MBH Corporation Plc is consistently expanding along the agglomeration model, which indirectly offers small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the advantages of access to the capital market via the holding company. 

The English construction services provider Guildprime Specialist Contracts Ltd was acquired in April, followed in June by the acquisition of the Singapore engineering company Asia Pacific Energy Ventures Pte Ltd (APEV). The acquisition of APEV created the "Industry" segment, the third alongside "Construction Services" and "Education".

In June, the Board of Directors of MBH Corporation plc also changed the responsibilities of its members and transferred the position of CEO to Callum Laing. The former CEO Allan Presland will now be responsible for corporate governance as Non-Executive Director in this body and will continue to work for the MBH subsidiary Parenta.

It has just been announced that MBH will acquire 100% of the shares in Samuel Hobson Care Homes (SHCH) by the end of this year. SHCH operates a nursing home in Newcastle-under-Lyme in northern England, some 60 km south of Manchester. SHCH will be integrated into the portfolio of Acacia Training Ltd. and thus into the "Education" segment. In view of the demographic development, significant sales growth is expected in this segment over the next few years. With the takeover of SHCH, MBH is taking another step forward in raising the agglomeration model on the stock exchange to an attractive size for investors. However, the free float will not increase significantly until the holding period of the existing shareholders (SME founders) ends. 

Small companies such as MBH were affected to an above-average extent by the price declines on the stock market. However, MBH should be able to negotiate lower multipliers for acquisitions at the same time. The current low valuation of the MBH share (P/E 2018: 9.1) offers a favourable buying opportunity.

This research report ends our coverage of the MBH share. Our final investment recommendation is "buy (coverage discontinued)" after "buy". The price target remains unchanged at EUR 1.80.

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