Gear4music (G4M) has ended the year with 58% revenue growth, slightly ahead of expectations, and has also guided to profit performance marginally ahead. Driven by European sales growth, this shows continuing development of its international presence, as does the opening of (now) two distribution centres on the mainland. Sales growth is now building against strong growth last year, and the strategic argument for medium-term investment continues to strengthen.
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Gear4music Holdings |
On song |
Pre-close statement |
Retail |
3 March 2017 |
Share price performance
Business description
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Analysts
Gear4music Holdings is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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Gear4music (G4M) has ended the year with 58% revenue growth, slightly ahead of expectations, and has also guided to profit performance marginally ahead. Driven by European sales growth, this shows continuing development of its international presence, as does the opening of (now) two distribution centres on the mainland. Sales growth is now building against strong growth last year, and the strategic argument for medium-term investment continues to strengthen.
Year |
Revenue (£m) |
EBITDA |
PBT* |
EPS* |
P/E |
EV/EBITDA |
02/15 |
24.2 |
0.8 |
(0.6) |
(4.1) |
N/A |
N/A |
02/16 |
35.5 |
1.7 |
0.6 |
3.1 |
N/A |
79.1 |
02/17e |
56.0 |
3.2 |
2.4 |
9.3 |
72.6 |
41.6 |
02/18e |
79.1 |
4.1 |
2.9 |
11.5 |
58.7 |
32.7 |
Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.
A strong finish in line with our expectations
G4M has reported full-year revenue of £56.1m, growth of 58%, marginally ahead of our expectation of £56.0m. The last two post-Christmas months continued to move ahead strongly and in line with our upgraded forecast. Active customers were strongly up by 49% to 324,000, and have risen 5% since December.
European focus develops
In support of its Europe-focused strategy, G4M has opened its distribution centre in Germany in addition to the centre opened in Sweden in November 2016. That centre is performing strongly and Scandinavian sales are up 186% since it opened.
Profit expectations marginally raised
Despite investment both in the UK and Europe, costs have been controlled within the company’s plans. As a result, management is guiding to profit expectations marginally ahead for FY17. We are leaving our forecasts unchanged.
Valuation: Share price discounting over-performance
The share price is now nearly five times its 139p IPO level in June 2015. Profit expectations have themselves increased – our earnings per share estimate for FY17 is 42% higher than when we initiated in May 2016. The calendar 2017 P/E of 56x is at a discount of 15% to ASOS and Boohoo, which we would regard as appropriate. It is on a narrower P/E discount for 2018, and also for both years on EV/EBITDA measures. On a reverse DCF basis, the share price is discounting either (i) a medium-term revenue growth rate some 5% higher than our assumption of 22% in 2020, or (ii) a 13% terminal EBITDA margin, outside a peer range of 7-11%, or a combination of the two.
A strong finish to the year
G4M has finished the year marginally ahead of our expectation of £56.0m total revenue, with £56.1m, growth of 58%, after the last two months continued to move ahead strongly and in line with our upgraded forecast.
Exhibit 1: Geographic sales
£'000 |
H1 |
Sept-Dec |
Sept-Dec |
Sept-Dec |
Jan- |
Jan-Feb |
Jan-Feb |
Full year |
Full year |
Full year |
||
FY16 |
FY17 |
Gth % |
FY16 |
FY17 |
Gth % |
FY16 |
FY17 |
Gth % |
FY16 |
FY17 |
Gth % |
|
UK |
9,584 |
13,784 |
43.8 |
11,608 |
15,019 |
29.4 |
4,824 |
6,062 |
25.7 |
26,016 |
34,865 |
34.0 |
European |
2,909 |
7,825 |
169.0 |
4,082 |
9,365 |
129.4 |
2,482 |
4,073 |
64.1 |
9,473 |
21,263 |
124.5 |
Total |
12,493 |
21,609 |
73.0 |
15,690 |
24,384 |
55.4 |
7,306 |
10,135 |
38.7 |
35,489 |
56,128 |
58.2 |
Sales pm |
2,082 |
3,602 |
3,923 |
6,096 |
3,653 |
5,068 |
2,957 |
4,677 |
||||
% UK rev. |
77 |
64 |
74 |
62 |
66 |
60 |
73 |
62 |
||||
% Euro. rev. |
23 |
36 |
26 |
38 |
34 |
40 |
27 |
38 |
||||
Source: Gear4music Holdings
Growth continues to be strongly powered by Europe, which is now a much more significant element of the total, at 38% compared with 23% in H116. As we also show in Exhibit 1, average sales per month have continued to develop, so that for instance sales per month in the final two months of FY17 were 140% higher than in the first half of 2016.
