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TIP Tamburi Investment Partners, led by Giovanni Tamburi, closed the first nine months of the year with net assets of over 510 million euros and a consolidated profit of 65.9 million euros, up 50% compared to last year. A result that includes some significant capital gains such as those realized on Hugo Boss and Alchemi, but that still does not include one of the most recently monetized ones, that on Bending Spoon. In the press release accompanying the accounts, the performance of the stock is highlighted, with a gain of 136.6% and an average annual total return of 17.3%. Speaking about TIP, however, doesn't only mean talking about financial results. Tamburi is a company that has always put its focus on the most promising Italian companies in its portfolio, representing a thermometer of national entrepreneurship and market trends.
So, let's have all of this told directly by the voice of the founder Giovanni Tamburi. Good morning Tamburi, thank you for being with us.
Good morning, thank you for the invitation.
Tamburi, the main financial results for the first nine months, I've already listed them a bit. Let's start with those and with the medium-term future. Are you planning, for example, to raise the dividend? Are there buyback operations? Are there IPOs in your pipeline?
Well, yes, you've already said a lot. I believe the most important thing about our results is the fact that we have a group of companies that is very healthy, very solid, and continues to put a plus sign in front of revenue. So I believe our happiness in these moments is due to the fact that despite the uncertainties we see around us, there is this base of about twenty companies of a certain size, plus another ten smaller but no less important ones that support us with their numbers and are doing very well. Then in the period we made some capital gains, we did some particular operations, but anyway I would say that the important things you've already mentioned. Regarding the future, you rightly alluded to the fact that we are reflecting on the fact that having such good results and projecting the year positively, barring anything strange, we could indeed reflect on a substantially higher dividend. We have always preferred the path of giving a fair but limited dividend, also because, as you rightly cited, the performance of our shares has been very, very high for more than 20 years, and so giving a dividend would have meant taking away growth opportunities from the pool of money that we could have invested better. At this moment we are thinking about simplifying the group a bit, continuing to buy back shares very decisively. By the way, all the target prices in recent days have been raised, they are between around 12 and over 13 euros. The stock is around 8.5, so I believe it's right to do buybacks.
Regarding your brands in the portfolio, which, as I mentioned, also give a sense, a thermometer of some of the trends in the national economy, especially in business, I'd start with some that relate to our textile sector, fashion which is always one of the most important, from retail brands like OVS which is going through a phase of relaunch especially in retail and digital. The same goes for Moncler at this moment with its store concepts, and then especially Basicnet, where we've seen important acquisitions even in the United States very recently. How is this sector doing in your portfolio, Tamburi?
It's going very well. By the way, our biggest investment in this sector is precisely OVS, where together with the CEO, a fantastic top management, we've done a wonderful turnaround. If we consider that we entered five years ago, the stock was under 1 euro, now it's above four, but above all, beyond the stock, we've really changed many things. The more beautiful stores, the advertising, the brands, the entry of Liu Jo, the entry of Le Coq Sportif. A few days ago we announced the purchase, the offer for Casanova. I believe it has been and is one of the most beautiful Italian stories in this retail that many said could be at risk, given Amazon, given international competition, given Shein, given Temu, and so on. OVS has truly had a wonderful journey and we are really, very, very satisfied, also because we actively participated in all this change, all this improvement, because anyway OVS wasn't doing badly, they had had a small setback before we entered on an acquisition, but it was always a company that was doing well. With us it did much better because the management knew how to change many things, introduce brands, introduce a new line, a new look. Today entering an OVS store makes you happy, you go in with pleasure. Before it was a bit less cheerful. Moncler is going wonderfully. Moncler, another exceptional masterpiece. We've been shareholders of Moncler for almost 15 years now. The company always surprises with how well it's doing, and there's little to say. They are truly excellent, they've demonstrated it in every way. Basicnet, in which we have a small stake, did the Wrangler operation, but above all is carrying forward, also through the alliance with Permira on Kappa, a development model, an activity model that is very interesting, very typical of an Italian multi-brand company, but one that values very important brands. We're seeing Superga, we're seeing what they've done with Kappa, with the opening of new stores, the modernization of Kappa and so on, and also Robe di Kappa and many others, so these are three masterpieces of which we are truly very proud.
Tamburi, there's a story about you, about your portfolio, that is particularly, let's say, representative of national innovation — that of Bending Spoon, one of the most interesting unicorns in Italy. You sold a 9%, you specified that you remain partners and you still have an important investment in your portfolio, but it's a moment when we see many big players exiting technology internationally. Buffett did it with Google, Peter Thiel with Nvidia, Masayoshi Son with Nvidia — well, the things aren't comparable, but with what spirit did you in some way realize your gain on Bending Spoon?
Well, thanks for the question. The spirit is that we believe Bending Spoon will continue to grow, to grow a lot, and we truly hope it can be worth much more. However, since this stock in our group was rather forgotten, was little noticed by analysts, by investors, and so on, we preferred to sell a small piece — this is 9% of our stake that was over 3%, now it's remained around 3%, but if one considers that the valuation at the last operation was 11 billion dollars, a 3% is worth a lot, a lot, a lot of money. But our conviction, we've said it clearly, is that the story of this company, of these fantastic people with whom we've worked very well for six years — because we were, I believe, among the first institutional investors to enter their capital — is very promising. They will continue to make acquisitions, they will continue to make important operations, and what we see on the horizon seems very encouraging from a value standpoint, so we wanted to give a signal by selling this very small stake, less than 1%, telling the market: look, this thing here is already worth about 300 million in our portfolio. In the future we believe it could be worth much, much more. Besides, some analysts in recent days were talking about a NASDAQ IPO for Bending Spoon that could be a very important phenomenon — an Italian company taken to NASDAQ with these valuations — and this too is another source of pride for all of us, because so many times people say technology is on the other side of the ocean, Silicon Valley technology and so on. Luca Ferrari and his team have demonstrated in Italy in relatively few years that they've built not just a unicorn — a unicorn is when one is worth more than a billion — they're now worth more than 10 billion, already established, and above all the most important thing is that there was a queue to subscribe to shares, both in capital increases and on the secondary market, when the recent operation was done. And a queue of whom? A queue of the most important investors in the world, and I underline in the world, who wanted to participate in this story precisely with an eye toward further development, a possible IPO in the future, other acquisitions, and so on. So it's truly a story in which we are very happy to have participated, and we want to continue to stand alongside this wonderful management to try to build another beautiful story of Italy that works, that is doing well, and that so many times we criticize, but that effectively has within it exceptional stories.
