Egm X-ray: Espe and the pilot project in Emilia for innovative Bess systems (batteries)

Net financial debt at 30/6/2025 amounted to EUR 10.7m (giving rise to a Debt/Equity ratio of 0.66 times, thus on absolutely physiological values), down from EUR 15.3m at the end of 2024 thanks to operating cash flow. The figure does not, however, include the payment of the €1.8 million (€0.15 per share) dividend for 2024, which was paid on 17 September 2025; the pay-out was 48% of the parent company's net profit (about 53% of consolidated net profit). Even including this figure, however, Espe's financial structure remains solid.

Since Espe, due to its activities, works on a contract basis, no precise projections of results for the second half of 2025 are possible. However, it should be recalled that in the first half of the last financial year, 4 orders for ground-mounted photovoltaic plants in Piedmont, Veneto, Lombardy and Sicily were completed (among the most significant) for a total value of Euro 14.2 million and, in addition, as at 30 June 2025, there were contract work in progress for Euro 39.9 million, most of which referred to the 2025 financial year. This includes the already mentioned EUR 4.7m order for agri-voltaic plants, as well as three contracts signed in May for photovoltaic plants in Brindisi, Fermo and Perugia for a total value of EUR 10.9m, and two photovoltaic plant installations in the province of Teramo for EUR 4.4m.

The second half of 2025 should therefore have been particularly profitable for Espe. On the other hand, an order for a photovoltaic plantin the province of Siena worth EUR 3.8 million is scheduled for the first half of 2026, while there is a small two-year order worth EUR 1 million for the maintenance of a plant in the province of Viterbo. Also expected to be completed in the first half of 2026 is the order for the construction in Emilia-Romagna of aEuropean pilot project based on innovative Bess systems (batteries, ed.), and important in that it envisages the redevelopment of a former disused industrial area destined to become a centre for renewable energy (with potential, therefore, for further orders to Espe).

It should not be forgotten that at the end of July, Espe acquired 51% of Secur Impianti, a company operating in the security and video control systems sector, which in turn controls Brain Room Srl, specialising in video surveillance solutions for photovoltaic plants based on artificial intelligence. This acquisition allows Espe to broaden the panel of services offered to clients of photovoltaic systems and does not affect the level of debt (the amount was €765,000 with payments deferred until the end of 2026, and at the same time, 10% of the shareholding in Reflow, active in maintenance services and still controlled, was sold for €150,000, with collection by the end of January 2026).

So why did Espe resort to issuing a bond (actually a minibond, of only 2 million) at the end of November 2025? As we have seen, the group's financial structure is solid, but Espe is building a new 10,250 square metre industrial plant in Carmignano di Brenta (Padua) (of which 2,825 are covered) destined to house warehouses and offices but also the production lines of electrical substations (Power Skid and Power Shelter, transformers and distribution systems) that are a peculiarity of the group's offer and were presented to the market during the Intersolar Europe 2025 exhibition in Munich. Naturally, the new plant will be equipped with a photovoltaic plant with an installed capacity of over 400 kWp. Furthermore, further growth operations by external lines are not excluded.

The bond, maturing in 2031, bears a variable interest rate (6-month Euribor plus 200 basis points), and was fully subscribed by Banca Valsabbina as part of its 'Smart Minibond' programme, to which Simone and Siav, among other Euronext Growth Milan companies, also subscribed for EUR 1.5 million and EUR 2 million, respectively.

All things considered, the year 2025 should have closed positively for Espe (and the shareholder remuneration policy should also continue) and in 2026, in addition to the orders already acquired (30 orders for ground plants for EUR 81.2 million and orders for roof plants for EUR 7.9 million), the group should benefit from the potential linked to the offer of surveillance services for photovoltaic plants as well as the sale of Power Skid and Power Shelter cabins, also not connected to the plants built by Espe. It should also be noted that the company has a biomass cogenerator of its own production (Chip50) fuelled with wood chips and intends to list a second model that can be fuelled with low-quality biomass (agricultural waste), which could be offered as an alternative to companies that are not interested in agri-voltaic plants (e.g. because they have crops that are not eligible for overhead plants).

The company will present its first sustainability report in 2026 and has already adopted the 231 Organisation, Management and Control Model and the Code of Ethics. The free float, as for many companies in Euronext Growth Milan, remains a critical point: it is currently 17.5% of the share capital. The market appreciates the stock, the price of which is around three times the original placement price of EUR 1 per share in February 2024, but, due to the low trading volume, has not seen significant movements over the past year.