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Esker reported another year of double-digit organic revenue growth and confirmed that it expects to achieve similar in FY17. The company’s investment in headcount was higher than we expected and is likely to continue at a similar pace in FY17. While this weighs on our earnings forecasts, it should provide the foundations to support growth on a multi-year basis. Bolt-on acquisitions of businesses with a similar recurring revenue model and complementary technology are likely to accelerate the pace of growth.
Esker |
Investing for sustainable growth |
FY16 results |
Software & comp services |
21 April 2017 |
Share price performance
Business description
Next event
Analysts
Esker is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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Esker reported another year of double-digit organic revenue growth and confirmed that it expects to achieve similar in FY17. The company’s investment in headcount was higher than we expected and is likely to continue at a similar pace in FY17. While this weighs on our earnings forecasts, it should provide the foundations to support growth on a multi-year basis. Bolt-on acquisitions of businesses with a similar recurring revenue model and complementary technology are likely to accelerate the pace of growth.
Year end |
Revenue (€m) |
PBT* |
EPS* |
DPS |
P/E |
Yield |
12/15 |
58.5 |
9.3 |
1.31 |
0.30 |
35.9 |
0.6 |
12/16 |
66.0 |
9.9 |
1.23 |
0.33 |
38.2 |
0.7 |
12/17e |
75.6 |
11.9 |
1.42 |
0.36 |
33.1 |
0.8 |
12/18e |
82.0 |
12.8 |
1.51 |
0.39 |
31.1 |
0.8 |
Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.
FY16: Another strong year
Esker reported FY16 revenue growth of 13% and normalised operating profit growth of 7%. The SaaS business, which now makes up 77% of revenues, continues to show double-digit growth (+20% vs +24% in FY15), and this growth more than outweighs the decline in the Legacy business. During FY16 contracts worth more than €9m were signed (+33% y-o-y), which should contribute to revenues over the next two to three years. Recurring revenues were flat at 79% of total revenues. The company ended FY16 with net cash of €13.7m. Management expects to be able to generate double-digit organic growth in FY17.
Maintaining high levels of investment for growth
Esker increased headcount faster than we expected in FY16 and expects to invest at a similar pace in FY17, before incorporating the recent e-integration acquisition (effective 1 January 2017). This has the effect of reducing our operating margin forecasts. Combined with increasing tax rates, this results in a cut to our FY17 normalised EPS forecast. In addition to investing to drive medium-term organic growth, management continues to seek out bolt-on acquisitions and has a strong cash position to fund this.
Valuation: Reflects strength of SaaS business
On an EV/sales and P/E basis, Esker is trading at a premium to document process automation software companies and French small-cap software companies; in our view this is justified by forecast revenue growth and operating margins that are higher than both groups. In our view, the transition to SaaS is likely to suppress operating margins across the software sector (even after transition costs are taken into account). Esker is ahead of many peers in making this transition and is generating strong growth and margins. The company has recurring revenues of c 80%, which provides a high level of revenue and cash flow predictability.
Review of FY16 results
Exhibit 1: FY16 results highlights
€m |
FY16e |
FY16a |
difference |
y-o-y |
Revenues |
66.0 |
66.0 |
0.0% |
12.9% |
EBITDA |
15.4 |
14.9 |
-3.3% |
10.9% |
EBITDA margin |
23.3% |
22.5% |
-0.8% |
-0.4% |
Normalised EBIT |
10.66 |
9.93 |
-6.8% |
7.3% |
EBIT margin |
16.1% |
15.1% |
-1.1% |
-0.8% |
PBT |
10.9 |
9.9 |
-8.8% |
6.8% |
Normalised net income |
8.2 |
6.8 |
-17.0% |
-1.3% |
Normalised EPS |
1.50 |
1.23 |
-18.1% |
-6.0% |
Reported EPS |
1.49 |
1.23 |
-17.1% |
-5.3% |
Net cash |
14.7 |
13.7 |
-6.7% |
52.4% |
DPS |
0.33 |
0.33 |
0.0% |
10.0% |
Source: Esker, Edison Investment Research
Esker reported revenue growth of 12.9% for FY16 (like-for-like, constant currency +12%), in line with our forecast. EBITDA came in 3% below our forecast due to higher than forecast staff costs – we estimate Esker hired 40 staff during the year, taking average headcount from 350 in FY15 to more than 400 in FY16. The company highlighted that it had hired more R&D staff (+26%), more sales staff (+15%) and more consulting staff (+21%) to ensure continued growth on a medium-term basis. This resulted in a 15.1% EBIT margin, 1pp below the margin generated in FY15. The company reported a small net finance cost compared to our forecast for net interest income (as the company is in a strong net cash position) – this includes FX losses from the UK business since sterling weakened against the euro. The reported tax rate increased from 26% in FY15 to 32% in FY16, as profits were taxed at close to the statutory rate in most geographies – this was a higher rate than we had forecast. Net cash increased 52% y-o-y to reach €13.7m at year-end. The company incurred exceptional costs of €0.2m for office moves in Lyon and Madison, and a further €0.2m for pension provisions.
