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Research: TMT
Boku has accelerated its move into products adjacent to its carrier billing services – it had already started developing mobile identity verification services, and the acquisition of US-based Danal will add a fully formed business in this field and bring a new set of customers. Boku is paying mainly share-based initial consideration of $37.2m, with up to a further $64m payable in equity if ambitious revenue targets for FY19 are achieved. While initially dilutive, the deal broadens the company’s product portfolio and expands the types of merchants it can serve, supporting Boku’s growth prospects in the medium- to long-term.
Boku |
Accelerating mobile identity offering |
Acquisition update |
Software & comp services |
7 December 2018 |
Share price performance
Business description
Next event
Analysts
Boku is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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Boku has accelerated its move into products adjacent to its carrier billing services – it had already started developing mobile identity verification services, and the acquisition of US-based Danal will add a fully formed business in this field and bring a new set of customers. Boku is paying mainly share-based initial consideration of $37.2m, with up to a further $64m payable in equity if ambitious revenue targets for FY19 are achieved. While initially dilutive, the deal broadens the company’s product portfolio and expands the types of merchants it can serve, supporting Boku’s growth prospects in the medium- to long-term.
Year |
Revenue ($m) |
EBITDA* |
EPS* |
DPS |
P/E |
EV/EBITDA |
12/17 |
24.4 |
(2.3) |
(0.03) |
0.0 |
N/A |
N/A |
12/18e |
34.8 |
5.4 |
0.01 |
0.0 |
89.7 |
36.5 |
12/19e |
52.0 |
6.7 |
0.01 |
0.0 |
67.7 |
29.7 |
12/20e |
67.9 |
19.1 |
0.05 |
0.0 |
18.4 |
10.3 |
Note: *EBITDA and EPS (diluted) are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.
Buying a US-based mobile ID verification business
Danal sells mobile ID verification services to a mainly US customer base, using its connections to North American mobile carriers. Danal’s carrier connections could boost Boku’s direct carrier billing business, which has not been particularly strong in the US. Boku can also bring to Danal its many carrier connections in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, to help it to globalise its offering. Boku will be able to broaden its merchant base from purely digital content to a range of different verticals.
Initial consideration equates to 10.7% dilution
Boku is paying initial consideration of 26.7m shares (10.7% dilution), $1m in cash and $3m in warrants (at £1.41) to acquire a business generating annual revenues of c $5m and an EBITDA loss of c $5m. Deferred consideration of up to $64m is payable if revenues reach at least $10m in FY19; the maximum is only payable if revenues reach $20m, which we believe is unlikely to happen. We have revised our forecasts to incorporate Danal from 31 December. This results in a reduction in EBITDA of 42.5% in FY19e and flat EBITDA in FY20e, with an EPS cut of 55% in FY19e and 10% in FY20e.
Valuation: Negative reaction overdone
In the past two months, the share price has seen a significant pullback, depressed by general equity market weakness, especially for highly rated US tech stocks (many of whom are Boku customers), as well as increasing liquidity as IPO lock-ups have expired. The stock declined more than 20% on the announcement of yesterday’s deal. On our new forecasts incorporating Danal, valuation multiples are forecast to fall to modest levels by FY20e, which, in our view, is not reflective of the long-term growth opportunity for Boku.
Acquisition of Danal
Boku has announced that it is planning to acquire Danal Inc, a US-based provider of mobile identity verification services.
