[9 October 2019 update: due to LSE/Borsa Italiana commercial policy, Italian companies are now excluded from the index. Q2 2019 value has been recalculated accordingly].
The Argos index on the non-listed M&A acquisitions in Eurozone (private companies) remains high at a level of 10.0x EBITDA. For the other benchmark valuation indexes, the Eurozone Large Cap (market capitalizations above 500m€) has increased to 9.8x EBITDA (9.6x in Q1 19). The US small caps index decreases to 8.9x EBITDA, now in line with Eurozone small capitalizations. Nordics Small Cap index remains high but is decreasing to 11.2x EBITDA (11.8x in Q1 19). During Q2 2019, the stock market indices remained quite flat or slightly increased: Stoxx Europe 600 went up 1.5%, S&P 500 up 3.8%, CAC Small up 2.3%.Geographically, France small cap valuation continues to increase by 3% to 8.7x EBITDA (8.4x in Q1 19 and 7.5x in Q4 19) and Benelux is up 2% to 8.8x (8.6x in Q1 19 and 8.0x in Q4 18). Germany is down 4% to 9.2x (from 9.6x). During Q2 19, most changes in representative index sectors are the Industrial Goods & Services (+8%), Technology (+5%), Media (-4%), Construction (-6%), Retail (-3%).