The company’s joint venture with Neopost saw a 70% increase in volumes over the year. Esker’s share of the results (30%) was €123k for FY16, up from €61k in FY15. The company noted that services provided to the JV generated c 5% of Esker’s revenues.
Business update
DPA business continues strong growth trajectory
Excluding legacy products, Esker grew revenues 16% in FY16. The TermSync business made good progress, contributing revenues of €0.95m in FY16, up from €0.33m in FY15. CalvaEDI showed minimal revenue growth (revenues of €2.5m grew 2% on a pro-forma basis) but generated an operating margin of 48%. SaaS-based revenues grew 20% y-o-y to make up 66% of the total (FY15 63%).
Contracts signed in FY16 support growth over next 2-3 years
In FY16, customers signed contracts worth €9.2m (+33% y-o-y), with an average term of three years. Contracts typically consist of a fixed monthly subscription fee (which includes a minimum volume of documents) plus a per document fee once the minimum volume has been reached. While only a small proportion of the contract value would have been recognised in FY16, all customer acquisition costs were expensed in the year.
Materiality of declining legacy business reducing
Legacy Products declined 19%, to make up only 6.7% of revenues in FY16 (FY15 9.3%). We expect a further decline in the coming years.
Plans for FY17
■
Process: the company continues to work on reducing the time it takes to implement new contracts and reducing the length of the sales cycle. At the same time, it is investing to improve the security, performance and scalability of the SaaS platform.
■
Product: the company plans to launch the TermSync product in France – it has only been available in the US to date. The JV is looking to extend its offering to the US, UK, Belgium and Ireland.
■
M&A: management will focus on integrating the recent e-integration acquisition as well as looking for other appropriate acquisition targets, with a particular focus on the UK.
Outlook and changes to forecasts
The company expects to generate double-digit organic revenue growth in FY17 and expects to generate better growth than in FY16, despite a tough comparison for Legacy Products in H117. The e-integration acquisition completed in February and will be consolidated from 1 January 2017.
Despite the strong revenue growth in recent years, the operating margin has not expanded as fast as it could have done because management has been keen to reinvest to support revenue growth in the longer term. Average headcount has increased from 294 in FY13 to more than 400 in FY16, partly through acquisition but also through a concerted effort to build the R&D team and strengthen customer support and sales and marketing. We expect the company to continue to invest heavily in these parts of the business, which means that operating margins are likely to remain around the 15% level.
We have revised our forecasts to reflect the following:
■
Revenues: we factor in growth in DPA software and services of 12% in FY17 and 10% in FY18 (including the 2015 acquisitions of TermSync and Calva-EDI). We reduce our Legacy Products forecasts by €1.2m to €3.6m in FY17 and assume a further decline to €3.2m in FY18 (to 3.9% of total revenues). This results in organic growth forecasts of 10% in FY17 and 9% in FY18. We also incorporate e-integration, assuming revenues of €3m in FY17 and €3.1m in FY18 (this compares to revenues of €3.2m in 2016).
■
Staff costs: we have factored in an increase in headcount of 68 in FY17 (including 30 staff in Germany for e-integration) and 34 heads in FY18.
■
Tax rate: we have increased our forecast rate from 25% to 33% for FY17 and use 33% for FY18.
