Last close As at 05/08/2026
—
— 0.00 (0.00%)
Market capitalisation
—
Research: TMT
TXT e-solutions
TXT e-solutions |
TXT Next is next for international expansion |
FY15 results |
Software & comp services |
11 March 2016 |
Share price performance
Business description
Next event
Analysts
TXT e-solutions is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TXT reported strong FY15 revenue growth of 13%, with double-digit growth from both divisions, and normalised EPS ahead of our forecast. The planned acquisition of PACE adds higher-margin aerospace software capability and accelerates TXT Next’s quest to expand its addressable market outside of Italy. We have incorporated PACE into our estimates, forecasting normalised EPS growth of 16% in FY16 and 9% in FY17.
Year end |
Revenue (€m) |
PBT* |
EPS* |
DPS |
P/E |
Yield |
12/14 |
54.4 |
4.0 |
0.28 |
0.23 |
29.8 |
3.5 |
12/15 |
61.5 |
5.7 |
0.40 |
0.25 |
20.9 |
2.4 |
12/16e |
70.3 |
7.1 |
0.47 |
0.26 |
17.8 |
2.0 |
12/17e |
74.5 |
7.7 |
0.51 |
0.27 |
16.4 |
1.9 |
Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.
FY15 results ahead of expectations
TXT reported revenues 1.5% ahead of our forecast for FY15, with EBITDA 2.6% ahead (EBITDA margin 10.8%) and normalised EPS 7.9% ahead. Revenue growth was 12.4% for TXT Perform and 14.2% for TXT Next. Late payments post year-end by several large customers took year-end net cash below our forecast.
TXT Next acquisition enhances software capabilities
TXT is on track to acquire PACE on 1 April for consideration of up to €7.5m in cash. The addition of PACE brings specialist aerospace software to TXT Next’s existing (predominantly Italian) aerospace business, as well as a larger international customer base. We have incorporated the company into our forecasts from the beginning of Q216, forecasting a revenue contribution of €5.4m in FY16 and €7.6m in FY17 at a similar EBITDA margin to the existing TXT group margin.
Forecasts and valuation: Growing software contribution to boost profitability
As a result of incorporating PACE and slightly increasing our growth assumptions for TXT Perform, we raise our FY16 revenue forecast by 11% (14% y-o-y growth) and our normalised EPS forecast by 3%, and introduce a FY17 revenue growth forecast of 6% with EPS growth of 9%. The stock trades on a P/E of 17.1x FY16e and 15.7x FY17e based on normalised EPS. This is a discount to global supply chain software vendors and a premium to European IT services companies, which is reasonable considering the current split of the business. Even after acquiring PACE, we forecast a strong net cash position and a dividend yield above 3% for FY16/17. If TXT is able to successfully integrate and grow the PACE business as well as sell TXT Next’s existing services to PACE’s international customer, we see scope for stronger growth in TXT Next and margin enhancement. For TXT Perform, key growth drivers include the North American business and the recently established Asia Pacific operations.
