North Sails-branded Spinnaker range and also contributed to the removal of 73 tonnes of plastic from the seas and the creation of a new collection hub in the port of Cesenatico), “A collection that works as a team” for Esselunga (the second campaign for this supermarket chain following the first in 2025), in this case with rewards comprising a range of high-end ovenware from the French brand Emile Henry, and “Profit Crafted with Artistry” for Unicoop Firenze, with prizes comprising the Compendio range from the exclusive Coltellerie Berti brand; on request, the knives can be personalised with the customer’s initials.

For the 2025 loyalty campaigns created for Esselunga, Coop Italia and Unicomm, Promotica won four awards at the 2026 Promotion Awards; it should be noted that these awards were also granted for the educational and environmental aspects of the campaigns in question, as well as for the originality of the products on offer. The group’s research and development team is developing new types of experiences to offer to large-scale retail customers as an alternative to, or in addition to, reward schemes based on physical products (food, wine, cars, travel, boats).

For the 2026 financial year, Promotica aims to build on the strong results achieved in 2025 through the acquisition of new exclusive brand licences and new clients, as well as through external growth opportunities, particularly at an international level. The company currently operates in eight foreign markets (of which three – Luxembourg, Slovakia and Hong Kong – were acquired in 2025), although these generated slightly lower revenue in 2025 (13.6 million compared with 14.1 million in 2024); the loyalty campaigns launched abroad can capitalise on our country’s international appeal; one example is the campaign developed for the 7-Eleven stores in Taiwan, which offered 1:43 scale model cars and 1:24 scale model motorbikes featuring the Lamborghini, Maserati, Ducati, Pagani and Dallara brands, as well as lifestyle accessories by Lamborghini and Ducati. Looking ahead, the focus is primarily on the Asia-Pacific region.

The subsidiary Kiki Lab, which operates in the retail consultancy, research and training sector, resumed its collaboration with the sports goods chain Decathlon in 2025 and will continue to work with it in 2026, as well as with the supermarket chain Crai, and has developed mystery shopping projects with Fastweb, the outdoor brand CMP and Aboca. Kiki Lab has also proposed the new ‘Ki-Life’ conference format to its client companies, which allows corporate events to be combined with sustainability.

The situation at the other subsidiary, Grani & Partners, which is undergoing restructuring and which, in April 2026, was served with a tax assessment notice relating to 2022 by the Italian Revenue Agency, for which a provision of €30,000 will be made to the provision for risks. However, fortunately, the subsidiary does not have a significant impact on the group’s results.

Overall, there is no doubt that Promotica is not receiving the attention it deserves from the stock market, given the results it has already achieved and the outlook for the current year, even though its share price has risen by over 20 per cent over the past six months (albeit with very low trading volumes). However, the free float amounts to just 15.8 per cent of the share capital, and there are no institutional investors amongst the shareholders (at least not with significant stakes). And this is perhaps the main limitation of Euronext Growth Milan, which is unable to ‘catch the tailwind’ of the main market’s stock indices (though it should be noted that their rise is highly sector-specific and largely due to ‘trendy’ sectors such as defence, energy, semiconductors and, more recently, the banking sector).