The CEO and founder of Elmark Holding about the listing of the company to investor.bg

Jelez Georgiev, CEO and founder of the Elmark Group, about the company “Elmark Invest”, the structure and development plans of the company, the dividend policy and the readiness to raise new capital.

The company, according to the financial data it announced, appears to be ready for listing on the main market as well. Why did you choose BEAM?

– The first reason is that for us the purpose of listing is not so much to attract capital as to build a better image and trust among our clients. We are working on a business plan to expand the markets in Western Europe, where the company, the brand and the company behind the production in Bulgaria would be much better received there.
Due to the fact that we currently do not need funding for the expansion, we have chosen to list on BEAM as it is easier purely administratively and cheaper. We see only positives from this step.

The second reason is that in the near future we will be looking for funding from investors, as we have a new business project. The money we will be looking for will fit within the BEAM market. It is very easy to switch to Main Market from BEAM Market in the future.

Are you planning to list on another, larger, European exchange to bolster your image?

– We are not planning because “Elmark Invest”, which is already listed on BSE-Sofia, is the parent company of “Elmark Holding”, which is a European company and, according to the regulations of the European Union, at the end of this year we will move its headquarters in Germany. European companies can move their headquarters anywhere within the European Union without being terminated.

It makes sense to list “Elmark Holding” in Germany within 5 years, but this is far in the future and is not on the agenda at the moment. “Elmark Holding” has a solid capital – over 18 million euros at the moment. It owns all of Elmark’s subsidiaries. “Elmark Invest” owns one third of “Elmark Holding” and is the controlling company through a “golden” share, determines the board of directors, dividend policy, capital increase.

With the funds we would raise on the BEAM market, we will increase the capital of Elmark Holding and Elmark Invest will acquire up to 51% of Elmark Holding. This is also written in our prospectus for our future steps.

What block of Elmark Invest shares do you plan to hold?

– At least 55% that I will hold as an individual. I plan to manage the Elmark structure long-term. We will attract external capital, but my participation will not fall below 50%.

What dividend policy are you betting on?

– In the statutes of “Elmark Invest” it is written that all income will come from dividends from “Elmark Holding”. 90% of the profit will be distributed. For Elmark Holding, we have bet that a minimum of 30% of the profit will be distributed to Elmark Invest.

How appropriate do you think it is now to seek capital from outside investors through the market?

– I have been meeting with potential investors for months and I keep hearing that the conditions are not suitable and probably won’t be any more suitable soon. We will come up with an offer to investors. We have a sound business strategy for the Home Finishing project, which we are working on, and we are actively investing our own funds, and we will implement it anyway. However, this will happen more quickly and efficiently with the participation of external capital. Our strategy is not only for Bulgaria, it includes 6 more countries on the Balkan Peninsula, so with the participation of investors we will be able to implement it in the intended way.

Our goal is to attract 8 million euros of capital from the stock exchange, with the minimum set goal for capital raised from the stock exchange being 4 million euros.