“Bittnet is an example to be followed by most companies in Romania, it is a story of accelerated growth on the stock market, that accessed all the development support mechanisms offered by the stock market. We are talking about capital increases by capitalizing profits and cash contributions from shareholders, bond issues, Stock Option programs for team members, securing financing for the acquisition of other companies, the list goes on. Cristian and Mihai Logofatu have shown that in just 5 years, you can grow the value of your company if you take advantage of the opportunities that the capital market provides you,” stated Adrian Tanase, Bucharest Stock Exchange CEO.
“We are proud that starting today, Bittnet Group is representing the Romanian technology sector on the Main Market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange. For us, this transfer marks a rebirth of Bittnet as a public company – we propose to our shareholders new goals and objectives, as our plans got bigger and bolder, reflective of a company quoted on the Main Market. We are aiming 100 million euro in revenues in the next five years, earlier if we manage to identify innovative local businesses that want to join our Group. We remain dedicated to actively using capital markets financing mechanisms to build, together with the BVB investors, an IT player of a reference on the Central and Eastern Europe technology market,” stated Mihai Logofatu, Bittnet Group CEO and co-founder.
Bittnet is the first IT company that was listed on BVB, on the AeRO market, on April 15, 2015. At the end of the first trading session, Bittnet had a market capitalization of RON 7.9 million (EUR1.8 million). After closing the trading session on Thursday, May 28, 2020, which was Bittnet’s last day on AeRO market, the market capitalization was RON181.3 million (EUR37.4 million). During the five-year period on AeRO, Bittnet had carried out several rounds of financing, through capital increases and bond issues, with a total value of RON57 million. Currently, four issues of Bittnet bonds, with a total value of almost RON29 million, are listed on the BVB’s MTS.
“The moment of promotion to the Regulated Market is like the entering the adulthood, because Bittnet has often passed the market test and attracted significant amounts of money from investors. Now, Bittnet is in a new league, where access to financing is even easier, as it can also attract money from institutional investors such as pension funds or mutual funds. There is substantial private capital on the stock exchange, only private pension funds have assets of about EUR 14bn, local investment funds another EUR 5.2bn. Also, part of the population deposits (approx. EUR 50bn) and the assets of international institutional investors in emerging and frontier markets (> EUR 700bn) can be attracted through the capital market, by creating attractive investment opportunities. The EUR 5.2bn, cumulative financing rounds via shares and bonds from the last 7 years at BVB, and the growing interest for the stock market in the private sector, show that the capital market is a functional and efficient channel for financing Romanian companies but also of the state,” stated Radu Hanga, BVB Chairman of the Board of Governors.
“In 2015, the local stock market consisted almost solely of issuers with stable monopolies, paying regular dividends. We are happy that over the past 5 years, we could show that the Bucharest Stock Exchange is also a place for dynamic and high growth companies. Since listing on AeRO, we have grown our turnover with a compound annual growth rate of 65%. As we begin this new chapter on BVB, we are happy to bring a fresh opportunity to BVB investors to diversify their portfolio by placing money in a very liquid and dynamic IT company,” stated Cristian Logofatu, Bittnet co-founder.
The trading session on May 28 was the last in which Bittnet shares could be traded on the AeRO market, so that on May 29 and June 2 will be settled the last trades with the company’s shares on the Multilateral Trading System.
The Prospectus for Admission to Trading of Bittnet shares on the Regulated Market was approved on May 20 by the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), and on May 25, the Bucharest Stock Exchange Board of Governors approved the listing of BNET shares on the Regulated Market.
With a turnover of RON46.1 million in 2019, Bittnet shares were the most liquid shares on the AeRO market and, at the same time, they ranked 17th among the top traded shares on both BVB markets, where almost 400 companies are listed. At the end of 2019, Bittnet had over 1,400 shareholders and 700 bondholders.
Bittnet was founded in 2007 in Bucharest, by brothers Mihai and Cristian Logofatu, as a company providing IT training and IT solutions in Romania and abroad. Today, Bittnet is a Group of companies operating in the IT sector, which comprises the following brands: Bittnet Training, Dendrio, ELIAN Solutions and Equatorial Gaming.
The consolidated turnover of companies in the Bittnet Group soared over 100% in 2019, to RON99.8 million. The operational profit surged by 60% compared to 2018, up to RON2.1 million, and the operational cash flow exceeded RON8 million.