Econocom: Owner-Led Turnaround With Shrinking Share Count

Louis d’Arvieu of Amiral Gestion presented his in-depth investment thesis on Econocom (Belgium: ECONB) at European Investing Summit 2022.

Thesis summary:

Econocom is a widely forgotten European small-cap. It was an investor darling until 2017 and then suffered a toxic mix of mismanaged succession as well as internal and external shocks.

Econocom’s businesses are solid and earnings have remained resilient. The company’s founder has quietly taken advantage of the situation to buy back 20% of the shares and additional shares for himself over the last five years.

The dividend yield is 5%. Earnings have started growing again and leverage is limited, while the shares recently traded at a P/E ratio of 6x. Louis views Econocom as a resilient long-term investment case.

Louis originally presented Econocom at European Investing Summit 2021.

Listen to this session:

slide presentation audio recording

About the instructor:

Louis d’Arvieu joined Amiral Gestion in 2005 and serves as a fund manager for the Sextant funds. Run by Julien Lepage, Amiral is an independent asset management firm based in Paris with a fundamental investing approach. Its goal is to deliver high & sustained performance over the long run and to support businesses in a responsible manner.

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