Aquila - on the radar of pension funds

NN Group, through the private pension funds it manages, was one of the buyers of Aquila Part Prod Com shares in the accelerated placement carried out at the end of last week, through which the company's founders sold 8% of the company's shares, according to reports from the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB).

Following the operation, which was carried out at a unit price of 1.36 lei, 9.09% below the reference in the "regular" market, the funds managed by NN Group reached a cumulative holding of 13% of Aquila, compared to 8.62% at the last reporting, of which the Pilon II pension fund had 11.78%, the rest being in the portfolios of Pilon III funds.

Constantin-Cătălin Vasile and Alin-Adrian Dociu, the two founders of the company, were sellers, the first reducing his holding from 33.3% to 28.3%, while the second's holding decreased from 25% to 22%, according to reports from the BVB.

The consumer goods distributor is on the radar of pension funds, as of the end of February all mandatory private funds had Aquila shares, with a combined holding of 28.9% of the company. The fund managed by NN Pensii had 8.78% of Aquila, the one managed by BRD Pensii - 1.41%, the one managed by BCR Pensii - 2.02%, Metropolitan Life - 4.43%, the fund managed by Carpathia Pensii - 4.23%, AZT Viitorul Tău - 5.7% and Aripi - 2.33%, according to our calculations based on the latest reports from the administrators and BVB data.

Aquila Part Prod Com reported revenues of almost 740 million lei for the first three months of this year, up 19% compared to the first quarter of 2024, a performance supported mainly by the advance in revenues from the distribution segment, which represents approximately 94% of the Group's turnover. The companies Romtec and Parmafood, whose acquisition was completed in 2024, generated 8% of the Group's revenues, according to a company statement.

The net profit recorded in the first three months of 2025 is 19 million lei, slightly down compared to the same period last year, as a result of the impact of the new tax introduced on turnover, as well as the decrease in financial revenues.

In 2025, Aquila budgeted revenues of over 3.6 billion lei (+23%), and EBITDA is forecast to exceed 211 million lei (+20%), with a margin of 6%. The approved investment budget for 2025 is over 150 million lei, the largest since the company's listing, being directed towards the fleet, logistics equipment and automation, the press release says. The stock market valuation of the consumer goods distributor amounts to almost 1.7 billion lei.