Review of FY15 results
Exhibit 1: FY15 results highlights
€m |
FY15e |
FY15a |
Diff. |
y-o-y |
Revenues |
60.6 |
61.5 |
1.5% |
13.1% |
TXT Perform |
36.2 |
36.7 |
1.2% |
12.4% |
TXT Next |
24.4 |
24.9 |
2.0% |
14.2% |
Gross margin |
52.0% |
52.6% |
0.5pp |
|
Gross profit |
31.5 |
32.4 |
2.6% |
15.7% |
EBITDA |
6.5 |
6.7 |
2.5% |
25.1% |
EBITDA margin |
10.7% |
10.8% |
0.1pp |
|
Normalised EBIT |
5.7 |
5.8 |
2.3% |
35.9% |
Normalised EBIT margin |
9.4% |
9.5% |
0.1% |
|
Normalised net income |
4.4 |
4.7 |
7.0% |
46.9% |
Normalised EPS (€) |
0.37 |
0.40 |
7.9% |
45.5% |
Reported basic EPS (€) |
0.34 |
0.33 |
-2.0% |
-8.6% |
Net cash (€m) |
12.2 |
8.3 |
-32.3% |
-2.4% |
Dividend (€) |
0.24 |
0.25 |
5.8% |
10.0% |
Source: TXT e-solutions, Edison Investment Research
TXT reported revenue growth of 13.1% for FY15, with both TXT Perform and TXT Next achieving double-digit growth rates. With a higher proportion of software licensing in FY15 than in FY14, gross margin expanded by 1.2pp to 52.6%. Despite higher investment over the year in R&D and sales & marketing and legal costs incurred in Q415 for the PACE acquisition, EBITDA grew 25%
y-o-y, achieving an EBITDA margin of 10.8% (FY14: 9.8%). Year-end net cash was affected by delays in payment by several large customers, leading to a higher than expected year-end debtor position. These invoices were paid in January. The company announced a dividend of €0.25 for FY15, marginally above our €0.24 estimate.
Business update
TXT Next expands with the acquisition of PACE
TXT recently announced that it had agreed to acquire 79% of PACE, a German software vendor focused on the aerospace market.
Terms of the deal
TXT is paying initial cash consideration of €5.6m for 79% of the company held by private equity investors (eCAPITAL, Strategic European Technologies and IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft). There is also a put/call option for the remaining 21% stake (owned by the three founders) exercisable from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021. Contingent consideration of c €1.9m is payable in 2016 and 2017 subject to meeting targets for FY15 and FY16. Taking into account estimated closing net cash of €1.7m, the consideration values PACE on a historic EV/sales multiple of 0.7x initial and 1.1x maximum consideration and EV/EBITDA of 6.7x and 9.7x respectively. In our view, this valuation is attractive considering the cross-selling potential offered by the business. The acquisition is scheduled to complete on 1 April 2016.
Background
PACE was founded in Michael Kokorniak, Dr Oliver Kranz and Alexander Schneegans and now has 70 employees, with the majority based at its Berlin headquarters. The business specialises in developing and selling software to the aerospace industry. The table below summarises the company’s product range:
Exhibit 2: PACE product suite
Solution |
Functionality |
Preliminary aircraft design |
|
Pacelab Suite |
Platform that supplies functional & procedural infrastructure for early-stage product design. |
Pacelab APD |
Supports development of conventional and unconventional aircraft in the conceptual and preliminary design phases. |
Pacelab SysArc |
Built on Pacelab APD, adds a functional layer for building, analysing and optimizing system and sub-system architectures. |
Aircraft marketing & acquisition |
|
Pacelab Cabin |
Aircraft and cabin configurator that supports aircraft manufacturers, seat & component suppliers, airlines and consultants with detailed cabin investigations and feasibility studies. |
Pacelab Mission Suite |
Integrated software solution for route analysis, aircraft performance and economic investigations. |
Pacelab Route Network Analyser |
Windows app which brings the route analysis capabilities of Pacelab Mission Suite to tablet computers and mobile phones. |
Flight operations |
|
Pacelab CI Ops |
Enables flight crews to flexibly determine the most cost-efficient trajectory whenever flight conditions have changed. |
Pacelab Flight Profile Optimiser |
Complements the functional scope of flight management systems with advanced flight profile optimization capabilities. |
Pacelab EFB Flight Data Recorder |
Collects user-definable operational efficiency parameters from the ARINC buses 429 and 717, which can be made available for post-flight analysis. |
Solution |
Preliminary aircraft design |
Pacelab Suite |