Actives and transaction values up
Active customer numbers are 324,000, up 49% across the year. The numbers have risen 5% since December, and in comparison with revenue growth of 58%, suggest that transaction values are continuing on an upward path.
European bases operational
The company’s strategy has a strong focus on developing the European opportunity, in a market that management has estimated is six times larger than the UK. In support of that strategy and to improve the delivery service to European customers, G4M opened a distribution in Sweden in November, and now has one in Mulheim, in a densely populated region of north Germany. Revenue growth in Scandinavia since November has been spectacular at 186%, although that was of course from a low base.
Profit guidance positive
Investment in the business continues in line with strategy, but the company reports that with costs being closely managed, FY17 profits expectations are likely to be marginally ahead of upgraded expectations. We are not changing our forecasts, which we upgraded 20% at EPS level in January.
Valuation
We have updated our valuation work from our last note on 6 January 2017. G4M’s share price has risen by 35% since then and is now nearly five times its 139p IPO price in June 2015.
Peer comparison on earnings multiples
Exhibit 2: Significant discount to pure-play online retailers
Share |
Market cap |
P/E (x) |
EV/Sales (x) |
EV/EBITDA (x) |
|||||||
Calendarised |
p |
£m |
2016 |
2017e |
2018e |
2016 |
2017e |
2018e |
2016 |
2017e |
2018e |
G4M |
688.5 |
138.8 |
49.0 |
56.1 |
48.9 |
4.1 |
2.6 |
1.8 |
46.0 |
34.6 |
27.5 |
ASOS |
5,539.0 |
4,624.5 |
85.5 |
65.5 |
51.0 |
2.9 |
2.2 |
1.8 |
43.2 |
32.1 |
25.0 |
Boohoo |
155.3 |
1,743.9 |
83.9 |
66.5 |
49.3 |
6.2 |
4.2 |
3.3 |
53.0 |
40.8 |
30.5 |
AO World |
150.3 |
631.6 |
N/A |
N/A |
77.9* |
0.9 |
0.7 |
0.6 |
N/A |
75.6* |
31.1 |
Average |
84.7 |
66.0 |
50.1 |
3.3 |
2.4 |
1.9 |
48.1 |
36.5 |
28.9 |
||
Discount |
-42.2% |
-15.0% |
-2.5% |
22.9% |
6.8% |
-6.3% |
-4.3% |
-5.2% |
-4.6% |
||
N Brown |
199.9 |
566.6 |
8.7 |
8.9 |
8.6 |
0.0 |
0.9 |
0.9 |
N/A |
7.2 |
6.7 |
Findel |
199.4 |
174.4 |
8.9 |
8.3 |
7.6 |
0.9 |
0.8 |
0.8 |
8.8 |
8.3 |
6.9 |
Average of whole group |
46.8 |
37.3 |
29.1 |
2.2 |
1.8 |
1.5 |
35.0 |
22.1 |
20.0 |
||
Premium/(discount) |
4.8% |
50.3% |
67.9% |
87.8% |
42.9% |
21.2% |
31.5% |
56.5% |
37.4% |
||
Source: Bloomberg, Edison Investment Research. Note: *Outlier, excluded. Prices as at 2 March 2017.