Background on Danal
Danal was established in 2008 in San Jose, US. The company has 35 employees mostly based in San Jose. Until 2016, Danal operated a direct carrier billing business called BilltoMobile, which it sold to Bango. The remaining business provides the following services:
Exhibit 1: Danal products
Product |
Detail |
eKYC |
Uses data matching/cleansing, video and biometrics capabilities to help perform online know-your-customer or anti-money laundering checks |
Instant acquisition |
Obtain verified profile data from Danal to sign up new customers |
Phone verification |
Seamlessly verify a user's phone number in an app during sign-ups, log-ins and high-value transactions |
Fraud prevention |
Use data matching, account baselining, phone identification and proactive monitoring to prevent fraud |
TCPA |
Meet Telecom Consumer Protection Act requirements by using Danal's list cleansing and maintenance service, to ensure only legitimate customer numbers are held |
Product |
eKYC |
Instant acquisition |
Phone verification |
Fraud prevention |
TCPA |
Detail |
Uses data matching/cleansing, video and biometrics capabilities to help perform online know-your-customer or anti-money laundering checks |
Obtain verified profile data from Danal to sign up new customers |
Seamlessly verify a user's phone number in an app during sign-ups, log-ins and high-value transactions |
Use data matching, account baselining, phone identification and proactive monitoring to prevent fraud |
Meet Telecom Consumer Protection Act requirements by using Danal's list cleansing and maintenance service, to ensure only legitimate customer numbers are held |
Source: Danal
Danal has connections to US, Canadian, UK, French and Spanish carriers.
Exhibit 2: Danal carrier connections
Country |
Carrier |
US |
AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon |
Canada |
Bell, Rogers, Telus, Virgin |
UK |
3, EE, Telefonica, Vodafone |
France |
Bouygues, Orange |
Spain |
Orange, Telefonica, Vodafone |
Country |
US |
Canada |
UK |
France |
Spain |
Carrier |
AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon |
Bell, Rogers, Telus, Virgin |
3, EE, Telefonica, Vodafone |
Bouygues, Orange |
Orange, Telefonica, Vodafone |
Source: Boku
In terms of business model, Danal charges a per-transaction fee to the merchant (its website quotes a list price of 4c per transaction, before any volume-based contracts are taken into account), and then pays away a revenue share to the carrier.
In 2017, Danal generated revenues of $5.1m and an EBITDA loss of $5.2m. The company commented that revenues and EBITDA were likely to be at a similar level in FY18. Gross margins are currently close to 30%; however, some carriers have minimum revenue guarantees in place so as volumes ramp this should result in gross margin expansion, with a level of 50% achievable, according to management.
Strategic rationale – new products, new customers, new countries
Boku has previously outlined plans to develop new services that make use of its network of carrier connections, including the development of Boku Identity services. Acquiring Danal will bring Boku a fully formed mobile ID verification service with a customer base that includes MoneyGram, Square, PayPal, BNP Paribas, Western Union and USAA, and channel partners including Fiserv, Experian (also a shareholder), neustar and TransUnion. Danal has strong connections to US carriers, which Boku could leverage in its carrier billing services (the US has not traditionally been an area of strength for Boku); in addition, Boku can bring the strength of its network of carrier connections to Danal to broaden its geographic reach.
Danal’s business expands the type of merchants that Boku can service, from digital content to a wide range of verticals such as general e-commerce, financial services, transportation and government.
Management noted that Danal’s selling shareholders include various trade investors as well as the parent company in Korea, Danal Co, with differing objectives and views on what the company should be doing. In addition, the company has been loss-making and has not had a high level of cash with which to grow the business, which goes some way to explaining the modest level of revenues and revenue growth that the business has achieved in recent years. Management’s view is that its strategic focus and ability to invest should enable it to grow Danal’s business substantially from the current level.
Deal structure
While the acquisition agreement was signed yesterday, the deal is expected to complete at the end of FY18; the deal requires approval from Danal shareholders. Boku is paying initial consideration worth c $37.2m, on a debt-free/cash-free basis, made up of three elements:
■
26.7m shares (10.7% dilution). At Wednesday’s closing price of 98p, these are worth $33.2m. At the current level of 75.5p, they are worth $25.6m.
■
$1m in cash.
■
$3m in warrants with a £1.41 exercise price, exercisable for five years.
The company will also pay contingent consideration of up to $64m, in the form of shares worth $62m and warrants worth $2m (with an exercise price of £1.45 and five-year exercise period), subject to Danal hitting challenging revenue targets in FY19. To be eligible to earn the contingent consideration, Danal must generate revenues of at least $10m in FY19; the consideration is stepped up according to revenue bands. The shares will be issued at a minimum/maximum price of £1.20/£1.70, equating to the potential issue of 28.7–40.7m shares (or 10.3–14.0% dilution based on the post-acquisition share count) if the maximum revenue target of $20m is hit. The company has the option to pay the consideration in cash.
