Sole 24 Ore: error or premeditation? The Italian online newspaper Affairs 29 November 2010 appeared a letter from a shareholder of the Sole 24 Ore SpA, in which" challenges and budgets in hand, management errors group. IPA, to acquisitions, the editorial choices;
the prospectus of an IPO (Initial Public Offering) is a document that provides the necessary information "to enable investors to reach an opinion based on the balance sheet , financial and economic developments of the issuer and financial products and related rights;
in principle, one can consider that the IPO is a document based on the principles of good faith and fairness, which allows a conscious formation of the contract by the investor, favoring the development of a climate of confidence in financial market by individual investors-investors at the time of the IPO of Il Sole 24 Ore (The half of 2007), the chairman of the board was cavalier Giancarlo Cerutti on the eve of the event ensured that 'the title Sole 24 Ore is intended to represent an investment quiet, solid, even for long-term investors, because it bases its strength on the culture of the facts and results;
the Ops (public offering of shares) of the title was edited by Mediobanca in the same cavalier Cerutti was a shareholder and member of the syndicate member of several corporate boards (before the Board and then of the supervisory board )
there debut was held in the last two years that it had a relatively low rate of subscription by the institutional
at the price of the Sole 24 Ore has been detected assignment abnormal actions of institutional investors and small savers. In particular, we are moved by the actions of the institutional book for small savers, who have been transferred more than 7 million shares;
at the time, the price range of OPS Il Sole 24 Ore (€ 5.75 to 7.00) was considered of questionable fairness: Morgan Stanley, one of major investment banks in the world, argued that "make it attractive for the title would be necessary to place it at a price close to € 4" (then it will be priced at 5.75 €);
the performance of all comparable - that other popular publishing titles - in the period from opening to closing of the IPO, ie from 3 September 2007-30 November 2007, was marked down and do a few examples: RCS from 4.1 to € 3 € 17, Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso from 3.72 euro to 3.15 euro, Caltagirone Editore from 5.65 to 4.52 € €, Mondadori Editore from € 6.96 to € 5.71;
this should induce diligently in protecting investors, to set the price below the minimum value of the fork initially detected, but it was not done;
the first day of trading, when the Sun came to lose 24 hours on 8 %, were exchanged for 8 million pieces of 23% of the outstanding securities. The second day of trading, the title closed in negative € 5.47 (-2.32%). After two days was the loss of almost 5%. This is despite at the time of closing placement that occurred were not bad news about the company;
then there has been a continuous descent of the title which, in spite of all the indices and baskets of reference in the first week of December 2010 reached yet another record low (- 80 per cent since listing);
with Ops (public subscription offer) were collected € 210 million, but within 42 months the group has burned about 203 million (in other words, and equal conditions, without the money collected from small investors, the company would go into default);
during the period in which the group has fallen into the worst crisis economic history, the same operation was abandoned without a guide. In fact, 14 December 2009 the then CEO Claudio Calabi rassegato has resigned to accept appointment in another company and this position has been discovered until March 2010, giving you 3 months
some doubts may lift on the conditions and the management of certain significant transactions, for example September 10, 2008, in the financial crisis, when the companies were bought at a fraction of equity, the Group acquired 70% of Esa Software Spa evaluated in 60 € 4 million, but had a negative tangible equity. In addition, an affiliated entity the seller owns the leases on the buildings in which it is carried out exclusively in the business, the Board weighs almost 400 000 euro per year and is composed of nine members;
year prior to the listing (2006) the Group publishes the largest business daily in Europe, invoiced 511 million € and had 1,505 employees. At September 30, 2010, the turnover falls to 351 million € and 2202 employees become;
we can not fail to note that after the economic downturn in 2010, all books (RCS Mediagroup, Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso, Caltagirone publisher, Mondadori Editore) returned to profit, Il Sole 24 Ore SpA, only in the third quarter, but lost 13 million € and burns additional 7.5 liquidity
the group has a number of areas (Radio and Corporate) Business chronically deficit. This may be acceptable only in the perspective of managing membership-mutalistica (as it was before the listing of the Sun 24) and not an open market and small investors;
finally, we note, the anomalous growth of certain cost, such as consultations and collaborations in 2009 reached 30 million, without which the records can be traced back to the detail of these items. Similarly not all exposed the salaries paid to officers in all of its subsidiaries;
all this, there are worrisome tensions in the labor relations of society.
I remember some good data so that we can frame the situation where the stock market crash of Title Il Sole 24 ore, which many savers have put their trust. To be exact it is 27 thousand small investors who bought the title November 19, 2007 which was followed by thousands of citizens who believed they make a good investment when the share price was more attractive.
We know that transactions on the stock market are at risk, but we also know well which is necessary transparency, good information and the right place at the time of signing of the title.
and switch to some data:
a) loans in the budget has declined by about 29.5 million euro (+ 1.85% decrease compared to the same period in 2009);
b) finance income fell by 60 %
c) investment in plant and equipment have fallen by over 50%;
d) were transferred to subsidiaries for 1.2 million and net income saw a loss of € 24.6 million, which is to increase 11, 64%;
e) the revenues of the newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore, were down 8.2%;
f) the advertising is in sharp decline;
g) the number of copies of the financial newspaper shows a reduction compared to the same period last year, equal to -7.8%. It is a question of tens of thousands of copies, and subscriptions have declined by over 27%.
All these figures are extremely alarming, do not reveal anything rosy for the future and power, public opinion, and that is a horrible suspicion that the degradation of the title was probably already planned to make money at the expense of small cattle in the park investors, perhaps overpay for acquisitions of companies in the hands of ailing friends. The suspicion is very strong and unfortunately the Consolidated Finance Act (CFA) leaves some important issues unresolved or resolved in an inefficient manner, and I refer to useless and all'irrisorietà of penalties and sanctions that apply to those who defraud investors. Unfortunately
Consob, Cardia under the previous management, did not guarantee savers, failed supervision and is guilty of collusion. It is essential, the Honourable Minister, who inaugurated a new era, for better and more effective protection of depositors and to prevent another financial cracks like those that occurred in recent years that have sent smoke into the life savings of thousands of citizens.
Over the past 10 years were affected more than 1,200,000 people with a total loss and deception 51,8 miliardi di euro.
Il Prof. Giavazzi ha scritto sul Corriere della Sera che:“Il mercato finanziario è il luogo in cui si incrociano le esigenze di finanziamento delle imprese e il risparmio delle famiglie” e siamo pienamente d’accordo. Occorre, perciò, che la CONSOB tuteli davvero gli interessi dei risparmiatori, vietando la quotazione in borsa di società fittizie o non meritevoli, che vengono quotate ad un prezzo alto e poi si ritirano dal mercato quando il prezzo scende.
Sig. Sottosegretario, Lei sa bene che il risparmio rappresenta il motore necessario all’avviamento globale del sistema finanziario e industriale, e pertanto va tutelato e protetto. La perdita di fiducia degli investitori blocca gli investment and paralyzing the economy. Mr. Secretary, the protection of savings to be found in transparency and corporate behavior. Remember that the num DL 95 of 1974 establishing the CONSOB, provides that a Minister of the Treasury may make its evaluations to the committee shall inform Parliament, and this is what we ask of you, so you do not show more cases of non-supervision as documented in the disastrous previous experience and Cardia.
Having said this, with this interpellation Italy of Values \u200b\u200basked the Minister whether he is aware of the facts, what are its findings and what steps will be taken to ensure small savers to avoid the recurrence of incidents of fraudulent transactions against them as in the affairs of the company Cirio, Parmalat and others, in light of the provisions of Article 1 of Decree-Law No 95 of 1974.