For calendar 2017, G4M trades at a 15% P/E discount to the more established e-retailers ASOS and Boohoo. A discount to those peers is appropriate for this much smaller and younger company; however, as its credibility and results delivery increases, that discount will justifiably reduce. It is significant that the company has guided that it will complete its first full year on the market ahead of expectations, which have themselves been materially increased – our earnings per share estimate for FY17 is 42% higher than when we initiated in May 2016. As a result, we now see the appropriate discount as 10-15%. Whereas the 2017e P/E discount of 15% is in line with this, the discount for 2018 is below it, as are the discounts for both years on EV/EBITDA measures.
Clearly when other small-cap online retailers N Brown and Findel are included, G4M trades at a significant premium to the wider group. However, as we explained in January, we do not see those companies as close comparators.
Reverse DCF valuation
We model DCF valuation on a reverse basis to examine the assumptions that the current market price is currently discounting in relation to the scale and shape of the long-term cash flow.
Our DCF model fades revenue growth from FY19e (+24.3%) by 3% in FY20e and then by c 2% each year to terminal growth of +2%. This puts revenue at £230m by FY26.
In the table below we show the effect of a faster or slower step-down in FY20e, given that our model reduces the revenue growth rate over subsequent years to achieve the terminal growth of +2%.
Exhibit 3: Scenarios for terminal EBITDA margin and revenue growth fade
Step-down in growth rate, FY19-20 |
||||||
Terminal EBITDA margin |
0.0% |
1.0% |
2.0% |
3.0% |
4.0% |
|
15.0% |
898 |
870 |
842 |
816 |
789 |
|
13.0% |
744 |
720 |
697 |
675 |
654 |
|
11.0% |
589 |
570 |
553 |
535 |
518 |
|
9.0% |
434 |
421 |
408 |
395 |
383 |
|
7.0% |
279 |
271 |
263 |
255 |
247 |
|
Source: Edison Investment Research
Using our base assumption of a 2% reduction in the rate of revenue growth in Year 4 of our projection (2020), which would be 21.5%, then fading to our terminal rate of 2% over the next seven years, the current share price would approximate to an assumption of 13% terminal EBITDA margin. This lies outside the range of 7-11% that we defined in January as typical for peers. If instead we assume no reduction in the rate of growth at that time, the share price would approximate to a 12% terminal margin.
We do not show it in Exhibit 3, but if terminal EBITDA margin were 11% and thus within the range we defined as reasonable to expect, that would imply a 2020 revenue growth rate some 5% higher than we assume. That is clearly not outside the bounds of possibility. However, it appears the market is discounting either a higher growth rate or higher terminal margin than we currently model, or a combination of the two.
Exhibit 4: Financial summary
£'000s |
2015 |
2016 |
2017e |
2018e |
2019e |
||
Year end: February |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
||
INCOME STATEMENT |
|||||||
Revenue |
|
|
24,240 |
35,489 |
56,040 |
79,083 |
98,312 |
Cost of Sales |
(17,483) |
(26,303) |
(41,059) |
(58,294) |
(72,428) |
||
Gross Profit |
6,757 |
9,186 |
14,981 |
20,788 |
25,884 |
||
EBITDA |
|
|
842 |
1,688 |
3,213 |
4,062 |
5,091 |
Normalised operating profit |
|
|
376 |
903 |
2,310 |
2,905 |
3,684 |
Amortisation of acquired intangibles |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Exceptionals |
(165) |
(606) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Share-based payments |
0 |
(8) |
(92) |
(116) |
(137) |
||
Reported operating profit |
211 |
289 |
2,218 |
2,789 |
3,546 |
||
Net Interest |
(1,008) |
(283) |
78 |
(1) |
(4) |
||