The selling shareholders have agreed to a lock-up on their Boku shares of six months for 50% and 12 months for the remaining 50%, bar $2m-worth of shares, which are subject to an orderly market arrangement.
Based on initial consideration alone, Boku is paying 6.5x FY17 revenues based on Wednesday’s closing price, or 5.8x at the 75.5p the share is now trading at. This compares to Boku trading at 10.7x FY17 and 7.5x FY18 revenues at Wednesday’s closing price, or 8.1x and 5.7x, respectively, at 75.5p per share.
If the maximum revenue target of $20m were achieved in FY19, this would equate to an EV/sales multiple of 4.9x FY19e revenues, compared to a pre-deal multiple of 6.2x for Boku.
Integration plans
The company intends to retain all Danal employees and expects to increase investment in the business to strengthen sales and marketing and to fund engineering resources to expand carrier connections and develop higher margin products.
Trading update – Boku trading in line year-to-date
Boku updated various KPIs for the 10 months to 31 October:
■
Total payment volume (TPV) of $2.8bn (+124% y-o-y). This compares to TPV of $1.54bn in H118 and our forecast of $3.55bn for FY18.
■
Monthly active users of 12.2m (+83% y-o-y) at the end of October, up from 10.3m at the end of H118.
The number of Boku Account connections to merchants increased to 155, from 127 at the end of H118. We note that the Apple carrier billing website lists 17 additional carriers in 14 countries compared to the last time we wrote in September. This includes entry into new countries such as Bahrain, Cambodia and Luxembourg.
Changes to forecasts
Based on the trading update, we make no changes to our underlying forecasts. We have revised our forecasts to incorporate the Danal acquisition from 31 December. Management expects the acquisition to be earnings-dilutive in FY19, with improving performance in FY20 and earnings accretion from FY21.
We assume that Boku is able to accelerate Danal’s revenues to $10m in FY19 and $18m in FY20, at gross margins of 41% in FY19 and 50% in FY20. We assume a step-up in operating costs in FY19 to $9m, remaining flat in FY20. As the company has not specified exactly how the deferred consideration is paid out between the $10–20m revenue targets for FY19; we have not factored in any dilution. Management commented that at the $10m revenue level, the deferred consideration would be minimal and could be paid out in cash to avoid dilution.
The table below summarises the changes to our forecasts.
Exhibit 3: Changes to estimates
$m |
FY18e |
FY19e |
FY20e |
||||||||||
Old |
New |
Change |
y-o-y |
Old |
New |
Change |
y-o-y |
Old |
New |
Change |
y-o-y |
||
Revenues |
34.8 |
34.8 |
0.0% |
42.6% |
42.0 |
52.0 |
23.8% |
49.2% |
49.9 |
67.9 |
36.1% |
30.6% |
|
Gross profit |
32.2 |
32.2 |
0.0% |
45.3% |
39.2 |
43.3 |
10.3% |
34.5% |
46.9 |
55.9 |
19.2% |
29.1% |
|
Gross margin |
92.4% |
92.4% |
0.0% |
1.7% |
93.5% |
