Mentzen SA, a company with the ticker XDD and owned by Confederation MP Sławomir Mentzen, stormed NewConnect and gained from the first minutes of trading.
photo: Zbyszek Kaczmarek / / FORUM
On July 2 at 11:00 AM, Mentzen SA debuted on the NewConnect market, marked with the ticker XDD. The first day of trading in the shares of the Confederation politician’s office began with strong increases.
In the first minutes following the start of trading, the XDD rate rose by 22.5% to PLN 44.10. The reference price for the company’s shares was PLN 36. During the session, the rate gained as much as 83.75% to PLN 66.15 and gave PLN 66.15 million in capitalization.
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At the end of Tuesday’s trading, the price finally gained 59.42 percent to PLN 57.39 per share. The turnover amounted to PLN 17.69 million and was higher that day than on the shares of Kruk, Cyfrowy Polsat, Orange, mBank, Grupa Kęty, Budimex and Alior Bank, i.e. 7 companies from the WIG20 index. It is worth emphasizing that we are talking regarding a company that is not even listed on the main market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, only on NewConnect.
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As part of the IPO, 350 thousand shares of the company were placed at a maximum price of PLN 36 per share. The value of the offer amounted to PLN 12.6 million. As described by Michał Kubicki in the text “Mentzen the richest MP? Thanks to XDD and the stock exchange it is possible”, 65% of the company’s shares are held by the politician’s family foundation.
According to the valuation from the debut, the block of 650 thousand shares of Mentzen SA belonging to Mentzen was worth PLN 23.4 million. At the price of PLN 57.39 per share, the politician’s securities reached a value of over PLN 37.3 million.
Mentzen SA operates in the area of providing tax and legal advisory services and accounting services for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The Group’s activity consists of offering services primarily based on a subscription model.
Speaking at a press conference during the debut, Sławomir Mentzen announced that the company plans to develop services in a subscription model, but also implement non-subscription services and expand its operations.
“The additional services that the company plans to introduce constitute added value without additional costs. These are, for example, training. We will introduce add-ons as part of the existing subscription,” said Sławomir Mentzen.
“My company does not need financing unless we want to take something over. We provide services and our main expense is employee benefits. Up until now, we have grown organically without external financing and we plan to continue to do so,” announced the main shareholder of Mentzen SA.
“Zaorski will not short” Mentzen
The day before the debut, Sławomir Menzten conducted a live broadcast dedicated to his company’s debut on NewConnect. During the speech, the politician emphasized that he is not always 100% focused on profit, and that the most important in the hierarchy will remain the law firm’s clients, followed by employees, and then shareholders.
Mentzen said that he “does not believe in forecasts, so he will not give them,” but “expects the price to increase on the debut.” He also encouraged speculation on shares. “I hope that this will not be a company for the faint of heart,” the politician said. Referring to questions regarding “where to short it,” Mentzen commented:
“If someone doesn’t know how to short a stock, that’s a reflection of them, but once they do, I have absolutely no problem with that. If for any reason the stock price drops really low, I’ll just buy it really cheap and be ahead of the game.”
Mentzen told his viewers that he asked Rafał Zaorski regarding it and he replied that he would not short his company’s shares.
The politician said he is “close to certainty” that in the long term, his company’s share price will go up because “the company is developing very nicely and I see no reason for it to stop developing.” At the moment, he has no plans for new issues, creating a token or selling his bitcoins.
Responding to voices that he wanted to cash in his shares and disappear, he denied this, stating that he was so rich that “if he only cared regarding money, he wouldn’t do anything anymore, because he can afford it.”
Business Ethicist: IPO of an active politician’s company is morally reprehensible
The stock exchange debut of an active politician’s company, although legal, is morally reprehensible – assessed business ethicist Prof. Bolesław Rok in an interview with PAP. On Tuesday, the Mentzen company, whose president is Confederation MP Sławomir Mentzen, debuted on the NewConnect market.
The Mentzen share price on the first day of trading on the NewConnect market rose by 22.5 percent at the opening, to PLN 44.10. The reference price for the company’s shares was PLN 36. At around 4:10 p.m., the price was already rising by 69.44 percent to PLN 61.00, and the turnover exceeded PLN 15.5 million and was the highest among all companies listed on NewConnect. At the same time, the turnover on the entire NewConnect market amounted to PLN 20.7 million.
Professor Bolesław Rok from the Department of Entrepreneurship and Ethics in Business at the Kozminski University, although he stated that the debut of the active politician’s company on the stock exchange is completely legal, it may nevertheless raise ethical doubts.
“The very fact that we are thinking regarding it means that something is wrong. Because we elected someone (to the Sejm – PAP) to deal with matters important to the state and citizens. Now we see that this person is using this potential to earn money in business,” he said.
“In my opinion, it is morally reprehensible and it is obvious that this person is cashing in on his popularity, which we, the citizens, have given him in a democratic process. This is the reason why he has disappointed our expectations and this arouses conflicting feelings and we recognize that something strange is happening and that it should not be like this,” he said.
In his opinion, the fact that the media and public opinion devote attention to Mentzen’s company causes its share price to increase. “This is using his popularity, which this person owes to democratic elections and being a politician, for material and financial purposes,” he emphasized.
pap
Michal Misiura
