Brunello Cucinelli Holds Dinner of Gratitude at Milan Stock Exchange

by · WWD
Brunello Cucinellicourtesy of Brunello Cucinelli

MILAN — Anyone uncertain about going public should speak to Brunello Cucinelli.

“After a conversation with me, you’ll have no doubt left,” said Cucinelli. The experience of his namesake company as a listed one has been so positive that he held a “dinner of gratitude” at the Milan Stock Exchange on Monday evening, inviting around 200 guests comprising investors, analysts, journalists, bankers and entrepreneurs — some also from other listed companies, such as ENI, Campari, The Italian Sea Group, Ariston and Juventus, to name a few.

Treated to appetizers from the Umbria region, where the Cucinelli company is based in Solomeo, and his favorite “paccheri da Vittorio,” the dinner was held 12 years after the initial public offering — a time through which the company’s market value has soared to 6.5 billion euros from 500 million euros.

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With the event, Cucinelli said he “would like to encourage new IPOs in Italy but they should not be undertaken for the money, but for the international recognition they can provide to a company. However, you must know the rules of the game, offer prospects of a sustainable growth, otherwise it’s a dead end. The responsibilities lie with everyone, the entrepreneurs because they must not be simply chasing the cash, and the banks because if the price is forced, too high, there will be a selection of investors and some may be excluded.”

Asked why some companies either delist or never consider the Bourse, he said “it all depends on how you approach the listing. We had no debt and I did not do it out of necessity or for the money, but so that the company would be more international and open, to attract talents and so that my daughters would have shareholders from around the world. Also, for the company to live on for the long-term, which has always been fundamental for me.”

Brunello Cucinelli spring 2025 ready-to-wear collection at Milan Fashion Week.Courtesy of Brunello Cucinelli

He acknowledged that, for Italians, going public is different than for other nationalities, and they generally float a small percentage of shares. “Companies are like our babies for us, but I have always said that you inherit the ownership but not the ability to be an entrepreneur.”

He has long underscored the value of human dignity and recalled how he dissuaded investors who were looking for financial speculation and fast gains through his company and its IPO.

“You must help analysts and investors understand your company, so I met with them seven or eight months before the road show, inviting them to Solomeo to have a firsthand experience of the brand, its values and its production, our idea of sustainable profit, and they met me and my family, so that the process was easier when the road show actually started.”

Cucinelli remembered how shares soared almost 50 percent on the first day of trading, closing at 11.60 euros. At the end of trading on Monday, shares closed at 96.75 euros.

There were numerous indications the company was likely to do well, including the early closing of the road show. Cucinelli, which floated a 30 percent stake in the company (33 percent with the Greenshoe option) for a total of about 22.4 million shares, received applications from 8,459 investors and the offer was oversubscribed by more than 17 times.

In the first half of 2024, the company’s revenues amounted to 620.7 million euros, up 14.1 percent compared with 544 million euros at the end of June 2023. Cucinelli expects a 10 percent growth in sales in 2024 and in 2025, and has forecast 2023 sales to double by 2030. 

The dinner was held after the highly anticipated public listing of Golden Goose, expected to take place in June, was postponed “as a result of European market volatility,” and Tod’s Group delisted, also in June.