Pacelab APD |
Pacelab SysArc |
Aircraft marketing & acquisition |
Pacelab Cabin |
Pacelab Mission Suite |
Pacelab Route Network Analyser |
Flight operations |
Pacelab CI Ops |
Pacelab Flight Profile Optimiser |
Pacelab EFB Flight Data Recorder |
Functionality |
Platform that supplies functional & procedural infrastructure for early-stage product design. |
Supports development of conventional and unconventional aircraft in the conceptual and preliminary design phases. |
Built on Pacelab APD, adds a functional layer for building, analysing and optimizing system and sub-system architectures. |
Aircraft and cabin configurator that supports aircraft manufacturers, seat & component suppliers, airlines and consultants with detailed cabin investigations and feasibility studies. |
Integrated software solution for route analysis, aircraft performance and economic investigations. |
Windows app which brings the route analysis capabilities of Pacelab Mission Suite to tablet computers and mobile phones. |
Enables flight crews to flexibly determine the most cost-efficient trajectory whenever flight conditions have changed. |
Complements the functional scope of flight management systems with advanced flight profile optimization capabilities. |
Collects user-definable operational efficiency parameters from the ARINC buses 429 and 717, which can be made available for post-flight analysis. |
Source: PACE
Customers include more than 50 companies covering aircraft and engine manufacturing, airlines, civil and defence operators, and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), including Airbus, Air France & KLM Engineering, Boeing, COMAC, Delta Airlines, Embraer, GE Aviation, Lufthansa, Rolls-Royce, Safran Group and Sukhoi.
Deal rationale
TXT Next already has a significant aerospace-focused business, providing IT, consulting and R&D services to mainly Italian-based business such as Finmeccanica. The addition of PACE brings specialist aerospace software as well as a larger international customer base. From PACE’s perspective, TXT Next has a large number of qualified consultants who are able to provide services to PACE’s client base. The business will continue to trade under the PACE brand with the three founders continuing as managing directors.
TXT Perform: Strong performance from Retail business
During FY15 the division made progress with its internationalisation plans, opening an office in Hong Kong and subsequently winning a substantial contract (licence fee of more than €1m) with Duty Free Stores in Q216 out of this office. Exhibit 3 shows how lumpy licensing revenues contribute to variability in divisional revenues on a quarterly basis.
Exhibit 3: TXT Perform revenues
€m |
Q114 |
Q214 |
Q314 |
Q414 |
Q115 |
Q215 |
Q315 |
Q415 |
Revenues |
8.67 |
7.95 |
7.71 |
8.30 |
8.64 |
10.16 |
8.45 |
9.43 |
Q-o-Q |
11.6% |
-8.3% |
-3.0% |
7.7% |
4.1% |
17.6% |
-16.9% |
11.7% |
Y-o-Y |
10.9% |
5.0% |
-9.3% |
6.8% |
-0.4% |
27.8% |
9.5% |
13.6% |
Source: TXT e-solutions
In 2015, the division signed software contracts with a variety of international customers, including Columbia Sportsware (US), Adidas (Germany), Gazal (Australia), Swatch (Switzerland), Sonae (Portugal), Furla (Italy), Monoprix (France) and White Stuff (UK).
Outlook and changes to forecasts
The company has highlighted that TXT Perform may see slowing growth in Q116, reflecting the conversion of the pipeline in Q415 and negotiations with customers for contracts likely to fall into Q216.
We have incorporated PACE into our forecasts from the beginning of Q216. We assume a revenue contribution of €5.4m in FY16 rising to €7.6m in FY17. We assume that it has a similar gross margin profile to TXT for software license sales, maintenance, and services. We note that the PACE acquisition adds a higher margin software component to TXT Next, which has traditionally generated revenues from services. This drives an increase in our revenue forecast of 11.2%, dropping down to a normalised EPS increase of 3.3%, after taking into account the PACE minority interest. We have assumed that the contingent consideration of €1.9m is paid out over the course of FY16 and FY17.
We introduce FY17 forecasts for TXT, assuming revenue growth of 2.3% for TXT Perform and 4.2% organic revenue growth for TXT Next. This results in group revenue growth of 6.0% and normalised EPS growth of 8.7%.
