StatPro has acquired the regulatory risk services bureau from ODDO BHF for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition significantly broadens the group’s managed-services capabilities in risk and creates cross-selling opportunities. Our EPS rises by 3% in FY18 and FY19; we believe the deal demonstrates how StatPro can add value for shareholders through bolt-on acquisitions. Given the busy M&A backdrop in financial software and the significant valuation disparity between StatPro and its US-listed financial software peers, we continue to see strong upside potential in the shares.
Written by
StatPro Group |
Broadening managed-services capabilities for risk |
Acquisition |
Software & comp services |
5 July 2018 |
Share price performance
Business description
Next events
Analysts
StatPro Group is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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StatPro has acquired the regulatory risk services bureau from ODDO BHF for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition significantly broadens the group’s managed-services capabilities in risk and creates cross-selling opportunities. Our EPS rises by 3% in FY18 and FY19; we believe the deal demonstrates how StatPro can add value for shareholders through bolt-on acquisitions. Given the busy M&A backdrop in financial software and the significant valuation disparity between StatPro and its US-listed financial software peers, we continue to see strong upside potential in the shares.
Year |
Revenue (£m) |
PBT* |
EPS* |
DPS |
P/E |
Yield |
12/16 |
37.5 |
2.7 |
3.3 |
2.9 |
51.4 |
1.7 |
12/17 |
49.3 |
3.4 |
5.9 |
2.9 |
28.9 |
1.7 |
12/18e |
57.3 |
5.4 |
7.0 |
2.9 |
24.7 |
1.7 |
12/19e |
60.1 |
6.4 |
8.0 |
2.9 |
21.5 |
1.7 |
Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.
Acquisition of regulatory risk services bureau
The acquisition of the regulatory risk services bureau from ODDO BHF adds a full managed service for regulatory risk reporting capability, and StatPro will transition the clients from a legacy technology to the Revolution platform. It also adds 10 new asset management and fund administration clients to StatPro's client base in Germany and Luxembourg. The service will be marketed throughout the EU.
Divisional CEO appointed for Source: StatPro
In March StatPro announced it was introducing a new corporate structure that will be effective from 2019: Revolution (analytics), Source: StatPro (data services) and Infovest (integration services). StatPro has announced the appointment of Gordon Bloor, who has a wealth of expertise and extensive background in market data business development, to head the group’s Source: StatPro division. StatPro has significant data IP that has not been effectively commercialised due to lack of resources, and we view this appointment as a very positive step.
Forecast changes: FY19 EPS rise by 3%
We have incorporated the acquisition into our forecasts and have assumed a cost of £1.7m, or c 7x EBITDA. Group revenue and EPS both rise by c 3% in each of FY19 and FY20. We now forecast the group to end FY18 with net debt of £22.7m (previously £21.0m), which falls to £20.6m at end FY19 (£19.7m).
Valuation: Highly scalable cloud computing upside
StatPro’s stock trades on c 25x our increased FY18 EPS, which falls to c 21x in FY19 and to c 19x in FY20. Alternatively, the shares trade on c 2.3x FY19 EV/sales, around half of the level of StatPro’s larger US peers and well below half of US-based pure software as a service (SaaS) companies. When incorporating 10-year organic revenue growth of c 3.8%, a terminal growth of 2%, a long-term margin target of 24.0% and a WACC of 9%, our DCF model values the shares at 223p (previously 220p), c 31% above the current share price.
Acquisition of regulatory risk services bureau from ODDO BHF
StatPro has acquired ODDO BHF’s regulatory risk services bureau, for an undisclosed cash sum. The acquisition adds a full managed service for regulatory risk reporting with the unit producing AIMFD reports, UCITS reports, liquidity reports, liquidity risk reports and Solvency 2 reports. To this effect the unit uses a legacy technology that will transition to the StatPro Revolution platform over the next six months.
StatPro’s clients have the option of taking either the SaaS option or using StatPro's new managed service. However, to use the SaaS option, clients require headcount to operate the software and it is typically more cost effective for small and medium-sized institutions to outsource this function to specialists (eg, fund administrators or StatPro) to focus on analysis and trade decision making and execution.
