Independent Investment Research, The IDEA!

The IDEA!

Independent Investment Research

The Idea-Driven Equities Analyses company (the IDEA!) is an employee-owned boutique providing independent investment research and financial consultancy services with a clear focus on the Benelux countries. The company was founded in the summer of 2007 by Henk Slotboom and Maarten Verbeek, both with more than 35 years of professional experience in the financial sector. The IDEA! differentiates itself by focusing on adding value through self-initiated in-depth, idea-driven investment research, as well as by bespoke research assignments for institutional investors, hedge funds and private equity. In addition, we provide market intelligence, strategic research and – together with our business partners – consultancy services to businesses. In case you are interested in receiving more information, a sample of our products or an introductory meeting, please send a message to info@theidea.nl.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>In this edition: • AkzoNobel | Russian subsidiaries placed under temporary external administration • KPN | ACM joins investigations into data breach at Odido • Shell | divests Sprng Energy to Aditya Birla Renewables for USD 1.8bn • Allegro | strong momentum continued in 2Q26</li></ul>

In this edition: • AkzoNobel | Russian subsidiaries placed under temporary external administration • KPN | ACM joins investigations into data breach at Odido • Shell | divests Sprng Energy to Aditya Birla Renewables for USD 1.8bn • Allegro | strong momentum continued in 2Q26

What's News in Amsterdam - 14 July (AkzoNobel | KPN | Shell | Allegro)

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

<p>Stocks Highlighted: WFC, COF, DFS, GS, JEF, RJF, LIN, ALB, AKZOY, OLN, CC, CDAY, RHI, MAN, TNET, ASGN, NSP, TBI, KELYA, BBSI, DHX, BGSF, AMN, and CCRN.</p><p>Cyclical value areas are starting to play catch-up as interest rates show signs of bottoming -- all kickstarted by Friday's better-than-expected employment report. We see many actionable opportunities, particularly within the Financial and Materials Sectors, and also several retail stocks within Consumer Discretionary. As we noted last week, despite mixed signals from the market, there continues to be an absence of breakdowns at the index and Sector level which supports our overall constructive outlook.</p>

Stocks Highlighted: WFC, COF, DFS, GS, JEF, RJF, LIN, ALB, AKZOY, OLN, CC, CDAY, RHI, MAN, TNET, ASGN, NSP, TBI, KELYA, BBSI, DHX, BGSF, AMN, and CCRN.Cyclical value areas are starting to play catch-up as interest rates show signs of bottoming -- all kickstarted by Friday's better-than-expected employment report. We see many actionable opportunities, particularly within the Financial and Materials Sectors, and also several retail stocks within Consumer Discretionary. As we noted last week, despite mixed signals from the market, there continues to be an absence of breakdowns at the index and Sector level which supports our overall constructive outlook.

Cyclical Value Areas Improving -- Add Exposure To Financials, Materials

<ul><li>In this edition: • Aegon | starts new EUR 200m share buyback today • AkzoNobel | Axalta EGM scheduled for 5 August • InPost / CTT Correos | Colis Privé intends to buy the Iberian and French operations of Paack • Shell | LNG market outlook: resilience amid ST shocks; strong LT fundamentals • Shell | divests Gulf of America assets for USD 1.7bn • Basic-Fit | intends to acquire wellyou • Alfen | appoints Bart Meussen as interim CFO • Dutch retail sales | up 2.9% YoY in value; up 2.3% YoY in volume terms in May • E-commerce & Logistics | France to introduce progressive surcharge on ultrafast fashion</li></ul>

In this edition: • Aegon | starts new EUR 200m share buyback today • AkzoNobel | Axalta EGM scheduled for 5 August • InPost / CTT Correos | Colis Privé intends to buy the Iberian and French operations of Paack • Shell | LNG market outlook: resilience amid ST shocks; strong LT fundamentals • Shell | divests Gulf of America assets for USD 1.7bn • Basic-Fit | intends to acquire wellyou • Alfen | appoints Bart Meussen as interim CFO • Dutch retail sales | up 2.9% YoY in value; up 2.3% YoY in volume terms in May • E-commerce & Logistics | France to introduce progressive surcharge on ultrafast fashion