We have marginally increased our dividend forecast for FY16 and introduce a €0.27 forecast for FY17.
Exhibit 4: Changes to forecasts
FY16e old |
FY16e new |
change |
y-o-y |
FY17e new |
y-o-y |
|
Revenues (€m) |
63.2 |
70.3 |
11.2% |
14.2% |
74.5 |
6.0% |
TXT Perform |
37.8 |
38.9 |
3.0% |
6.1% |
39.8 |
2.3% |
TXT Next |
25.5 |
31.4 |
23.3% |
26.3% |
34.7 |
10.5% |
Gross margin |
50.9% |
53.6% |
2.7% |
53.7% |
0.1% |
|
Gross profit (€m) |
32.2 |
37.7 |
17.0% |
16.4% |
40.0 |
6.2% |
EBITDA (€m) |
7.4 |
7.9 |
6.6% |
18.6% |
8.5 |
7.9% |
EBITDA margin |
11.7% |
11.2% |
-0.5% |
11.4% |
0.2% |
|
Normalised EBIT (€m) |
6.8 |
7.2 |
4.9% |
22.9% |
7.8 |
8.8% |
Normalised EBIT margin |
10.8% |
10.2% |
-0.6% |
10.4% |
0.3% |
|
Normalised net income (€m) |
5.4 |
5.5 |
3.1% |
16.9% |
6.0 |
8.7% |
Normalised EPS (€) |
0.45 |
0.47 |
3.3% |
16.2% |
0.51 |
8.7% |
Reported basic EPS (€) |
0.42 |
0.43 |
2.0% |
28.8% |
0.46 |
8.1% |
Net cash (€m) |
14.7 |
7.2 |
-50.7% |
-12.3% |
8.7 |
20.3% |
Dividend (€) |
0.25 |
0.26 |
5.9% |
4.0% |
0.27 |
3.8% |
Source: Edison Investment Research
Exhibit 5: Financial summary
€'000s |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016e |
2017e |
||
Year end 31 December |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
||
PROFIT & LOSS |
||||||||
Revenue |
|
|
46,499 |
52,560 |
54,410 |
61,540 |
70,293 |
74,484 |
Cost of sales |
(22,351) |
(24,854) |
(26,455) |
(29,189) |
(32,623) |
(34,487) |
||
Gross profit |
24,148 |
27,706 |
27,955 |
32,351 |
37,670 |
39,998 |
||
EBITDA |
|
|
5,322 |
6,263 |
5,324 |
6,659 |
7,900 |
8,528 |
Operating Profit (before amort and except) |
|
|
4,283 |
5,241 |
4,284 |
5,820 |
7,150 |
7,778 |
Amortisation of acquired intangibles |
0 |
(285) |
(285) |
(285) |
(285) |
(285) |
||
Exceptionals and other income |
939 |
0 |
1,468 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Other income |
0 |
0 |
0 |
(740) |
(400) |
(500) |
||
Operating Profit |
5,222 |
4,956 |
5,467 |
4,795 |
6,465 |
6,993 |
||
Net Interest |
(37) |
(435) |
(249) |
(151) |
(100) |
(100) |
||
Profit Before Tax (norm) |
|
|
4,246 |
4,806 |
4,035 |
5,669 |
7,050 |
7,678 |
Profit Before Tax (FRS 3) |
|
|
5,185 |
4,521 |
5,218 |
4,644 |
6,365 |
6,893 |
Tax |
(188) |
121 |
(1,046) |
(762) |
(1,273) |
(1,379) |
||
Profit After Tax (norm) |
4,092 |
4,927 |
3,226 |
4,739 |
5,640 |
6,142 |
||
Profit After Tax (FRS 3) |
4,997 |
4,642 |
4,172 |
3,882 |
5,092 |
5,514 |
||
Average Number of Shares Outstanding (m) |
11.0 |
11.5 |
11.5 |
11.7 |
11.7 |
11.7 |
||
EPS - normalised (c) |
|
|
37 |
43 |
28 |
41 |
48 |
52 |
EPS - normalised fully diluted (c) |
