During H117, Intelligent Energy was reshaped to focus on driving sales of commercially ready B2B products. The group has won contracts in two of its three target segments: stationary power and drones, withdrawn from its Indian energy management business and realised substantial cost savings. However, product roll-out has been slower than originally anticipated, with management in financing discussions with key convertible loan note holders and we have reduced our estimates.
Written by
Intelligent Energy Holdings |
Strategic transformation being delivered |
AGM and trading update |
Alternative energy |
24 April 2017 |
Share price performance
Business description
Next events
Analysts
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During H117, Intelligent Energy was reshaped to focus on driving sales of commercially ready B2B products. The group has won contracts in two of its three target segments: stationary power and drones, withdrawn from its Indian energy management business and realised substantial cost savings. However, product roll-out has been slower than originally anticipated, with management in financing discussions with key convertible loan note holders and we have reduced our estimates.
Year end |
Revenue (£m) |
EBITDA* |
PBT** |
EPS** |
DPS |
P/E |
09/14 |
13.6 |
(52.4) |
(58.0) |
(30.4) |
0.0 |
N/A |
09/15 |
78.2 |
(46.2) |
(51.8) |
(21.4) |
0.0 |
N/A |
09/16 |
91.8*** |
(33.4) |
(42.8) |
(20.2) |
0.0 |
N/A |
09/17e |
24.6 |
(13.2) |
(21.7) |
(9.1) |
0.0 |
N/A |
Note: *Adjusted as per company presentation. **PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments. ***Including £85.1m revenues from power management activity.
Cost reduction programme on track but insufficient
The cost reduction programme implemented during H216 has enabled management to maintain underlying cash burn at £1.6m/month including finance charges and capex. Our model shows that if costs are maintained at these levels, the group has sufficient cash to support the expected growth in commercial products through to calendar 2018, but not afterwards. Management is in discussions with key convertible loan note holders, who are also substantial shareholders, regarding potential financing. It is also considering reducing costs associated with being a listed company, estimated at £1.2m pa.
First contract awards for product sales
Having set out the strategy in September 2016 of focusing on near-term opportunities to deliver products for deployment in distributed power generation, UAV and motive applications, management has secured two contracts. The first is to supply 600 1kW fuel cell modules to US-based Luxfer-GTM Technologies for integration into Luxfer-GTM’s Zero-Set Lite portable light towers. The deal demonstrates that IEH’s stack technology, proven during deployment in the demanding environment of telecoms towers in India, is suitable for other applications. IEH has also signed a contract with PINC to supply fuel cell systems for powering airborne drones. PINC's drones are used to monitor hard-to-reach inventory and assets. Switching from battery to fuel cell more than trebles flight times, substantially improving drone efficiency. The Luxfer-GTM contract will see stack production commence in Loughborough, which has the capacity and staffing levels to do this. The existing Suzuki relationship continues, with trials announced with the Met Police in London of Suzuki bikes powered with IEH fuel cells.
Valuation: Negative impact of funding uncertainty
Our analysis indicates that IEH is trading on EV/sales multiples that are towards the lower end of the range of its peers. We believe that removal of the funding uncertainty will be a key catalyst for the share price performance.
Changes to estimates
We have revised our FY17 estimates to reflect the following:
■
The trading statement refers to £16.6m of revenues from the Indian GTL interim contract, which ceased on 30 November 2016. This is higher than our previous estimate.
■
The trading statement refers to expected H117 revenues totalling c £19m from all three activities, giving a maximum of c £2.4m from the provision of engineering services. This is substantially less than half of our previous estimate for FY17, so we reduce our estimated revenues from this activity.
■
The trading statement notes that it has taken longer than expected to begin to generate product sales. Our previous estimates took a relatively cautious view on roll-out timescales, so although we do reduce our estimate for revenues attributable to product sales activity, the reduction is fairly modest.
■
Cash burn during H117 is expected to be in line with our previous estimate of c £1.6m including finance charges and capex. The widening in our estimate of group EBITDA and PBT losses relates to the reduction in our product sales estimate.