83.3% |
-10.2% |
-9.1% |
94.0% |
82.3% |
-11.7% |
-1.0% |
|
EBITDA |
5.4 |
5.4 |
0.0% |
333.7% |
11.6 |
6.7 |
-42.5% |
23.2% |
19.1 |
19.1 |
0.0% |
186.7% |
|
EBITDA margin |
15.6% |
15.6% |
0.0% |
25.1% |
27.7% |
12.8% |
-53.6% |
-2.7% |
38.4% |
28.2% |
-26.5% |
15.3% |
|
Normalised operating profit |
4.0 |
4.0 |
0.0% |
199.7% |
10.4 |
5.5 |
-47.5% |
35.9% |
18.7 |
18.7 |
0.0% |
242.0% |
|
Normalised operating profit margin |
11.5% |
11.5% |
0.0% |
28.0% |
24.8% |
10.5% |
-14.3% |
-1.0% |
37.4% |
27.5% |
-9.9% |
17.0% |
|
Reported operating profit |
-0.2 |
(0.2) |
0.0% |
97.5% |
7.1 |
2.2 |
-69.5% |
-1129.8% |
16.0 |
16.0 |
0.0% |
638.2% |
|
Reported operating margin |
-0.6% |
-0.6% |
0.0% |
33.9% |
16.9% |
4.2% |
-12.8% |
4.8% |
32.1% |
23.6% |
-8.5% |
19.4% |
|
Normalised PBT |
3.2 |
3.2 |
0.0% |
150.1% |
9.8 |
4.9 |
-50.2% |
51.6% |
18.1 |
18.1 |
0.0% |
269.7% |
|
Reported PBT |
-1.0 |
(1.0) |
0.0% |
96.4% |
6.5 |
1.6 |
-75.4% |
-261.6% |
15.4 |
15.4 |
0.0% |
860.5% |
|
Normalised net income |
2.6 |
2.6 |
0.0% |
153.3% |
7.8 |
3.9 |
-50.2% |
50.0% |
14.3 |
14.3 |
0.0% |
269.7% |
|
Reported net income |
(1.1) |
(1.1) |
0.0% |
96.1% |
6.2 |
1.5 |
-75.4% |
-238.9% |
13.9 |
13.9 |
0.0% |
809.9% |
|
Normalised basic EPS ($) |
0.01 |
0.01 |
0.0% |
137.0% |
0.03 |
0.02 |
-55.5% |
29.3% |
0.06 |
0.06 |
-10.5% |
266.2% |
|
Normalised diluted EPS ($) |
0.01 |
0.01 |
-0.7% |
133.2% |
0.03 |
0.01 |
-55.1% |
32.5% |
0.06 |
0.05 |
-9.8% |
268.6% |
|
Reported basic EPS ($) |
(0.01) |
(0.01) |
0.0% |
97.3% |
0.03 |
0.01 |
-78.1% |
-219.7% |
0.06 |
0.05 |
-10.5% |
801.4% |
|
Net debt/(cash) |
(20.2) |
(19.2) |
-5.0% |
18.1% |
(30.2) |
(29.1) |
-3.7% |
52.1% |
(47.6) |
(47.5) |
-0.2% |
63.0% |
|
TPV ($bn) |
3.55 |
3.55 |
0.0% |
108.5% |
4.96 |
4.96 |
0.0% |
39.9% |
6.39 |
6.39 |
0.0% |
28.7% |
|
Take rate |
0.98% |
0.98% |
0.00% |
0.85% |
0.85% |
0.00% |
0.78% |
0.78% |
0.00% |
||||
Source: Edison Investment Research
Exhibit 4: Financial summary
$m |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018e |
2019e |
2020e |
2021e |
||
31-December |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
||
INCOME STATEMENT |
||||||||||
Revenue |
|
|
18.3 |
19.2 |
17.2 |
24.4 |
34.8 |
52.0 |
67.9 |
79.1 |
Cost of Sales |
(4.1) |
(4.0) |
(3.2) |
(2.3) |
(2.6) |
(8.7) |
(12.0) |
(14.6) |
||
Gross Profit |
14.2 |
15.2 |
14.0 |
22.1 |
32.2 |
43.3 |
55.9 |
64.4 |
||
EBITDA |
|
|
(9.6) |
(11.4) |
(12.3) |
(2.3) |
5.4 |
6.7 |
19.1 |
26.9 |
Normalised operating profit |
|
|
(9.8) |
(12.4) |
(13.8) |
(4.0) |
4.0 |
5.5 |
18.7 |
26.4 |
Amortisation of acquired intangibles |
(0.8) |
(1.9) |
(1.7) |
(1.3) |
(1.3) |
(1.3) |
(1.3) |
(1.3) |
||
Exceptionals |
(2.1) |
(0.1) |
(2.4) |
(2.2) |
(0.5) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Share-based payments |
(1.7) |
(1.8) |
(2.1) |
(0.9) |
(2.4) |
(2.0) |
(1.4) |
(1.4) |
||
Reported operating profit |
(14.4) |
(16.2) |
(19.9) |
(8.4) |
(0.2) |
2.2 |
16.0 |
23.7 |
||