|
|
34 |
41 |
28 |
40 |
47 |
51 |
EPS - (IFRS) (c) |
|
|
45 |
40 |
36 |
33 |
43 |
46 |
Dividend per share (c) |
18.2 |
22.7 |
22.7 |
25.0 |
26.0 |
27.0 |
||
Gross margin (%) |
51.9 |
52.7 |
51.4 |
52.6 |
53.6 |
53.7 |
||
EBITDA Margin (%) |
11.4 |
11.9 |
9.8 |
10.8 |
11.2 |
11.4 |
||
Operating Margin (before GW and except) (%) |
9.2 |
10.0 |
7.9 |
9.5 |
10.2 |
10.4 |
||
BALANCE SHEET |
||||||||
Fixed Assets |
|
|
18,570 |
17,850 |
18,019 |
18,132 |
23,617 |
23,302 |
Intangible Assets |
16,621 |
15,370 |
15,078 |
14,692 |
20,177 |
19,862 |
||
Tangible Assets |
1,154 |
1,118 |
1,249 |
1,361 |
1,361 |
1,361 |
||
Other |
795 |
1,362 |
1,692 |
2,079 |
2,079 |
2,079 |
||
Current Assets |
|
|
36,769 |
34,914 |
34,892 |
38,946 |
39,128 |
42,418 |
Stocks |
1,388 |
1,451 |
1,820 |
2,075 |
2,175 |
2,275 |
||
Debtors |
19,562 |
18,642 |
20,768 |
27,791 |
28,888 |
30,610 |
||
Cash |
15,819 |
14,821 |
12,304 |
9,080 |
8,066 |
9,533 |
||
Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Current Liabilities |
|
|
(20,651) |
(17,864) |
(17,451) |
(18,349) |
(21,440) |
(21,432) |
Creditors |
(15,155) |
(14,512) |
(15,297) |
(17,528) |
(20,619) |
(20,611) |
||
Short term borrowings |
(5,496) |
(3,352) |
(2,154) |
(821) |
(821) |
(821) |
||
Long Term Liabilities |
|
|
(8,666) |
(6,965) |
(6,491) |
(5,105) |
(5,105) |
(5,105) |
Long term borrowings |
(4,301) |
(2,896) |
(1,685) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Other long term liabilities |
(4,365) |
(4,069) |
(4,806) |
(5,105) |
(5,105) |
(5,105) |
||
Net Assets |
|
|
26,022 |
27,935 |
28,969 |
33,624 |
36,201 |
39,183 |
CASH FLOW |
||||||||
Operating Cash Flow |
|
|
2,760 |
7,630 |
5,404 |
2,412 |
9,194 |
7,298 |
Net Interest |
(37) |
(435) |
(249) |
(151) |
(100) |
(100) |
||
Tax |
64 |
(1,615) |
(1,344) |
(1,461) |
(1,273) |
(1,379) |
||
Capex |
(405) |
(483) |
(615) |
(763) |
(720) |
(720) |
||
Acquisitions/disposals |
(8,450) |
19 |
0 |
0 |
(5,200) |
(600) |
||
Financing |
1,690 |
(755) |
(597) |
2,215 |
0 |
0 |
||
Dividends |
0 |
(2,107) |
(2,615) |
(2,678) |
(2,915) |
(3,032) |
||
Net Cash Flow |
(4,378) |
2,254 |
(16) |
(426) |
(1,014) |
1,468 |
||
Opening net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(10,266) |
(6,023) |
(8,575) |
(8,465) |
(8,259) |
(7,245) |
HP finance leases initiated |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Other |
135 |
298 |
(94) |
220 |
(0) |
0 |
||
Closing net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(6,023) |
(8,575) |
(8,465) |
(8,259) |
(7,245) |
(8,712) |
Source: TXT e-solutions, Edison Investment Research
|