00:32:07 · Andrea Allegrini
[00:32:07] S1: where... With a high retention of technician and with a good tenure because when we go through the acquisition of a company, the assets we buy are to its customers and technicians. So we need to retain them, and we retain them by granting them better conditions also on the economic side. We ask them to be flexible, so to learn to work on different brands, on different machines, to start to work also on AC units, even if they've always worked on just on boilers, for example. So we built an internal academy for junior and senior technician. We improve their economic conditions, and we give them benefits. I'm giving you a very simple example, which is leaving the van to go You know, in the company... In the in the... In traditional HVAC companies, the the the owner is willing to see every day, every morning the van to check if it's in proper condition because he's willing to see the local technician. While for us, and we learned it in our experience in our logistics business, that if we are able to deliver spare parts during the night, then the technician can avoid go to the branch early in the morning. And so we allow them to go home with the with the van, which at the end of the month is is perceived as a... For sure as as a benefit. We grant them also better salary. In average, they earn more than 10% compared to what they to their previous salary. Plus, we have our bonus scheme aimed at giving them more money if they help us in implementing our strategy. So do some selling while doing maintenance activity and again going in high season to help other companies of the group. So for example, we ask them to travel, to stay away from home couple of days per month. But at the end of the month, for sure, we have a a bonus related to to this to this activity.
00:34:26 · Mikk, Andrea Allegrini
[00:34:26] S0: Okay. So if I'm a technician inside one of your acquired businesses, my life just gets so much better. Yes. I have to study. I have to evolve self development, but overall, it gets better, more exciting. [00:34:42] S1: Yes. And mainly, you become part of something bigger. And if you start doing maintenance services and if you are a good guy, maybe in a few years, you can become the coordinator of the technician. Or if you are very good, maybe you can become our local manager. So it's also important to show meritocracy in this in this sense because I think that what kills passion is being static, not showing to people that the company is evolving and the workers are evolving with it. [00:35:24] S0: Okay. Now let's talk a little bit about being public. Like Lindbergh is a micro GAAP public company listed in Italy. But you said that many of the investors are from U. S. How did you end up being in this position of having so many U. S. Investors?
00:35:44 · Andrea Allegrini
[00:35:44] S1: The main thing is that we like and we... I think it's also mandatory to reply to all the investor that write us asking for informations. It all started with an article on Twitter, On X, done by Croatian analyst that wrote to Mikk asking a few questions. And Michele was really impressed because those... That that guy studied a lot about us, and he he made very pertinent questions, and Michele was surprised. And so this article published on Twitter was read by an analyst of Sun Mountain Partners, which is an investor, one of our most important shareholders. So he read this article. They called us. They made a very accurate due diligence, staying here in Italy for days, talking with our customers, better understanding our business model. And the fun fact is that this company is very famous in The US among all the value investor community. And so we gained... It's incredible, but we gained lots of visibility in this sense. And today, I think that 30%, 40% of the floating is this in The U. S, even in retail, family office, funds. So it's we are quite proud to having reached this goal because we have a very good base of really long term value investors. Instead of being pressed by investor asking us about the next quarter, those guys ask us for the next twenty, thirty years, which is we share this kind of approach.
00:37:35 · Mikk, Andrea Allegrini
[00:37:35] S0: It's fascinating that you mentioned Sun Mountain because I think they were on a conference as well, and I I really enjoyed their presentation. And for sure, they are well known. So one question. You you did this pivot. So what about the listeners? What about the current investors? Do they need to... Not being worried is not the right way to put it, but will there be another pivot in the future or you finally found your your thing, you're excellent at, and you see enough deal flow, enough opportunity to focus for the next fifteen... I don't know, five, ten, fifteen years? Okay. [00:38:13] S1: I I think that our main job is to find opportunities. And we constantly discuss internally to find new ones. What is what if we talk about scarcity, today, the main problem is our energy and our time. So if we find a new interesting opportunity, we are evaluating it. But I think that if we are buying, for example, a new vertical, we need an entrepreneur helping us to carry on this kind of opportunity. But, I mean, we keep our eye open because, again, our shareholder expect this from us to seek and find and get new opportunities like we did with France and HVAC in the past. I mean, and and also not setting a really long term goals is what drives us on a daily basis to push and push and to reach and to work to increase the free cash flow per share, having the same interest. So we share we are very, very aligned with our investor in this case.
00:38:13 · Andrea Allegrini, Mikk
[00:38:13] S1: I I think that our main job is to find opportunities. And we constantly discuss internally to find new ones. What is what if we talk about scarcity, today, the main problem is our energy and our time. So if we find a new interesting opportunity, we are evaluating it. But I think that if we are buying, for example, a new vertical, we need an entrepreneur helping us to carry on this kind of opportunity. But, I mean, we keep our eye open because, again, our shareholder expect this from us to seek and find and get new opportunities like we did with France and HVAC in the past. I mean, and and also not setting a really long term goals is what drives us on a daily basis to push and push and to reach and to work to increase the free cash flow per share, having the same interest. So we share we are very, very aligned with our investor in this case. [00:39:34] S0: Andrea, how are your days look like? You were kind enough coming to the podcast, sharing your story once we enter recording. How does your days look like? [00:39:43] S1: Okay. Personally, I'm in charge of the development of the Waste Management business unit, which is the smallest one because we closed the last strong years. The last first [00:39:59] S0: very the years. And
00:39:59 · Mikk, Andrea Allegrini
[00:39:59] S0: very the years. And [00:40:06] S1: So we I enjoy it a lot also because it was basically my first job. So I started managing waste collection services, and I'm also more on the compliance side of knowing the regulation and so on. I spend a lot of time talking with the investors. I think something like 20, 25% of my time, but it's good, and I really enjoy to do this, attending conferences and doing podcasts or answering to to the emails of... Coming from investors. And then I help the people that work in my business unit. So personally, I like a lot to be on on the sales part. So I'm... Have a a background as a salesman. So I like to also to keep some relationship with the most important customer of of the business unit in this case, but also at the group level. And and the rest is working to to develop the business unit, checking data, and helping for what I can my colleagues to... In the day by day in the day by day activity. So we work with the young people. I think that the average age is close to 32, 33 years in the office. So we need these young people to to grow and to get more and more responsibility because the company needs to be independent and not rely on one or two people.