Net Interest |
(0.6) |
(0.4) |
(1.2) |
(2.4) |
(0.8) |
(0.6) |
(0.6) |
(0.6) |
||
Joint ventures & associates (post tax) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Exceptionals |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
(17.1) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Profit Before Tax (norm) |
|
|
(10.4) |
(12.8) |
(15.0) |
(6.4) |
3.2 |
4.9 |
18.1 |
25.8 |
Profit Before Tax (reported) |
|
|
(15.0) |
(16.6) |
(21.1) |
(28.0) |
(1.0) |
1.6 |
15.4 |
23.2 |
Reported tax |
(0.4) |
(0.4) |
0.5 |
(0.1) |
(0.1) |
(0.1) |
(1.5) |
(3.5) |
||
Profit After Tax (norm) |
(7.8) |
(9.6) |
(11.2) |
(4.8) |
2.6 |
3.9 |
14.3 |
20.4 |
||
Profit After Tax (reported) |
(15.4) |
(17.0) |
(20.6) |
(28.1) |
(1.1) |
1.5 |
13.9 |
19.7 |
||
Minority interests |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Discontinued operations |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Net income (normalised) |
(7.8) |
(9.6) |
(11.2) |
(4.8) |
2.6 |
3.9 |
14.3 |
20.4 |
||
Net income (reported) |
(15.4) |
(17.0) |
(20.6) |
(28.1) |
(1.1) |
1.5 |
13.9 |
19.7 |
||
Basic average number of shares outstanding (m) |
21.3 |
27.4 |
140.1 |
150.3 |
216.5 |
251.2 |
253.5 |
254.3 |
||
EPS - basic normalised ($) |
|
|
(0.36) |
(0.35) |
(0.08) |
(0.03) |
0.01 |
0.02 |
0.06 |
0.08 |
EPS - diluted normalised ($) |
|
|
(0.36) |
(0.35) |
(0.08) |
(0.03) |
0.01 |
0.01 |
0.05 |
0.07 |
EPS - basic reported ($) |
|
|
(0.72) |
(0.62) |
(0.15) |
(0.19) |
(0.01) |
0.01 |
0.05 |
0.08 |
Dividend ($) |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
||
Revenue growth (%) |
#DIV/0! |
4.7 |
(10.4) |
42.0 |
42.6 |
49.2 |
30.6 |
16.5 |
||
Gross Margin (%) |
77.6 |
79.1 |
81.4 |
90.7 |
92.4 |
83.3 |
82.3 |
81.5 |
||
EBITDA Margin (%) |
(52.5) |
(59.2) |
(71.4) |
(9.5) |
15.6 |
12.8 |
28.2 |
34.0 |
||
Normalised Operating Margin |
(53.2) |
(64.4) |
(80.0) |
(16.5) |
11.5 |
10.5 |
27.5 |
33.4 |
||
BALANCE SHEET |
||||||||||
Fixed Assets |
|
|
32.7 |
30.8 |
26.8 |
26.9 |
62.3 |
60.7 |
58.7 |
55.1 |
Intangible Assets |
32.5 |
30.1 |
25.7 |
25.8 |
60.8 |
58.8 |
57.6 |
56.3 |
||
Tangible Assets |
0.2 |
0.7 |
0.5 |
0.4 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.7 |
0.8 |
||
Investments & other |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.6 |
0.7 |
1.0 |
1.3 |
0.5 |
(2.0) |
||
Current Assets |
|
|
72.5 |
53.0 |
48.9 |
79.3 |
87.9 |
111.0 |
142.6 |
178.1 |
Stocks |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Debtors |
59.7 |
43.3 |
37.1 |
59.1 |
64.8 |
77.9 |
91.2 |
100.7 |
||
Cash & cash equivalents |
12.0 |
9.0 |
11.3 |
18.7 |
21.7 |
31.6 |
50.0 |
75.9 |
||
Other |
0.7 |
0.6 |
0.5 |
1.4 |
1.4 |
1.4 |
1.4 |
1.4 |
||
Current Liabilities |
|
|
(69.6) |
(65.5) |
(61.0) |
(77.5) |
(85.0) |
(103.7) |
(118.4) |
(129.2) |
Creditors |
(64.6) |
(60.4) |
(54.9) |
(75.0) |
(82.5) |
(101.2) |
(115.9) |
(126.7) |
||
Tax and social security |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Short term borrowings |