Joint ventures & associates (post tax) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Exceptionals |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Profit Before Tax (norm) |
|
|
(632) |
620 |
2,388 |
2,904 |
3,680 |
Profit Before Tax (reported) |
|
|
(797) |
6 |
2,296 |
2,788 |
3,543 |
Reported tax |
111 |
(49) |
(519) |
(581) |
(736) |
||
Profit After Tax (norm) |
(521) |
571 |
1,869 |
2,323 |
2,944 |
||
Profit After Tax (reported) |
(686) |
(43) |
1,777 |
2,207 |
2,807 |
||
Minority interests |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Discontinued operations |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Net income (normalised) |
(521) |
571 |
1,869 |
2,323 |
2,944 |
||
Net income (reported) |
(686) |
(43) |
1,777 |
2,207 |
2,807 |
||
Basic average number of shares outstanding (m) |
12.7 |
18.2 |
20.2 |
20.2 |
20.2 |
||
EPS - basic normalised (p) |
|
|
(4.1) |
3.1 |
9.3 |
11.5 |
14.6 |
EPS - diluted normalised (p) |
|
|
(4.1) |
3.1 |
9.2 |
11.5 |
14.5 |
EPS - basic reported (p) |
|
|
(5.4) |
(0.2) |
8.8 |
11.0 |
13.9 |
Dividend (p) |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
||
Revenue growth (%) |
37.1 |
46.4 |
57.9 |
41.1 |
24.3 |
||
Gross Margin (%) |
27.9 |
25.9 |
26.7 |
26.3 |
26.3 |
||
EBITDA Margin (%) |
3.5 |
4.8 |
5.7 |
5.1 |
5.2 |
||
Normalised Operating Margin |
1.6 |
2.5 |
4.1 |
3.7 |
3.7 |
||
BALANCE SHEET |
|||||||
Fixed Assets |
|
|
3,755 |
4,477 |
5,450 |
6,087 |
6,724 |
Intangible Assets |
2,764 |
3,238 |
3,977 |
4,556 |
5,095 |
||
Tangible Assets |
991 |
1,239 |
1,473 |
1,531 |
1,629 |
||
Investments & other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Current Assets |
|
|
6,458 |
11,194 |
15,817 |
20,817 |
25,754 |
Stocks |
5,326 |
6,906 |
10,948 |
15,604 |
19,360 |
||
Debtors |
216 |
740 |
1,169 |
1,649 |
2,050 |
||
Cash & cash equivalents |
916 |
3,548 |
3,700 |
3,564 |
4,344 |
||
Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Current Liabilities |
|
|
(5,842) |
(6,022) |
(8,999) |
(12,429) |
(15,196) |
Creditors |
(4,522) |
(5,188) |
(8,065) |
(11,495) |
(14,262) |
||
Tax and social security |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Short term borrowings |
(1,320) |
(834) |
(934) |
(934) |
(934) |
||
Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Long Term Liabilities |
|
|
(4,660) |
(290) |
(90) |
(90) |
(90) |
Long term borrowings |
(4,570) |
(127) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Other long term liabilities |
(90) |
(163) |
(90) |
(90) |
(90) |
||
Net Assets |
|
|
(289) |
9,359 |
12,177 |
14,384 |
17,191 |
Minority interests |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Shareholders' equity |
|
|
(289) |
9,359 |
12,177 |
14,384 |
17,191 |
CASH FLOW |
|||||||
Op Cash Flow before WC and tax |
842 |
1,688 |
3,213 |
4,062 |
5,091 |
||
Working capital |
1,012 |
(1,416) |
(1,300) |
(1,706) |
(1,390) |
||
Exceptional & other |
(304) |
(607) |
14 |
(116) |
(137) |
||
Tax |
0 |
0 |
0 |
(581) |
(736) |
||
Net operating cash flow |
|
|
1,550 |
(335) |
1,927 |
1,659 |
2,828 |
Capex |
(953) |
(1,509) |
(1,900) |
(1,794) |
(2,044) |
||
Acquisitions/disposals |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Net interest |
(185) |
(130) |
78 |
(1) |
(4) |
||
Equity financing |
0 |
9,535 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Dividends |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Other |
(377) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Net Cash Flow |
35 |
7,561 |
105 |
(136) |
780 |
||
Opening net debt/(cash) |
|
|
4,694 |
4,974 |
(2,587) |
(2,692) |
(2,556) |
FX |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Other non-cash movements |
(315) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Closing net debt/(cash) |
|
|
4,974 |
(2,587) |
(2,692) |
(2,556) |
(3,336) |
Source: Company accounts, Edison Investment Research
|
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