Shares in Italian hearing-care provider Amplifon fell sharply on Tuesday, extending a severe two-day selloff that has driven the stock to its lowest level in years. The rout accelerated after the company disclosed plans to buy GN Store Nord’s hearing business in a €2.3 billion deal that market participants view as stretching Amplifon’s balance sheet and shifting the group away from its traditional retail-only model.
The stock declined 11.5% to €7.98 on Tuesday, following a 14.3% drop the previous session when the acquisition was announced. Overall, the shares have tumbled by more than 41% since Feb. 17, when they traded at €13.69.
Pressure on the share price began on March 5, when Amplifon reported a fourth-quarter earnings shortfall and withdrew its quantitative guidance for 2026. That release sent the stock down 13.2% on heavy volume of 10 million shares, roughly five times the daily average, as investors reacted to management’s guidance that it expected only "solid progressive improvement" - language that failed to reassure a market already uneasy about the company’s execution track record.
Eleven days after the earnings update, management confirmed the acquisition of GN Hearing for €2.3 billion. The purchase will be funded through a combination of financing measures: up to €1 billion of debt, up to €750 million of new equity, and the remaining consideration in Amplifon shares. On completion, expected by year-end, GN Store Nord will hold approximately 16% of the combined group.
In a note published on Tuesday, Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and maintained a €16 price target for Amplifon, a level that implied about 77% upside from Monday’s close of €9.02, while warning of near-term pain. Barclays modelled roughly 3% EPS dilution in 2027, the first full year after closing, before projecting a swing to 6% accretion in 2028 as anticipated synergies of €60-80 million in EBITDA begin to materialise. Pro-forma leverage is expected to rise to 2.7x.
Barclays also highlighted valuation and competitive impacts. The bank noted the deal is valued at 14x EV/EBITDA on 2025 figures and described the transaction as positive for GN. At the same time, Barclays flagged the move as potentially negative for hearing-aid manufacturers Sonova and Demant, which together accounted for roughly 35% of Amplifon’s product wallet - about 20% and 15% respectively.
"This is a bold move into the wholesale market which would make the company look much likes it peers but comes after a period of challenged execution," Barclays analyst Hassan Al-Wakeel wrote.
The note also emphasised the downgrade in Barclays’ stance over time: the broker has trimmed its price target for Amplifon eight times since May 2024, from €38 to €16, tracking a stock that has fallen more than 75% from its 2024 peak above €34.
Amplifon’s combination of a recent earnings miss, the decision to remove quantitative medium-term guidance and the capital-raising plan to fund a major acquisition have all contributed to heightened investor concern. Market participants are assessing whether the financing structure, expected synergies and integration risks will be sufficient to justify the strategic shift into wholesale and the resulting increase in leverage.