The unit has operated in the Germany and Luxembourg markets for more than a decade and it has 10 asset management and fund administration clients. Once the software replacement is completed, StatPro plans to expand the service to other regions. StatPro will take on the employees of ODDO BHF risk services in Frankfurt, where they will be integrated with StatPro's existing operations and StatPro plans to double the size of the unit to six to eight people.
ODDO BHF risk services has annualised recurring revenues of approximately €1.7m and StatPro expects annual revenue levels for the acquired service to remain broadly similar for 2018. It will incorporate ODDO BHF Risk Service revenues from 1 July 2018 and StatPro says the acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in FY19.
Appointment of divisional CEO at Source: StatPro
From 1 January 2019, StatPro will be structured into three divisions: Revolution (analytics), Source: StatPro (data services) and Infovest (integration services). This structure will make the operations of the business clearer, provide distinct divisional management focus and enable growth in each division based on specific divisional priorities.
Source: StatPro provides a sophisticated pricing service for a wide range of assets and will contain StatPro's data revenues from market data managed services, evaluated bond prices, index services, yield-curves and complex asset pricing.
The interesting aspect about Source: StatPro is that it has significant data IP that has not been effectively commercialised due to lack of resources, as the group has been focused on its cloud transitioning. The initial focus is on the following areas:
■
Evaluated bond prices
■
Index services
•
Managing index data for customers, whereby customers pay the licence to the index firms, but StatPro manages the data
•
Freedom index, which is a series of indices owned by StatPro that correlate closely to the major international benchmarks of the UK, US, Australia and South Africa
■
Yield curves; a major strength of the acquired Delta business
■
Complex asset prices; StatPro offers modelled prices on complex illiquid instruments such as collateralised debt obligations (CDOs).
Forecast changes: Revenue and EPS move up by c 3%
We have incorporated the acquisition into our forecasts and have assumed a purchase price of £1.7m in cash, or c 7x EBITDA, in line with the multiple paid for UBS Delta. We forecast revenues from the acquisition of £0.8m for six months in FY18, rising to £1.6m in FY19 and £1.7m in FY20. Consequently, group revenue rises by 1.3% in FY18 and 2.8% in FY19 and FY20. We have edged up our net interest forecasts for the higher net debt levels and EPS is broadly unchanged in FY18 at 7.0p, while rising by 3% in each of FY19 and FY20 to 8.0p and 9.1p respectively. We now forecast the group to end FY18 with net debt of £22.7m (previously £21.0m), which falls to £20.6m at end FY19 (£19.7m).
Exhibit 1: Forecast changes
£000s |
2018e |
Change |
2019e |
Change |
2020e |
Change |
|||
Old |
New |
(%) |
Old |
New |
(%) |
Old |
New |
(%) |
|
Revenues |
|||||||||
Traditional software rental |