■
Normalised EPS: the combination of lower normalised operating profit (due to higher investment in headcount), higher tax and a small increase in the share count (some of the
e-integration initial consideration was settled with equity) results in a cut to our FY17e forecast of 23% (y-o-y growth 15.9%). We forecast EPS growth of 5.9% in FY18.
■
Net cash: the combination of lower EBITDA, higher tax and the cost of acquiring e-integration results in a cut to our year-end FY17 net cash forecast.
Exhibit 2: Changes to forecasts
€m |
FY17e old |
FY17e new |
change |
y-o-y |
FY18e new |
y-o-y |
Revenues |
73.6 |
75.6 |
2.8% |
14.6% |
82.0 |
8.5% |
EBITDA |
18.5 |
16.6 |
-10.1% |
11.9% |
17.7 |
6.2% |
EBITDA margin |
25.2% |
22.0% |
-3.1% |
-0.5% |
21.6% |
-0.5% |
Normalised EBIT |
13.6 |
11.6 |
-14.5% |
17.2% |
12.6 |
8.0% |
EBIT margin |
18.5% |
15.4% |
-3.1% |
0.4% |
15.3% |
-0.1% |
PBT |
13.9 |
11.9 |
-14.4% |
19.3% |
12.8 |
7.8% |
Normalised net income |
10.4 |
8.0 |
-23.5% |
17.2% |
8.6 |
7.8% |
Normalised EPS, € |
1.84 |
1.42 |
-22.8% |
15.9% |
1.51 |
5.9% |
Reported EPS, € |
1.87 |
1.48 |
-21.2% |
19.8% |
1.56 |
6.0% |
Net cash |
21.6 |
14.4 |
-33.4% |
5.2% |
18.7 |
29.7% |
DPS, € |
0.36 |
0.36 |
0.0% |
9.1% |
0.39 |
8.3% |
Source: Edison Investment Research
Exhibit 3: Financial summary
€'000s |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017e |
2018e |
||
Year end 31 December |
French GAAP |
French GAAP |
French GAAP |
French GAAP |
French GAAP |
French GAAP |
French GAAP |
||
PROFIT & LOSS |
|||||||||
Revenue |
|
|
40,260 |
41,116 |
46,061 |
58,457 |
65,990 |
75,597 |
82,009 |
EBITDA |
|
|
6,637 |
6,598 |
8,979 |
13,405 |
14,871 |
16,646 |
17,674 |
Operating Profit (before amort and except) |
|
|
4,265 |
3,883 |
5,700 |
9,257 |
9,934 |
11,646 |
12,574 |
Amortisation of acquired intangibles |
0 |
0 |
0 |
(302) |
(200) |
(200) |
(200) |
||
Exceptionals and other income |
(16) |
60 |
53 |
(245) |
(474) |
0 |
0 |
||
Other income |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Operating Profit |
4,249 |
3,943 |
5,753 |
8,710 |
9,260 |
11,446 |
12,374 |
||
Net Interest |
38 |
6 |
220 |
(6) |
(108) |
100 |
100 |
||
Profit Before Tax (norm) |
|
|
4,303 |
3,889 |
5,920 |
9,312 |
9,949 |
11,869 |
12,797 |
Profit Before Tax (FRS 3) |
|
|
4,287 |
3,949 |
5,973 |
8,765 |
9,275 |
11,669 |
12,597 |
Tax |
(1,286) |
(761) |
(1,323) |
(2,292) |
(2,950) |
(3,851) |
(4,157) |
||
Profit After Tax (norm) |
3,012 |
3,140 |
4,609 |
6,877 |
6,785 |
7,952 |
8,574 |
||
Profit After Tax (FRS 3) |
3,001 |
3,188 |
4,650 |
6,473 |
6,325 |
7,818 |
8,440 |
||
Average Number of Shares Outstanding (m) |
4.7 |
4.7 |
4.8 |
5.0 |
5.1 |
5.3 |
5.4 |
||
EPS - normalised (c) |
|
|
64 |
67 |
97 |
138 |
132 |
150 |
159 |
EPS - normalised fully diluted (c) |
|
|
60 |
62 |
90 |
131 |
123 |
142 |
151 |
EPS - (GAAP) (c) |
|
|
64 |
68 |
97 |
130 |
123 |
148 |
156 |
Dividend per share (c) |
14.00 |
18.00 |
24.00 |
30.00 |
33.00 |
36.00 |
39.00 |
||
Gross margin (%) |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
||
EBITDA Margin (%) |
