The scale segment is also slowly getting back on its feet, albeit more slowly than the DAX. For some stocks, however, it went steeply upwards in the new year, for example Daldrup & Söhne, but also Naga and Fashionette. The three questions this time go to Frank von Seth from Cyan.
15 February 2023. FRANKFURT (Börse Frankfurt). With the general market recovery, the Scale segment is also recovering. The Scale All Share, which tracks all Scale members, is at 1,324 points on Wednesday morning, up from 1,228 at the close of the year and 1,172 at the low in October.
Lighthouses continue to include geothermal specialist Daldrup & Söhne, biotech company Formycon, streaming provider Cliq Digital, private equity firm SGT German Private Equity and oil company Deutsche Rohstoff AG. Daldrup shares (DE0007830572) have more than doubled since February 2022. Formycon (DE000A1EWVY8), Cliq (DE000A0HHJR3), SGT (DE000A1MMEV4) and Deutsche Rohstoff (DE000A0XYG76) have posted gains of 15 to 62 percent over the past twelve months.
Formycon as turnover leader. The highest-turnover scale stock in January was Formycon, with Formycon shares worth 16.8 million euros traded on Xetra and the Frankfurt floor in the past month. Second to fifth place went to 2G (10 million euros), Cliq Digital (6.4 million euros), IBU-tec advanced materials (DE000A0XYHT5) (5.7 million euros) and Mensch und Maschine (DE0006580806) (4.3 million euros).
Daldrup & Söhne: Drilling for the energy turnaround
Daldrup & Söhne has been able to continue its run in the new year, with the share price rising from 7.30 to 9.58 euros since the beginning of January. The company from Ascheberg in North Rhine-Westphalia specializes in drilling, among other things for the development of geothermal energy plants, and is therefore seen as a beneficiary of the energy turnaround. "Geothermal energy is not dependent on weather influences and can supply environmentally friendly electricity almost continuously throughout the year," writes the sustainable investment magazine "Eco-Reporter." "The study 'Roadmap deep geothermal energy for Germany' by the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Energy and the Helmholtz Institute sees enormous potential for geothermal energy and trusts it to cover a large part of Germany's heating needs."
Cliq: "Strong market for streaming services"
Cliq Digital is occasionally compared to Netflix, but on the stock market things are going better for the Düsseldorf-based streaming provider. The stock has recently risen to over 30 euros, close to the highs from 2022 at 33 euros. Cliq had announced record figures for 2022 at the end of January. According to preliminary figures, revenues rose 84 percent to 276 million euros, while Ebitda increased 60 percent to 44 million euros. For 2023, Cliq now held out the prospect of 345 million euros in sales and Ebitda above 50 million euros. "Despite macroeconomic headwinds, we continue to see a strong market for our streaming services," Cliq board member Ben Bos said.
Small setbacks for Formycon and IBU-tec.
However, shares in Formycon, the biosimilar developer based in Martinsried-Planegg near Munich, have weakened recently. In January, a new all-time high of 91.70 euros was reached; the share price is currently 79.60 euros. The company, occasionally traded as the new Biontech, recently issued 910,000 new shares in a private placement, corresponding to around 6 percent of the issued share capital. The net proceeds from the capital increase are to be used primarily for the further development of biosimilar candidates.
IBU-tec's share price has also been somewhat weaker this year, but has still doubled since September to currently 31.50 euros. The specialty chemicals group, described by the investor magazine "Der Aktionär" as the "new star in the battery sky", produces cathode material for use in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells. As currently the only European producer of LFP battery material, IBU-tec considers itself well positioned for further growth.
Naga with share price doubling (from low level)
Meanwhile, The Naga Group and fashionette had a pleasing start to the year - at least on the stock market. The Naga share (<DE000A161NR7X>) was trading around 1 euro at the end of 2022, now it is 2.54 euros. The operator of the neobroker Naga, the cryptocurrency platform Nagax and the neobanking app Naga Pay has started the new year profitably, according to its own statements - the recovery of cryptocurrencies should help.
The fashionette share (DE000A2QEFA1) has climbed from €4.40 to €5.81 since the beginning of the year. Yet the Düsseldorf-based online luxury bag retailer has missed its 2022 earnings target, which it had already lowered in November. "The reason for this is the unexpectedly restrained customer demand in the year-end business," the company explained. Net sales, on the other hand, were in line with the forecast.
Analysis house/bank | Scale-Company | Recommendation | Target price in Euro | Current rate in Euro |
SMC Research | 2G Energy | Buy | 30,00 | 21,90 |
SMC Research | Beta Systems Software | Buy | 47,80 | 21,90 |
SMC Research | Laiqon | Buy | 13,00 | 7,52 |
GBC | The Naga Group | Buy | 3,60 | 2,54 |
SMC Research | The Naga Group | Hold | 4,10 | 2,54 |
GBC | Deutsche Grundstücksauktionen | Buy | 23,55 | 19,40 |
Montega | Helma Eigenheimbau/p> | Hold | 32,00 | 18,55 |
SMC Research | Mensch und Maschine | Strong Buy | 62,30 | 50,10 |
GSC Research | Scherzer | Buy | 3,20 | 2,72 |
Cyan stock has lost a lot since 2019 - despite what should be rapidly increasing demand for cybersecurity solutions. This year, things are looking a little better. What are the reasons for this?
Cybersecurity is a broad area with huge potential. In our niche, continuous development with partners is crucial. We have been able to multiply the number of partners over the past few years - even if this took longer than expected at the beginning. All in all, we have been able to develop significantly operationally since 2019, as well as become faster with projects and more effective in marketing.
What is the significance of the recently announced expansion of the partnership with MTEL, the mobile operator belonging to the Serbian Telekom Srbija Group?
We are a technology partner for MTEL's expansion into Switzerland and Germany; in addition to Austria. The expansion is a strategic milestone. With this, we are making it clear that cybersecurity is important for the customers of any connectivity provider, whether on their own or leased network.
From an investor's perspective, what's in your stock's favor?
Cybersecurity remains a top issue that goes hand in hand with connectivity. We see an awareness for individual solutions in daily use - the niche for our solutions. We have already been able to correct the majority of the problems of the past. Now we are steadily scaling subscriber numbers and recurring revenue with corresponding margin.
Cyan AG is a globally active group of companies focusing on cybersecurity solutions and platforms for telecom companies. Under the cyan digital security brand, cybersecurity products are offered to end customers of mobile and fixed-line Internet providers, virtual mobile operators and financial service providers. The customers of the Munich-based company, which was founded 15 years ago, include Orange and T-Mobile in Europe as well as Claro Chile (América Móvil Group) and dtac (Telenor Group).
by Anna-Maria Borse © 15 February 2023, Deutsche Börse AG
Von Seth
Anna-Maria Borse is a finance and economics editor specializing in financial markets/stock markets and economic topics.
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Borse