17,580 |
17,580 |
0.0 |
15,580 |
15,580 |
0.0 |
13,580 |
13,580 |
0.0 |
StatPro Revolution |
32,708 |
33,459 |
2.3 |
36,440 |
38,054 |
4.4 |
40,821 |
42,549 |
4.2 |
Data |
4,151 |
4,151 |
0.0 |
4,359 |
4,359 |
0.0 |
4,555 |
4,555 |
0.0 |
Professional services |
2,060 |
2,060 |
0.0 |
2,102 |
2,102 |
0.0 |
2,144 |
2,144 |
0.0 |
Group revenue |
56,500 |
57,251 |
1.3 |
58,480 |
60,095 |
2.8 |
61,100 |
62,828 |
2.8 |
Growth (%) |
14.5 |
16.0 |
3.5 |
5.0 |
4.5 |
4.5 |
|||
Opex (before devt costs depn) |
(48,771) |
(49,446) |
1.4 |
(49,835) |
(51,230) |
2.8 |
(51,435) |
(52,879) |
2.8 |
Capitalisation of dev costs (net) |
938 |
938 |
0.0 |
610 |
647 |
6.1 |
485 |
506 |
4.4 |
Adjusted EBITDA |
8,666 |
8,743 |
0.9 |
9,255 |
9,511 |
2.8 |
10,149 |
10,455 |
3.0 |
Depreciation |
(1,900) |
(1,925) |
1.3 |
(1,850) |
(1,869) |
1.0 |
(1,800) |
(1,813) |
0.7 |
Adjusted operating profit |
6,766 |
6,818 |
0.8 |
7,405 |
7,643 |
3.2 |
8,349 |
8,642 |
3.5 |
Operating margin (%) |
12.0 |
11.9 |
(0.6) |
12.7 |
12.7 |
0.4 |
13.7 |
13.8 |
0.7 |
Growth (%) |
34.5 |
35.5 |
2.9 |
9.4 |
12.1 |
28.2 |
12.8 |
13.1 |
2.5 |
Net interest |
(1,396) |
(1,439) |
3.0 |
(1,221) |
(1,264) |
3.5 |
(1,071) |
(1,114) |
4.0 |
Profit before tax (norm) |
5,370 |
5,379 |
0.2 |
6,184 |
6,379 |
3.2 |
7,278 |
7,528 |
3.4 |
Amortisation of acquired intangibles |
(3,243) |
(3,243) |
0.0 |
(3,243) |
(3,243) |
0.0 |
(3,243) |
(3,243) |
0.0 |
Share based payments |
(650) |
(650) |
0.0 |
(675) |
(675) |
0.0 |
(700) |
(700) |
0.0 |
Profit before tax |
1,477 |
1,486 |
0.6 |
2,266 |
2,461 |
8.6 |
3,335 |
3,585 |
7.5 |
Taxation |
(752) |
(753) |
0.2 |
(1,051) |
(1,084) |
3.2 |
(1,456) |
(1,506) |
3.4 |
Minority interest |
(40) |
(40) |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
Net income |
685 |
693 |
1.1 |
1,215 |
1,377 |
13.3 |
1,880 |
2,080 |
10.6 |
Adjusted EPS (p) |
7.0 |
7.0 |
0.2 |
7.8 |
8.0 |
3.2 |
8.8 |
9.1 |
3.4 |
P/E - Adjusted EPS (p) |
24.7 |
21.5 |
18.9 |
||||||
Source: Edison Investment Research
Exhibit 2: Financial summary
£'000s |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018e |
2019e |
2020e |
||
Year end 31 December |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
||
PROFIT & LOSS |
||||||||
Revenue |
|
|
30,187 |
37,545 |
49,337 |
57,251 |
60,095 |
62,828 |
Cost of Sales |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Gross Profit |
30,187 |
37,545 |
49,337 |
57,251 |
60,095 |
62,828 |
||
EBITDA |
|
|
4,044 |
5,104 |
6,951 |
8,743 |
9,511 |
10,455 |
Adjusted Operating Profit |
|
|
2,852 |
3,461 |
5,030 |
6,818 |
7,643 |
8,642 |
Amortisation of acquired intangibles |
(32) |
(1,060) |
(2,243) |
(3,243) |
(3,243) |
(3,243) |
||
Exceptionals |
0 |
(11,378) |
(3,934) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Share based payments |
(121) |
(361) |
(626) |
(650) |
(675) |
(700) |
||
Operating Profit |
2,699 |
(9,338) |
(1,773) |
2,925 |
3,725 |
4,699 |
||
Net Interest |
(290) |
(786) |
(1,585) |
(1,439) |
(1,264) |
(1,114) |
||
Profit Before Tax (norm) |
|
|
2,562 |
2,675 |
3,445 |
5,379 |
6,379 |
7,528 |
Profit Before Tax (FRS 3) |
|
|
2,409 |
(10,124) |
(3,358) |
1,486 |
2,461 |
3,585 |
Tax |
(788) |
