High-potential SMEs

Egm in the X-ray: thanks to the circular economy Res has doubled margins

The Molise company's ebitda in 2024 jumped from EUR 4.4 million to EUR 10.3 million. The company recycles plastics in the former Ittierre area of Pettoranello. Dividend of EUR 0.14 per share

by Valeria Novellini

2 April 2025

Aggiungi Il Sole 24 Ore
ai preferiti su Google

5' min read

Key points

Numbers
Dividend of EUR 0.14 per share resolved
Investments underway also thanks to grant funding

5' min read

Problem: an industrial district in the south in serious crisis as it is tied to one large group. Solution, at least as far as the former production plant is concerned: start-up of a completely different business. After the collapse of the Molise luxury cluster headed by Ittierre, the Valerio family, which has been active in the waste disposal sector since 1989, has purchased the former Ittierre industrial cluster in Pettoranello di Molise (Isernia), with the intention of setting up an integrated centre for the thrust sorting and recycling of plastics aimed at the production of secondary raw materials and the recovery of process waste by transformation into pyrolytic oil for the chemical industry for the subsequent production of monomers and polymers.

At the end of March 2023, Res, an acronym that stands for 'Sustainable Ethical Recovery', was born, which debuted at Euronext Growth Milan on 4 May 2023 with an offer price of EUR 4 per share. Today Res, in the former Ittierre area, has a plastics push sorting plant (inaugurated in January 2024) and a plastics (Pet, Hdpe, Pp) washing and granulation plant started up in June 2024 for the production of flakes of recycled plastic.

The numbers

The company closed the 2024 financial year with brilliant results. In fact, revenues jumped by 45.5% to EUR 27.9 million, driven by the increase in waste deliveries to the group's 'historical' plants in Tufo Colonoco (+30% to EUR 18.2 million) and Pozzilli (+95.5% to EUR 6.7 million), also in Molise and where secondary solid fuels (Css) are produced. The contribution from recycled materials from the sorting of the Pozzilli plant fell (-42.4% to EUR 914,000), but the contribution from those sorted by the new Pettoranello plant was EUR 1.7 million. In addition, other income jumped by 70.1% to EUR 2.1 million.

Dividend payment of EUR 0.14 per share resolved

But above all, the Res group saw its ebitda jumpfrom 4.4 to 10.3 million and its adjusted ebitda from 4.6 to 11.2 million (non-recurring charges rose from 204,000 to 910,000 euro); the latter result allowed it to reach the threshold value of 11 million set at the IPO for the conversion or cancellation of the Price Adjustment Shares (which are 2 million, obviously unlisted, out of a total of 12,699,230 shares that make up the share capital).

Similarly, ebit jumped from EUR 3.1 million to EUR 8.2 million and net profit from EUR 2 million to EUR 5.3 million. The dividend amounted to EUR 0.14 per share, for a total dividend payout of about EUR 1.78 million, payable from 21 May 2025, resulting in a pay-out of about 33%. As of 31/12/2024 Res showed a net financial debt of €9.3 million, compared to €1.6 million as of the same date in 2023; this was due to investments in the Pettoranello plant for €1.5 million, the first investments (for €6.9 million) of the chemical recycling plant for plastics, whose first modules will be delivered to Pettoranello in June 2025, and those related to the hydrogen production plant for €1.5 million. In any case, at the end of 2024, the Debt/Equity ratio amounted to about 0.5 times, thus contained.

The strong growth in profit margins was also the result of Res's decision to optimise the production cycles of the plants by keeping the production of Ccs and leachate, which must be disposed of by third parties, under control (in fact, in 2024, service costs increased by 32.4% to EUR 15.6 million, less than revenues).

Investments underway also thanks to non-reimbursable financing

As far as investments are concerned, it is worth mentioning that Res signed an agreement for the construction of a new pyrolysis plastic chemical recycling plant (to be fully operational by the first half of 2026) with the Dutch BlueAlp group, with a total investment of EUR 20 million. The related product (pyrolysis oil, which is expected to amount to approximately 15,000 tonnes per year) will be fully purchased by Shell Chemicals Europe Bv as a result of a long-term strategic agreement signed in February 2025. New plastics can be obtained from this oil.

Res has joined the national project for the realisation of the so-called 'Hydrogen Valley' and is currently building a 1.5 MW photovoltaic plant, an energy production plant by gasification of biological fractions from treatment and a 1 MW electrolyser.Starting at the end of 2025, the plant, called Res-H2, will be able to produce about 150 tonnes of hydrogen per year (it will be used to power the fleet of waste collection vehicles of Smaltimenti Sud Srl, also owned by the Valerio family) and to this end the company has been awarded a non-repayable loan from the Molise Region of EUR 4,485,000, 10% of which has already been disbursed at the end of January 2025.

A further EUR 5.5 million in non-repayable grants was obtained under the Pnrr's Faro project for the integrated recycling centre in Pettoranello, against costs already incurred of EUR 15.5 million; a second tranche of funding will amount to EUR 4.1 million and the total investment for the Pettoranello centre will amount to EUR 35 million.

Naturally, Res also has recourse to bank loans, and in November 2023 it obtained an 8-million euro loan with a five-year term, and at the end of 2024 a 10-million euro loan with an eight-year term, both granted by Banco BPM and with an 80% Sace Green guarantee (the second with a 2-million euro Mediocredito Centrale guarantee).

Planned entry also in automotive upcycling and Cer

In short, the company operates in the circular economy in the round. It has set up a research centre in Pozzilli, called 'Polymeres', which, also in collaboration with the Universities of Molise and Federico II of Naples, studies the applications of recycled plastic materials in various fields (automotive, rigid and semi-rigid packaging, technical accessories in the fashion sector), while the newly established Res Upcycling division will deal with the recovery and recycling of plastic car components that have reached the end of their life by the end of 2026. Both this activity and the photovoltaic plant (which will not only power the company's facilities but also, for 50% of the power, an energy community called Energia in Comune, which will serve residential users and the public administration) are located in Pozzilli at the former Fonderghisa plant, which is also undergoing industrial reconversion like the former Ittierre site in Pettoranello.

The 'Res project' appeals to the market (according to the company, the completion of the pyrolysis plant could generate an additional EUR 20 million in revenues per year when fully operational) and the quotations are still well above the EUR 4 IPO offer. But far from the highs reached in October 2024 above EUR 12 per share; and as is often the case with Euronext Growth Milan companies, trading volume is languishing. The free float is also very low (just under 14% of the share capital), although it could increase after the conversion of the Price Adjustment Shares. Invitalia has been present in the shareholding structure since the IPO, through the Fondo Cresci al Sud, which holds 7.44% of the share capital and will thus receive dividends of approximately EUR 132,000.

Res does not draw up sustainability reports at present, and its small size does not subject it to any legal obligation in this regard. But given the business model, the fact that the company already has several environmental certifications, and the expected growth especially from 2026 onwards, the implementation of such reports on a voluntary basis would certainly be desirable.