The small cap segment is recovering, albeit at a low level. However, share prices have also doubled and - in the longer term - tripled. Most recently, Advanced Blockchain and Daldrup & Söhne have seen steep rises.
15 January 2024. FRANKFURT (Börse Frankfurt). Slow but steady: the upward trend in the Scale segment continues. On Monday morning, the Scale All Share stood at 1,179 points - above the level of a month ago and well above the low of 1,077 points at the end of October. Since then, the index has made up over 9 percent.
However, the Scale All Share is still a long way from its all-time high of almost 2,000 points in the fall of 2021. The small-cap segment thus joins the generally below-average performance of small and mid-caps compared to large caps. However, there are still a whole series of companies that are anything but underperforming. The group of best performers over a twelve-month period continues to include the film production company Pantaflix (DE000A12UPJ7), the compliance specialist EQS (DE0005494165) and the Veganz Group ("Veganer Genuss aus Berlin") (DE000A3E5ED2) with share price gains of 124%, 73% and 54% respectively. New additions are Advanced Blockchain (DE000A0M93V6) and artec technologies (DE0005209589), which have gained 52% and 32% respectively since January 2023.
Ernst Russ AG (DE000A161077), Deutsche Rohstoff AG (DE000A0XYG76) and Daldrup & Söhne (DE0007830572) are the best performers over a three-year period. These companies tripled and doubled their share prices.
Advance Blockchain: profiting from the crypto comeback
The rise in the Advanced Blockchain share price is very recent: the share has risen from EUR 3 in mid-December to EUR 4.57 now. The reason: the comeback of cryptocurrencies. Shortly before Christmas, the investment company in the blockchain and Web3 sector reported very good figures for its portfolio company Neon Labs. The company is now expecting additional support from the approval of the Bitcoin Spot ETF by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
"I am extremely confident that this step will significantly increase interest in our blockchain and crypto offerings and have a positive impact on our business development," explained CEO Simon Telian following the SEC's approval. Just over a month ago, analyst firm GBC confirmed its buy recommendation for Advanced Blockchain and issued a price target of EUR 11. This would more than double the current share price.
The most traded share in the SME segment Scale in 2023 was Formycon AG (DE000A1EWVY8) with EUR 200 million.
Many new orders for drilling service providers
The Daldrup & Söhne share (DE0007830572), which is popular with "green" investors, has also performed very well recently. The share price is currently 9.92 after 6.30 euros just over a month ago. Things are going well for the drilling technology and geothermal specialist from Oberhaching in Bavaria: in December, Daldrup announced a new major order from Stadtwerke Neuruppin in Brandenburg for two geothermal wells, followed in January by an order to overhaul existing wells at the geothermal power plant in Kirchweidach in Bavaria.
Daldrup is rated by SMC Research and Pareto Securities, both analyst firms have a buy recommendation and price targets of EUR 11.40 and EUR 14 respectively.
The Platform is doing well in a new guise
The Platform Group (DE000A2QEFA1), a software company for platform solutions, is also on a growth trajectory after it was merged with Fashionette last year. In December, The Platform Group announced the complete takeover of the car platform Vivelacar, the investment in the Berlin optician Mister Spex and the acquisition of the remaining shares in Möbelfirst GmbH. The Platform Group is active in a wide range of sectors, including furniture, machinery, pharmaceuticals, dental technology, cars and luxury fashion. The share price is currently 6.18 euros, compared to less than 5 euros in November.
Helma with restructuring agreement
Helma Eigenheimbau (DE000A0EQ578) is still one of the laggards. Nevertheless, the provider of solid construction houses managed to reach a restructuring agreement one week before Christmas. This should provide Helma with a "resilient basis for its entrepreneurial activities and the realignment of the company during the restructuring period until the end of 2027", as stated in the ad hoc release. Among other things, adjustments to loan and repayment structures as well as a capital increase are planned. At its peak, the share was trading at over 60 euros, now it is only 3.91 euros.
Rigsave: New on board
Incidentally, the Scale segment has had a new member since December 18: the financial services provider Rigsave from Italy. The first price in the morning was 18 euros, currently it is 16.10 euros. With the listing in the Scale segment, the company wants to increase its visibility for investors and position itself more internationally.
Analysis company/bank | Scale Company | Recommendation | Target price in euros | Current price in euros |
Warburg Research | Laiqon | Buy | 13,00 | 7,50 |
SMC-Research | Laiqon | Buy | 13,30 | 7,50 |
By Anna-Maria Borse © 15 January 2023, Deutsche Börse AG
Anna-Maria Borse is a finance and economics editor specializing in financial markets/stock markets and economic topics.
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