(489) |
537 |
(753) |
(1,084) |
(1,506) |
||
Profit After Tax (norm) |
1,774 |
2,843 |
4,592 |
4,626 |
5,295 |
6,023 |
||
Profit After Tax (FRS 3) |
1,621 |
(10,613) |
(2,821) |
733 |
1,377 |
2,080 |
||
Minority interests |
0 |
(94) |
(131) |
(40) |
0 |
0 |
||
Net income (norm) |
1,774 |
2,186 |
3,851 |
4,586 |
5,295 |
6,023 |
||
Net income (statutory) |
1,621 |
(10,707) |
(2,952) |
693 |
1,377 |
2,080 |
||
Average Number of Shares Outstanding (m) |
67.6 |
65.3 |
64.8 |
65.7 |
66.0 |
66.3 |
||
EPS - normalised (p) |
|
|
2.6 |
3.3 |
5.9 |
7.0 |
8.0 |
9.1 |
EPS - FRS 3 (p) |
|
|
2.4 |
(16.4) |
(4.6) |
1.1 |
2.1 |
3.1 |
Dividend per share (p) |
2.90 |
2.90 |
2.90 |
2.90 |
2.90 |
2.90 |
||
Gross Margin (%) |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
||
EBITDA Margin (%) |
13.4 |
13.6 |
14.1 |
15.3 |
15.8 |
16.6 |
||
Operating Margin (before GW & except.) (%) |
9.4 |
9.2 |
10.2 |
11.9 |
12.7 |
13.8 |
||
BALANCE SHEET |
||||||||
Fixed Assets |
|
|
51,857 |
59,088 |
70,864 |
68,974 |
67,106 |
65,235 |
Intangible Assets |
48,613 |
55,696 |
64,793 |
63,282 |
61,480 |
59,537 |
||
Tangible Assets |
2,233 |
2,742 |
3,303 |
2,924 |
2,858 |
2,930 |
||
Other assets |
1,011 |
650 |
2,768 |
2,768 |
2,768 |
2,768 |
||
Current Assets |
|
|
10,665 |
19,081 |
20,717 |
20,190 |
22,501 |
24,765 |
Stocks |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Debtors |
8,462 |
14,725 |
16,406 |
19,038 |
19,983 |
20,892 |
||
Cash |
2,203 |
4,356 |
4,311 |
1,153 |
2,518 |
3,873 |
||
Current Liabilities |
|
|
(19,778) |
(35,686) |
(40,011) |
(43,264) |
(45,458) |
(47,662) |
Creditors |
(19,660) |
(27,227) |
(32,560) |
(35,813) |
(38,007) |
(40,211) |
||
Short term borrowings |
(118) |
(8,459) |
(7,451) |
(7,451) |
(7,451) |
(7,451) |
||
Long Term Liabilities |
|
|
(1,227) |
(9,897) |
(22,416) |
(21,717) |
(18,790) |
(15,864) |
Long term borrowings |
(801) |
(5,961) |
(17,076) |
(16,377) |
(15,677) |
(14,978) |
||
Other long term liabilities |
(426) |
(3,936) |
(5,340) |
(5,340) |
(3,113) |
(886) |
||
Net Assets |
|
|
41,517 |
32,586 |
29,154 |
24,184 |
25,358 |
26,474 |
CASH FLOW |
||||||||
Operating Cash Flow |
|
|
6,548 |
7,454 |
10,676 |
14,659 |
15,782 |
17,170 |
Net Interest |
(84) |
(500) |
(1,227) |
(1,439) |
(1,264) |
(1,114) |
||
Tax |
(832) |
(1,294) |
(144) |
(1,253) |
(699) |
(1,021) |
||
Capex |
(4,999) |
(6,445) |
(7,213) |
(8,114) |
(8,419) |
(8,793) |
||
Acquisitions/disposals |
0 |
(4,786) |
(10,269) |
(4,431) |
(1,429) |
(2,274) |
||
Equity financing |
64 |
(2,079) |
926 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Dividends |
(1,960) |
(1,877) |
(2,012) |
(1,879) |
(1,907) |
(1,915) |
||
Net Cash Flow |
(1,263) |
(9,527) |
(9,263) |
(2,458) |
2,064 |
2,055 |
||
Opening net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(2,680) |
(1,283) |
10,065 |
20,217 |
22,675 |
20,610 |
Other |
(134) |
(1,821) |
(889) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Closing net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(1,283) |
10,065 |
20,217 |
22,675 |
20,610 |
18,556 |
Source: Company accounts, Edison Investment Research
|
|
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