16.5 |
16.0 |
19.5 |
22.9 |
22.5 |
22.0 |
21.6 |
||
Operating Margin (before GW and except) (%) |
10.6 |
9.4 |
12.4 |
15.8 |
15.1 |
15.4 |
15.3 |
||
BALANCE SHEET |
|||||||||
Fixed Assets |
|
|
8,764 |
9,437 |
12,552 |
25,184 |
28,324 |
36,352 |
38,125 |
Intangible Assets |
5,521 |
6,458 |
7,709 |
19,603 |
22,381 |
30,599 |
32,522 |
||
Tangible Assets |
2,835 |
2,450 |
4,470 |
4,985 |
5,158 |
4,968 |
4,818 |
||
Other |
408 |
529 |
373 |
596 |
785 |
785 |
785 |
||
Current Assets |
|
|
24,358 |
26,834 |
33,894 |
36,110 |
42,024 |
45,575 |
51,778 |
Stocks |
100 |
89 |
93 |
161 |
101 |
101 |
101 |
||
Debtors |
11,567 |
12,144 |
15,110 |
18,073 |
19,523 |
22,368 |
24,266 |
||
Cash |
11,393 |
13,411 |
17,559 |
16,295 |
21,338 |
22,044 |
26,350 |
||
Other |
1,298 |
1,190 |
1,132 |
1,581 |
1,062 |
1,062 |
1,062 |
||
Current Liabilities |
|
|
(15,551) |
(16,164) |
(19,827) |
(24,789) |
(28,299) |
(30,752) |
(32,390) |
Creditors |
(15,551) |
(16,164) |
(19,827) |
(24,789) |
(28,299) |
(30,752) |
(32,390) |
||
Short term borrowings |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Long Term Liabilities |
|
|
(2,019) |
(1,450) |
(5,113) |
(7,317) |
(7,657) |
(9,757) |
(9,757) |
Long term borrowings |
(2,019) |
(1,450) |
(5,113) |
(7,317) |
(7,657) |
(7,657) |
(7,657) |
||
Other long term liabilities |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
(2,100) |
(2,100) |
||
Net Assets |
|
|
15,552 |
18,657 |
21,506 |
29,188 |
34,392 |
41,417 |
47,757 |
CASH FLOW |
|||||||||
Operating Cash Flow |
|
|
6,163 |
6,539 |
9,245 |
14,307 |
16,303 |
16,254 |
17,415 |
Net Interest |
122 |
90 |
310 |
(27) |
(127) |
100 |
100 |
||
Tax |
(1,366) |
(645) |
(1,075) |
(1,165) |
(1,456) |
(3,851) |
(4,157) |
||
Capex |
(3,548) |
(3,434) |
(4,028) |
(3,909) |
(7,021) |
(6,718) |
(7,074) |
||
Acquisitions/disposals |
0 |
0 |
22 |
(11,700) |
(948) |
(3,300) |
0 |
||
Financing |
400 |
628 |
(694) |
1,324 |
(581) |
0 |
0 |
||
Dividends |
(550) |
(659) |
(877) |
(1,208) |
(1,550) |
(1,780) |
(1,978) |
||
Net Cash Flow |
1,221 |
2,519 |
2,903 |
(2,378) |
4,620 |
706 |
4,306 |
||
Opening net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(8,526) |
(9,354) |
(11,961) |
(12,446) |
(8,978) |
(13,681) |
(14,387) |
HP finance leases initiated |
(393) |
0 |
(2,293) |
(1,090) |
83 |
0 |
0 |
||
Other |
(0) |
88 |
(125) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Closing net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(9,354) |
(11,961) |
(12,446) |
(8,978) |
(13,681) |
(14,387) |
(18,693) |
Source: Esker, Edison Investment Research
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Trifast has released a pre-close update that has indicated the favourable trading conditions persisted through the final quarter, boosted by FX tailwinds. As a result profits have exceeded management expectations, accompanied by a strong cash performance. We have increased our earnings estimates for both 2017 and 2018 once again. When combined with the stronger than expected net debt position this has led us to also increase our dividend expectations.