Exhibit 1: Estimate revisions
2016 |
2017e |
|||
Actual |
Old |
New |
% change |
|
Revenues from power management (£m) |
85.1 |
14.0 |
16.6 |
18.6% |
Revenues from provision of engineering services (£m) |
6.7 |
8.5 |
5.0 |
(41.2) |
Revenues from product sales (£m) |
0.0 |
5.0 |
3.0 |
(40.0) |
Group revenues (£m) |
91.8 |
27.5 |
24.6 |
(10.5) |
Group EBITDA (£m) |
(33.4) |
(12.0) |
(13.2) |
(10.0) |
Group PBT (£m) |
(42.8) |
(20.5) |
(21.7) |
(5.9) |
Group EPS (p) |
(20.2) |
(8.5) |
(9.1) |
(7.1) |
Source: Edison Investment Research
Valuation: Removal of funding uncertainty required
For calibration, we examine sales-based peer group multiples. (Note: IEH’s multiples strip out the revenues attributable to the Indian energy management activity because this has been discontinued and generated minimal margins.) The comparison shows that IEH is trading on multiples towards the lower end of the range of its peers. However, until the company’s funding and potential delisting issues have been resolved, this valuation gap is largely irrelevant. Nonetheless, it does indicate the potential for valuation upside in the event of successful funding leading to product volume-based revenues and, in due course, positive cash flows.
Exhibit 2: EV/Sales multiples for listed peers
Company |
Market cap |
Historic EV/Sales (x) |
Current EV/Sales (x) |
AFC Energy |
£48m |
20.4 |
11.0 |
Ballard Power Systems |
£309m |
3.8 |
3.0 |
Ceres Power Holdings |
£88m |
72.6 |
40.4 |
FuelCell Energy |
£48m |
0.6 |
0.7 |
Hydrogenics |
£67m |
1.7 |
1.3 |
ITM Power |
£44m |
21.3 |
5.7 |
Plug Power |
£202m |
3.2 |
2.1 |
SFC Energy |
£28m |
0.7 |
0.7 |
Mean |
7.4 |
3.5 |
|
Intelligent Energy (excluding Power Management revenues) |
£12m |
1.9 |
1.6 |
Intelligent Energy (excluding Power Management revenues - all Convertible Loan notes converting |
£33m |
2.0 |
1.6 |
Source: Bloomberg, Edison Investment Research. Note: Grey shading indicates exclusion from mean. Prices at 3 April 2017.
We note the potential impact of the convertible loan notes issued in May 2016. This action secured financing through to FY18, but introduced a source of significant potential dilution. If all of these loan notes are converted to shares, this represents an additional 375m shares to the 206m currently in issue. With the share price at the current low level, this dilutive effect is not apparent in the EV/Sales calculation, as the additional market cap represented by the conversion of convertible loan notes is almost equal to the reduction in debt resulting from the conversion, so the EV value is relatively unchanged. At higher share price levels the effect would be more apparent. The higher the share price, the greater the EV increase resulting from conversion of the loan notes.
Exhibit 3: Financial summary
£m |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017e |
||
Year end 30 September |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
||
PROFIT & LOSS |
|||||||
Revenue |
|
|
20.8 |
13.6 |
78.2 |
91.8 |
24.6 |
Cost of Sales |
(13.5) |
(9.9) |
(75.9) |
(90.0) |
(23.7) |
||
Gross Profit |
7.3 |
3.7 |
2.3 |
1.8 |
0.9 |
||
EBITDA |
|
|
(23.4) |
(52.4) |
(46.2) |
(33.4) |
(13.2) |
Operating Profit (before amort and except) |
|
|
(26.7) |
(46.0) |
(51.2) |
(38.1) |
(17.8) |
Amortisation of acquired intangibles |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Exceptionals |
0.0 |
(7.1) |
(0.3) |
(21.6) |
(0.5) |
||
Share based payments |
(0.0) |
(2.6) |
(2.3) |
(0.2) |
0.0 |
||
Operating Profit |
(26.7) |
(55.6) |
(53.8) |
(59.9) |
(18.3) |
||
Net Interest |
(0.5) |
