Gens Aurea, revenues towards 300 million with double retail acquisition

The expansion of the Gens Aurea group, controlled by the Springwater Capital fund, which recently took over the Italian ecommerce platform GioiaPura and the Austrian jewellery retailer Alphagold, with 27 shops under the Le Clou banner, continues. The goal for 2024 is to bring turnover from EUR 260.1 million in 2023, a year that closed with ebitda at EUR 23.1 million, "close to EUR 300 million, of which about 17 from acquisitions, with an ebitda that will be close to EUR 40 million," explains Fabio Godano, the group's CEO. Going to preside over a new market segment - commercial jewellery - and expanding abroad. A strategy that could take the group to the stock market: "We are understanding whether in the next few years the landing place for this company could be a listing," says Godano.

The Gens Aurea group, founded in 1999, counts - net of new acquisitions - eight brands: OroCash, Luxury Zone, Alfieri & St.John, OroCaja (Spain), SuperEfectivo (Spain), OuroCaixa (Portugal), Pegno Sicuro, Aurea Invest. The most important brand (70 per cent of revenues) is OroCash, a 'compro oro' business that, over the years, has absorbed a number of socio-economic and cultural changes: 'Those who have gold they don't use sometimes sell it to invest in something else: from a master's degree to a holiday,' Godano explains. In Italy, OroCash has 300 shops and an expansion plan of another 200 shops within 3-5 years; in Spain, thanks to SuperEfectivo, another 200 shops will be opened in the medium term. Gold is at the heart of the group's business, from purchase to investment: 'Among our brands is Aurea Invest: the purchase of bars and coins is growing a lot thanks to a mix of small savers frightened by market volatility and more structured investors'.

Jewellery retailing, therefore, is only the most recent line of development in which Gens Aurea has decided to invest: "We started six years ago with LuxuryZone, a medium-high end multi-brand jewellery brand, present with eight shops in as many Italian outlet villages: sales continue to grow despite the geopolitical situation and we will evaluate an expansion outside of Italy," says Godano. While LuxuryZone focuses on physical retail and on designer jewellery at discount prices, GioiaPura is an ecommerce platform that will allow Gens Aurea to preside over a more commercial product range: "We took it over also because we needed to strengthen ourselves in the ecommerce dimension," continues the CEO, "and the platform is very advanced in terms of technology. To date, GioiaPura's business, with revenues of about 10 million, is 70% concentrated in Italy: "Our goal will be to replicate the platform in Spain, Portugal, and also in Austria to reach 20 million in revenues in five years.

The latter is a market of interest for Gens Aurea, which about ten days ago took over the jewellery chain Le Clou, which belongs to the Alphagold company: "This company, market leader in shopping centre jewellery stores in Austria, had entered pre-bankruptcy proceedings: we were able to take it over and already after a few days, with some targeted interventions, we are having positive feedback". Among these interventions is the rebranding of the shops in GioiaPura Milan: "They will become multi-brand boutiques that we will supply directly from the Italian platform with brands such as Alfieri & St.John, which we took over a few years ago and has 40 years of history behind it".