First Investment Bank AD (5F4; Bulgarian Stock Exchange)

First Investment Bank (Fibank) is the biggest bank with Bulgarian capital trading at 2 times earnings selling at 60% discount to book.

MCap $190M

PE 2

PBv 0.4

PS 0.7

ROE 19%

DY 0%

Yearly stock trading volume is less than 5% making it an overlooked stock. Two investors hold 85% of the stock with free float being just 15%.

First Investment Bank was established in 1993.

First Invest Bank shares have been traded on the BSE since 2007.

First Investment Bank is a Bulgaria-based bank, which provides corporate and retail banking services. The Bank’s products range includes banking services such as corporate and retail deposits and lending, current accounts, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lending, micro-lending, debit and credit cards services, letters of credit, bank guarantees, mortgage lending, as well as in-house banking services, among others.

First Investment Bank operates domestically through a network of branches and offices located across the country. In addition, it operates one branch in Cyprus.

First Investment Bank was the first bank to receive a 5-year loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for financing small and medium-sized enterprises in Bulgaria in the year 1996.

First Investment Bank has multiple subsidiaries: First Investment Finance BV (the Netherlands), First Investment Bank-Albania Sh.a., Framas Enterprises Limited, Debita OOD, Balkan Financial Services OOD, Realtor OOD, Zdravnoosiguritelna kasa Fi Helt AD and Diners Club Bulgaria AD, MKB Unionbank EAD.

Major shareholders of First Investment Bank are Mr. Tzeko Todorov Minev (46,750,000 shares or 42.5% of the capital) and Mr. Ivailo Dimitrov Mutafchiev (46,750,000 shares or 42.5% of the capital). The remaining 16,500,000 shares or 15% of the Bank’s issued share capital are owned by other shareholders, holding shares subject to free trade on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.

Financials and other info: https://www.fibank.bg/en/investors

Long First Investment Bank as of 2/08/2020

Purchase price: 3.2 BGN

Yuri Gagarin PLC (4PX; Bulgarian Stock Exchange)

Bulgaria based leading manufacturer of cigarette filters for the tobacco industry trading for less than 5 times last year’s earnings with top line revenue of $74M for a $4M market cap company that can be bought for less than 1/10th of company’s book value.

MCap $3.9M

PE 4.9

PBv 0.09

PS 0.06

DY 0%

ROE 5% (5Y average)

CAGR 5% (5Y average)

Yearly stock trading volume is usually less than 20% making it an overlooked stock.

Yuri Gagarin was established in 1964 as a part of the state-owned tobacco monopoly Bulgartabak, which was one of the largest tobacco companies in Europe in the second half of the 1900s. 

Yuri Gagarin PLC is one of the first joint stock companies listed on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, whose shares have been traded on the BSE since August 1998. Until October 2006 Yuri Gagarin Plc was an affiliate company and a part of the group Bulgartabak Holding AD. On October 3, 2006 the company shares owned by Bulgartabac Holding AD were sold out by public offering on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange in a mixed, closed auction. Yuri Gagarin became one of its 22 subsidiaries (12 tobacco processors, 9 cigarette manufacturers, and 1 packaging plant).

Yuri Gagarin is a leading manufacturer of multi-color cardboard and paper printed packages and labels for the cigarette, food-processing, cosmetic and other industries and a leading manufacturer of cigarette filters for the cigarette industry.

The production of cigarette filters is an important part of the Yuri Gagarin’s operations. The product list includes a great variety of mono-acetate and combined cigarette filters of different length, diameter, ventilation, pressure drop and segmentation. 

The Printing House of Yuri Gagarin offers a wide range of printing services including: prepress, offset printing, UV spot and overall varnishing, roto-gravure and flexo printing, hot-foil stamping, embossing, creasing, die-cutting, PVC windowing and up to six-point gluing.

The Company distributes its products in Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Armenia and Slovakia.

The total amount of the company’s capital investments for the period of 2005-2011 is over $40M.

Yuri Gagarin operates from its plant and administrative premises spread on an area of 26.000 square meters in the north industrial area of the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Major shareholder is Baranko, an offshore company registered in Cyprus, with a stake of 49%.

Financials and other info: https://gagarin.eu/en/page/investor-relations/_-investor-relations

Long Yuri Gagarin PLC as of 2/07/2020

Purchase price: 7.25 BGN