(4.0) |
(1.3) |
(2.7) |
(3.9) |
||
Share of losses from JVs and exceptionals |
(2.5) |
0.0 |
0.7 |
(2.0) |
0.0 |
||
Profit Before Tax (norm) |
|
|
(29.7) |
(58.0) |
(51.8) |
(42.8) |
(21.7) |
Profit Before Tax (FRS 3) |
|
|
(29.8) |
(59.6) |
(54.4) |
(64.6) |
(22.2) |
Tax |
8.8 |
11.4 |
11.6 |
(18.1) |
3.0 |
||
Profit After Tax (norm) |
(20.9) |
(46.6) |
(40.2) |
(39.0) |
(18.7) |
||
Profit after tax (FRS 3) |
(21.0) |
(48.2) |
(42.8) |
(82.7) |
(19.2) |
||
Average Number of Shares Outstanding (m) |
134.4 |
153.4 |
188.2 |
193.3 |
206.2 |
||
EPS - normalised (p) |
|
|
(15.6) |
(30.4) |
(21.4) |
(20.2) |
(9.1) |
EPS - normalised fully diluted (p) |
|
|
(15.6) |
(30.4) |
(21.4) |
(13.5) |
(2.5) |
EPS - (IFRS) (p) |
|
|
(15.6) |
(31.4) |
(22.7) |
(42.8) |
(9.3) |
Dividend per share (p) |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
||
Gross Margin (%) |
35.3 |
27.4 |
2.9 |
2.0 |
3.7 |
||
EBITDA Margin (%) |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
||
Operating Margin (before GW and except) (%) |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
||
BALANCE SHEET |
|||||||
Fixed Assets |
|
|
27.7 |
37.9 |
59.8 |
10.7 |
8.5 |
Intangible Assets |
13.3 |
14.7 |
29.4 |
7.9 |
6.8 |
||
Tangible Assets |
5.3 |
6.9 |
8.5 |
2.8 |
1.7 |
||
Deferred tax assets |
9.2 |
16.3 |
21.9 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Current Assets |
|
|
46.4 |
107.5 |
45.2 |
33.0 |
17.1 |
Stocks |
1.5 |
4.1 |
5.3 |
1.6 |
1.6 |
||
Debtors |
9.8 |
11.1 |
11.5 |
7.8 |
9.1 |
||
Cash and short-term deposits |
31.6 |
88.9 |
24.2 |
20.6 |
3.4 |
||
Current tax assets |
3.5 |
3.4 |
4.2 |
3.0 |
3.0 |
||
Current Liabilities |
|
|
(8.6) |
(17.6) |
(14.3) |
(8.7) |
(9.8) |
Creditors |
(8.6) |
(17.6) |
(14.3) |
(8.4) |
(9.5) |
||
Short term borrowings |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
(0.3) |
(0.3) |
||
Long Term Liabilities |
|
|
(21.1) |
0.0 |
(3.0) |
(22.8) |
(22.8) |
Long term borrowings |
(18.5) |
0.0 |
0.0 |
(21.0)* |
(21.0)* |
||
Other long term liabilities |
(2.6) |
0.0 |
(3.0) |
(1.8) |
(1.8) |
||
Net Assets |
|
|
44.4 |
127.8 |
87.7 |
12.2 |
(7.0) |
CASH FLOW |
|||||||
Operating Cash Flow |
|
|
(23.4) |
(50.6) |
(51.5) |
(31.4) |
(13.9) |
Net Interest |
(0.0) |
0.3 |
0.1 |
(1.1) |
(3.9) |
||
Tax |
3.3 |
3.8 |
4.8 |
5.1 |
3.0 |
||
Capex |
(5.0) |
(6.8) |
(19.4) |
(3.8) |
(2.4) |
||
Acquisitions/disposals |
0.0 |
1.1 |
1.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Equity financing |
1.5 |
108.4 |
0.2 |
1.1 |
0.0 |
||
Dividends |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Forex/Other |
0.0 |
(0.0) |
0.1 |
0.1 |
0.0 |
||
Net Cash Flow |
(23.6) |
56.1 |
(64.7) |
(30.0) |
(17.2) |
||
Opening net debt/(cash) |
|
|
29.9 |
(13.1) |
(88.9) |
(24.2) |
0.7 |
HP finance leases initiated |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
||
Other |
66.5 |
19.7 |
0.0 |
5.1 |
0.0 |
||
Closing net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(13.1) |
(88.9) |
(24.2) |
0.7 |
17.9 |
Source: Company accounts, Edison Investment Research. Note: *Including £20.7m liability of convertible loan notes.
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Research: TMT
Acal experienced strong trading in Q417, with organic growth in both divisions further boosted by currency. Order intake in Q417 saw 13% organic growth, positioning the company well for FY18. We have revised our forecasts to reflect the stronger trading environment, resulting in EPS upgrades of 3.4% in FY17 and 2.3% in FY18. Despite some recovery in the share price, in our view the stock still represents good value.