MILAN (AIMnews.it) - It is one of the most recent registrations of the AIM: controlled by the Berto family, who landed on the Italian SME market last December 20, with a float of around 30.5%. This is Gel, a company from the region of Marche that produces equipment, components and chemicals for water treatment. "We wanted to increase growth by structuring to enter the stock market: an important target for us to overcome the classic bank loan. The resources collected with the capital increase with which we have landed at Aim will be used to give a boost to the new projects of the company ", Ad Aroldo Berto told us. What are these projects? We will follow two lines of development: one made of internalization of some processes that will allow us to increase margins, the other for external lines. Can you explain them in detail? with respect to internal growth, the goal is to achieve the molding processes internally, also in light of the large volumes that we now need and which will allow us, on the one hand, to be autonomous and on the other to recover further margins. Two molding lines for an investment of around 800.000 euros which will allow the cost of our products to be improved up to 35-40%, leaving room for both margins for the company and flexibility in selling prices. A second project concerns the production of flat membranes used in some plants: there are very few producers of these objects, and even in this case the recovery in margins is substantial: on a 100.000 euro plant, these membranes cost 70-80.000 EUR. So let's talk about important figures. In light of the prices we decided to produce our products internally, having the know-how. And other investments? They are facing outwards. Mainly to achieve a market share abroad: in the next 3-5 years we would like to double our share of foreign sales, to reach 50% of total revenues. And to do this we need commercial investments. We have seen good development spaces in China with products and technical solutions that we are able to duplicate. A stable site and commercial operators who sell our solutions. Another country on which we are moving is Germany: here we are looking for a company that is already operating on the market, to have the local entrepreneur as a partner. Alternatively, Great Britain with a similar scheme. In short, important operations in the coming years ... If we were not quoted, having to rely only on our strengths and cash flows generated by the company, we would have had to choose only one of these investments and once completed move on to the next one. The quotation and the raising of capital, over 5.5 million euro, allows us to start almost all these operations at the same time. What are the dimensions of the reference market? In Italy about 130-150 million euros. The first participater is the Austrian BWT which invoices about 550 million euros, of which about 24-25 in Italy, we are the second in Italy. Then there are many small companies that operate in the local area and are limited to a few products. But even in this sector the scenario goes towards progressive consolidation. How can you grow in Italy? The new regulations on water treatment updated a couple of years ago are an important channel. A second is represented by the studies and design companies: we are finishing the development of a software that allows them to design water treatment solutions and produce the related specifications. A part of the additional turnover should therefore come from here too. And abroad, apart from China and Germany? The Russian market is interesting, we already had contacts, then the fall of the ruble stopped everything. Even in this case it would still be purely commercial agreements. No production facilities abroad? Labor costs mean less than 5% on the value of the finished product. So for now it is not absolutely significant to produce abroad, but that everything remains in Italy.