When investing in an expert company, investors always fear that all added value will flow to the experts instead of the owners. Inderes has a reputation as a conservatively investing dividend stalwart, so dilution must be particularly sensitive. If this were an unlisted tech growth company, there would certainly be no problem giving away large portions of the company to achieve growth.
In my opinion, there is also a big communication challenge. Generous financial commitment is needed from key employees who might not necessarily want to work for the company or work at the pace required by rapid growth. Inderes has a reputation as a good workplace where experts want to work. Now, on top of everything else, there is historical unemployment among academics, so the talent struggle is not particularly heated in general. Why on earth, then, should people already committed to Inderes be further committed with a loose incentive program?
To achieve the current target level, one may not even need to do anything. It is enough for the general market to recover from this exceptional small-cap downturn, and the share price will have automatically doubled without any added value being created. Usually, such programs continue, so the dilution effect is continuous and long-term from the shareholder’s perspective, making it advisable to divest from the stock well in advance of the next market crash when an upturn occurs.