On November 29th, we celebrated the 10th edition of the European Small and Mid-Cap Awards. During the gathering which took place in Prague (Czechia), one of our listed companies was hailed as Europe’s SME Rising Star.
The 10th edition of the European SME Awards was organized by the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), EuropeanIssuers and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs during the SME Assembly in Prague (Czechia).
During the evening, EiDF, which is listed on SIX´´'s BME Exchange, was named the winner in the "Rising Star" category, for which eight other companies from different European markets had been nominated.
Founded in 2008 and based in Galicia, EiDF specializes in the installation of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems. Its main activity is the self-consumption of energy and it targets small and large companies to provide them with an efficient and profitable savings option to reduce their energy costs and improve their competitiveness. EiDF Solar of Spain boosted its Ebitda by 560% in the third quarter of 2002 by helping companies install PV systems for self-consumption. This equals an increase of 408% since going public.
Other three companies listed on our markets were nominated for the awards: Llorente & Cuenca in the Star of 2022 category, Grupo Econer in the International Star category, and Miogroup in the Star of Innovation category.
On the same day FESE held two panel discussions. BME Growth board member Alvaro Castro, took part in the round table discussion ‘How to unlock IPOs in Europe?, where he reviewed current trends in SME equity funding and the IPO market in Spain. He also talked about the obstacles to SME listings and equity research on SMEs.
The European Small and Mid-Cap Awards aim to promote best practices and encourage more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access capital markets via IPOs.
The Awards Ceremony was organised for the first time in 2013 by EuropeanIssuers and FESE, at the initiative of the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission. These two associations represent together the European securities exchanges and the companies listed on them. Since 2020, the Awards is organised as part of the European Commission's SME Assembly.
The Awards showcase the diversity of European markets and aim to promote stock listings, in particular targeting SMEs and growth companies. These companies are critical to European economic recovery and to accomplishing the EU’s goals of job creation, competitiveness and growth.