(5.0) |
(5.1) |
(6.1) |
(2.5) |
(2.5) |
(2.5) |
(2.5) |
(2.5) |
||
Other |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
(0.0) |
(0.0) |
(0.0) |
(0.0) |
(0.0) |
||
Long Term Liabilities |
|
|
0.0 |
(0.3) |
(15.2) |
(0.1) |
(0.1) |
(0.1) |
(0.1) |
(0.1) |
Long term borrowings |
0.0 |
(0.2) |
(15.1) |
(0.0) |
(0.0) |
(0.0) |
(0.0) |
(0.0) |
||
Other long term liabilities |
0.0 |
(0.1) |
(0.1) |
(0.1) |
(0.1) |
(0.1) |
(0.1) |
(0.1) |
||
Net Assets |
|
|
35.5 |
18.0 |
(0.4) |
28.6 |
65.0 |
67.9 |
82.8 |
103.9 |
Minority interests |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Shareholders' equity |
|
|
35.5 |
18.0 |
(0.4) |
28.6 |
65.0 |
67.9 |
82.8 |
103.9 |
CASH FLOW |
||||||||||
Op Cash Flow before WC and tax |
(9.6) |
(11.4) |
(12.3) |
(2.3) |
5.4 |
6.7 |
19.1 |
26.9 |
||
Working capital |
9.3 |
11.6 |
(3.4) |
1.0 |
1.9 |
5.5 |
1.4 |
1.3 |
||
Exceptional & other |
(1.6) |
1.1 |
4.2 |
(5.5) |
(1.6) |
(0.7) |
(0.4) |
0.0 |
||
Tax |
(0.0) |
(0.0) |
(0.0) |
0.0 |
(0.4) |
(0.4) |
(0.7) |
(1.0) |
||
Net operating cash flow |
|
|
(1.9) |
1.3 |
(11.5) |
(6.8) |
5.3 |
11.1 |
19.5 |
27.1 |
Capex |
(1.1) |
(3.6) |
(1.5) |
(0.3) |
(0.5) |
(0.6) |
(0.6) |
(0.6) |
||
Acquisitions/disposals |
5.9 |
0.3 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
(1.0) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Net interest |
(0.3) |
(0.3) |
(0.3) |
(0.9) |
(0.8) |
(0.6) |
(0.6) |
(0.6) |
||
Equity financing |
0.2 |
0.1 |
0.1 |
19.8 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Dividends |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Other |
0.6 |
(0.0) |
0.1 |
(1.1) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Net Cash Flow |
3.3 |
(2.2) |
(13.1) |
10.6 |
2.9 |
10.0 |
18.3 |
26.0 |
||
Opening net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(4.9) |
(7.0) |
(3.6) |
9.9 |
(16.2) |
(19.2) |
(29.1) |
(47.5) |
FX |
(1.2) |
(0.8) |
(0.4) |
0.4 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Other non-cash movements |
0.0 |
(0.4) |
(0.0) |
15.1 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Closing net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(7.0) |
(3.6) |
9.9 |
(16.2) |
(19.2) |
(29.1) |
(47.5) |
(73.4) |
Source: Boku, Edison Investment Research
|
|
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) has announced the acquisition of BoardEx and The Deal for $87.3m in cash from The Street, representing 3.5x FY18 revenues. Completion is expected in early 2019, at which point we will update our forecasts. BoardEx and The Deal fit neatly alongside elements of ERM’s existing specialist information, banking and financial operations, with overlap in the customer base and similarly strong subscription bases and retention rates. Management anticipates the deal will be earnings enhancing in the first year. Net cash at end-September was £78.3m and £20m of disposal proceeds was received in October, leaving plenty of resource for further deals.