Vedi allegato.

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF EQUITA GROUP S.P.A. HAS APPROVED THE FIRST HALF 2018 RESULTS

• CONSOLIDATED NET REVENUES OF EURO 36.7 MILLION, 47% GREATER COMPARED TO THE FIRST HALF 2017
• CONSOLIDATED NET INCOME OF EURO 7.6 MILLION, 67% GREATER COMPARED TO THE FIRST HALF 2017

PROCESS FOR THE ADMISSION TO LISTING ON THE MTA MARKET, STAR SEGMENT, IS ONGOING

Milan, September 18th , 2018

Today the Board of Directors of Equita Group S.p.A. (the "Company", and together with its subsidiaries, "Equita" or the "Group") has approved the first half 2018 results which highlight a growth of 47% compared to the same period of the previous year in terms of Consolidated Net Revenues, mainly thanks to the significant performance of the Investment Banking and the Alternative Asset Management. In the same period the Consolidated Net Income grew by 67% compared to the first half 2017.

The Chief Executive Officer, Andrea Vismara, commented: "The first half 2018 results, which highlight a very positive second quarter 2018 in all the business lines, confirm the ability of Equita to achieve its goals and to consolidate its position in the market as reference partner for financial institutions and corporates". With respect to the fast approaching admission to listing on the MTA market regulated by Borsa Italiana, Andrea Vismara added: "During the summer we have completed part of the preparatory tasks for the admission to listing on the MTA and have submitted the application to qualify for the STAR segment: such listing will enable Equita to increase its visibility among investors and will improve the liquidity of the stock".

CONSOLIDATED NET REVENUES

¹

More in detail, the performance of the first half 2018 benefited from the growth of the Client-Driven and Market Making area, despite the minor contraction of Fixed Income strategies due to the end of quantitative easing policies, more than off-set by the satisfactory performance of strategies on derivatives; Directional trading also shown a good performance despite the impact of US protectionism that impacted negatively Risk Arbitrage and M&A strategies.

In the second quarter 2018 Proprietary Trading, as occurred for Sales & Trading, recorded a double-digit growth (+46%) moving from Euro 1.8 million in the second quarter 2017 to Euro 2.7 million, benefitting from the strong focus on clients and the consolidation of the market making activities on bonds acquired with the Retail Hub starting from June 2018.

The revenues of Investment Banking, growing from Euro 6.9 million in the first half 2017 to Euro 17.4 million in the first half 2018, pointed out an increase of 152% compared to the previous year, thanks to the significant number of completed transactions in all the underlying areas of business; indeed, in the first half 2018 the Investment Banking of Equita acted with senior roles as Global Coordinator or Bookrunner in approximately Euro 1.5 billion of placements, of which approximately Euro 1.0 billion involving equities and Euro 0.5 billion involving debt issues.

The Equity Capital Markets team successfully completed the IPO of Alp.I, SpaXs, Life Care Capital and NB Aurora (the latter a permanent capital vehicle). Equita also participated to the capital increase of Creval as Joint Bookrunner, managed the Accelerated Bookbuilding ("ABB") of Tecnoinvestimenti on behalf of Cedacri as sole Bookrunner, and managed the Reverse ABB (or "RABB") of Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna on behalf of Unipol Sai as Joint Bookrunner.

The Debt Capital Markets team successfully completed placement of the senior notes of Carraro, Maire Tecnimont and Alerion.

The M&A and Advisory team consolidated its position among the top 10 M&A advisors in Italy in terms of number of transactions, resulting no. 1 among the Italian independent advisors in the first half 2018 (source: Mergermarket). In particular, Equita assisted Elliott in the proxy fight to appoint the Board of Directors of TIM, strengthening its unique track-record of successes in such area of activity – after Salini Costruttori / Impregilo in 2014, Cairo Communication / RCS Mediagroup in 2016, and FRI-EL / Alerion in 2017.

Moreover, following the development of a dedicated team in 2017, Equita increased significantly the activity of assistance to private equity funds, having advised Argos Soditic in the disposal of Business Integration Partners to Apax France, Armonia in the acquisition of Gruppo Servizi Associati, and Ambienta in the agreement to acquire, jointly with L Catterton, Pibiplast.

Lastly, Equita also consolidated its role as main advisor for Italian financial institutions, in particular for the medium-sized ones, assisting i) Cassa di Risparmio di San Miniato, Cassa di Risparmio di Rimini and Cassa di Risparmio di Cesena in the tender offer sponsored by Cariparma, ii) Mediocredito del Friuli Venezia Giulia in its capital increase, securitisation of a non-performing loans portfolio and identification of a strategic partner (recognized in ICCREA group), and iii) Veneto Banca in liquidazione in the disposal of Claris Leasing and Claris Factor to Cassa Centrale Banca and Credito Valtellinese respectively.

In the second quarter 2018 Investment Banking recorded a significant increase in Net Revenues (+105%), moving from Euro 3.8 million in the second quarter 2017 to Euro 7.9 million.

The revenues of Alternative Asset Management moved from Euro 1.3 million in the first half 2017 to Euro 2.4 million in the first half 2018, highlighting an increase of 84% compared to the previous year, thanks to the positive contribution of all the three underlying business areas.

The Portfolio Management, managing three different lines of discretionary accounts on behalf of an institutional client, recorded growing revenues despite the average performance was slightly negative but, anyway, above the market performance.