Sligro Food Group NV - What's News in Amsterdam

European Event-Driven Analyst

Jesus Rodriguez Aguilar

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>The interloper process is over. With Nippon Paint and Sherwin-Williams gone, the market has reverted to pricing Akzo through the economics and completion probability of the Axalta merger.</li>
<li>Axalta's discount to adjusted deal value narrowed from 30.4% to 3.7%, indicating investors again view merger completion as the base case.</li>
<li>Completion appears likely, but risk/reward has deteriorated. Investors are risking roughly 13% downside to capture 3.7% upside, implying a 3.5x downside/upside ratio and limited valuation upside.</li>
</ul>


The interloper process is over. With Nippon Paint and Sherwin-Williams gone, the market has reverted to pricing Akzo through the economics and completion probability of the Axalta merger.
Axalta's discount to adjusted deal value narrowed from 30.4% to 3.7%, indicating investors again view merger completion as the base case.
Completion appears likely, but risk/reward has deteriorated. Investors are risking roughly 13% downside to capture 3.7% upside, implying a 3.5x downside/upside ratio and limited valuation upside.


The Paint Has Dried on Nippon: Reassessing the Axalta Merger Spread

Universal Music Group NV / Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>In this edition: • AkzoNobel | Nippon Paint and Sherwin-Williams no longer pursue joint takeover plan • Universal Music Group | Pershing Square plans to divest its stake • Unilever | Fernández robustly defends the deal with McCormick despite upheaval • Dutch housing market | ‘code yellow’ based on early signals TU’s housing market monitor • E-commerce & Logistics | DHL study shows rising share of OOH deliveries</li></ul>

In this edition: • AkzoNobel | Nippon Paint and Sherwin-Williams no longer pursue joint takeover plan • Universal Music Group | Pershing Square plans to divest its stake • Unilever | Fernández robustly defends the deal with McCormick despite upheaval • Dutch housing market | ‘code yellow’ based on early signals TU’s housing market monitor • E-commerce & Logistics | DHL study shows rising share of OOH deliveries

Universal Music Group NV - What's News in Amsterdam

Netherlands

Akzo Nobel N.V. manufactures specialty chemicals. The Company offers decorative paints and coatings, surfactants, polymer, pulp and paper, bleaching and oxidizing, salt-chlorine, and other chemical products. Akzo Nobel serves customers worldwide.

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Akzo Nobel NV (AKZA NA)

What's News in Amsterdam - 14 July (AkzoNobel | KPN | Shell | Allegro)

In this edition: • AkzoNobel | Russian subsidiaries placed under temporary external administration • KPN | ACM joins investigations into data...

The IDEA!

Cyclical Value Areas Improving -- Add Exposure To Financials, Materials

Cyclical value areas are starting to play catch-up as interest rates show signs of bottoming. We see many actionable opportunities, particularly...

Vermilion Research

Sligro Food Group NV - What's News in Amsterdam

In this edition: • Aegon | starts new EUR 200m share buyback today • AkzoNobel | Axalta EGM scheduled for 5 August • InPost / CTT Correos | Colis...

The IDEA!

The Paint Has Dried on Nippon: Reassessing the Axalta Merger Spread

Nippon Paint and Sherwin-Williams have walked away. With the only alternative transaction gone, we reassess the Akzo–Axalta merger, spread and...

Jesus Rodriguez Aguilar

Universal Music Group NV - What's News in Amsterdam

In this edition: • AkzoNobel | Nippon Paint and Sherwin-Williams no longer pursue joint takeover plan • Universal Music Group | Pershing Square...

The IDEA!

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