The Private Debt confirmed its positive trajectory, speeding-up growth thanks to the investments of the Equita Private Debt Fund; investments reached 34% of total commitment as of 30 June 2018 (total commitment of Euro 100 million), thanks to the investment of Euro 7 million in CRM, leading company in the industrial production of flat bread piadine. Then, on 6 September 2018, Equita announced the sixth investment of the fund in which, supporting L Catterton and Ambienta in the acquisition of Pibiplast, it fully subscribed a subordinated bond of Euro 10 million issued by the investment vehicle controlled by the private equity funds; with such transaction the investments of the fund reached, as

of today, 44%, and Equita expects to overcome the threshold of 50% by the end of the year, thanks also to the binding offers and letters of intents signed in the last months.

The Private Equity, following the approval of the business combination between EPS Equita PEP SPAC and Industrie Chimiche Forestali ("ICF"), a leading Italian company in the production of adhesives and fabrics for tips and counters for the footwear, leatherwear, automotive, packaging and upholstered furniture industries, recorded in the second quarter the first accounting effects of the business combination 2018. The business combination resulted in a proportional spinoff of EPS Equita PEP SPAC and the resources not used (amounting to approximately Euro 74 million) were conferred to EPS Equita PEP SPAC 2; such resources will be invested in a minority or majority stake in an Italian excellent company.

Excluding assets under management related to the SPAC, as of today Equita has Euro 526 million of assets under management, higher than the Euro 491 million as of 31 March 2018 and Euro 504 million as of 31 December 2017, thanks to the launch of the new fund Blueglen Equita Total Return ("BETR") in late July which collected approximately Euro 50 million as of today.

The result of the second quarter 2018 of Alternative Asset Management was positive (+85%), recording an increase in revenues from Euro 0.8 million in the second quarter 2017 to Euro 1.5 million.

In the first half 2018 the Research Team confirmed its position as best broker in terms of quality of research on Italian equities, based on ranking of Institutional Investor's newspaper, and continued to support all the business lines of the Group. More in detail, in the first half 2018 the Research Team started to cover 7 new companies, enlarging the number of covered companies to 166, of which 121 in Italy and 45 in Europe.

CONSOLIDATED INCOME FROM ORDINARY ACTIVITIES

The Consolidated Income from ordinary activities, increasing from Euro 6.9 million in the first half 2017 to Euro 11.0 million in the first half 2018 (+59%), benefitted from the significant growth of Consolidated Net Revenues and from a marginal improvement in the incidence of operating costs on net revenues.

Personnel costs moved from Euro 12.5 million to Euro 17.3 million in the first half 2018 (+39%) and, despite the consolidation of new resources from the integration of the Retail Hub and the launch of a new corporate welfare plan, the incidence of such item on Consolidated Net revenues declined from 50% in the first half 2017 to 47% in the first half 2018.

The increase in other administrative expenses, moving from Euro 5.6 million to 8.4 million in the first half 2018 (+63%), was mainly attributable to non-recurring costs – for approximately Euro 1.9 million – occurred in the first half 2018 and related to advisory services for the listing on the MTA – STAR segment, advisory fees for the IT integration of the Retail Hub with the IT systems of Equita, and fees for regulatory advisory services, following the introduction of MiFID II.

CONSOLIDATED NET INCOME

The Consolidated Net Income grew from Euro 4.5 million in the first half 2017 to Euro 7.6 million (+67%), due to the increase in Consolidated Income from ordinary activities and the lower incidence of income taxes; such latter variation

was mainly attributable to the removal of the corporate income tax surcharge on the subsidiary Equita SIM S.p.A and some benefits coming from the fiscal incentive "Aiuto alla Crescita Economica" (or "ACE").

CONSOLIDATED SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

The Consolidated Shareholders' Equity, amounting to Euro 76.4 million as of 30 June 2018, declined by 3% compared to 31 December 2017 (Euro 79.0 million) following the dividend payment of Euro 0.22 per share in May 2018. The Total Capital Ratio as of 30 June 2018 was 25.9% compared to 25.1% as of 31 March 2018 and 29.8% as of 31 December 2017. The difference with respect to year-end is mainly attributable to the more sizeable investments in financial companies.

* * *

Equita Group Investor Relations – Andrea Graziotto [email protected]

Close to Media Ufficio Stampa – Adriana Liguori [email protected]

Equita is an independent investment bank, reference partner for Italian companies and institutional investors, with 45 years of experience. The business model is clear and focused: Sales & Trading on equities, bonds and derivatives for domestic and international institutional customers is combined with a high profile Investment Banking platform dedicated to advisory to companies and financial institutions. Proprietary Trading, with market making activities and advice on valuation of financial instruments, and Alternative Asset Management, providing traditional portfolio management on concentrated positions along with innovative private debt and private equity portfolio management, such as the special acquisition vehicle (SPAC), complete the range of specialized and synergic services offered. Moreover, all business lines are continuously supported by a Research team recognized for its excellence. Independent advice and deep knowledge of capital markets grant Equita credibility among domestic and international institutional investors, ensuring a unique positioning in the Italian market, with a focus on mid & small caps.

Consolidated Profit & Loss – Equita Group

Consolidated Balance Sheet – Equita Group

Consolidated Balance Sheet – Equita Group