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Research: TMT
TXT e-solutions
TXT e-solutions |
Steady growth in Q3 |
Q3 results |
Software & comp services |
11 November 2016 |
Share price performance
Business description
Next events
Analysts
TXT e-solutions is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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TXT reported a strong set of results for Q316: organic growth in both businesses was boosted by the contribution from April’s acquisition of Pace, resulting in 49% growth in EBITDA y-o-y. We have revised our forecasts to reflect a lower cost base in FY16 and slightly higher tax rates in both years; we raise FY16 EPS by 6.4% and trim FY17 EPS by 2.4%. The company is making good progress in its efforts to internationalise the business and we believe it may make further bolt-on acquisitions.
Year |
Revenue (€m) |
PBT* |
EPS* |
DPS |
P/E |
Yield |
12/14 |
54.4 |
4.0 |
0.28 |
0.23 |
27.7 |
3.0 |
12/15 |
61.5 |
5.7 |
0.40 |
0.25 |
19.0 |
3.3 |
12/16e |
69.3 |
7.7 |
0.50 |
0.26 |
15.2 |
3.4 |
12/17e |
74.7 |
7.6 |
0.50 |
0.27 |
15.4 |
3.5 |
Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.
Growth for both businesses in Q3
TXT reported Q316 y-o-y revenue growth of 18.5% (7.2% organic); TXT Retail grew 5.1% and TXT Next grew 37.9% (10.3% organic growth plus a €1.6m contribution from Pace). Lower than expected operating expenses resulted in EBITDA of €2.4m (margin 14.3% vs 11.4% in Q315 and 11.7% in Q216). The company ended Q316 with a net cash position of €2.7m. International revenues made up 62% of the total, helped by the inclusion of Pace and customer wins by the original TXT Next business across Europe.
Outlook and changes to forecasts
Management expects a positive business development in Q416, although it highlighted the difficulty in forecasting the timing of contract wins for TXT Retail in particular. We have revised our FY16 forecasts to reflect Q3 performance – this results in a 1.3% reduction in revenues but a 6.4% boost to normalised EPS. In FY17, a slightly higher tax rate results in a 2.4% cut to EPS.
Valuation: International expansion to drive upside
On our revised earnings forecasts, TXT trades at an EV/Sales and P/E premium to European IT services companies, but at a discount to specialist supply chain planning (SCP) software suppliers. Based on the growth and profitability profiles of both groups, we would expect TXT to trade somewhere in the middle of the two groups. With the addition of Pace, the mix of revenues is shifting in favour of higher-margin licence sales, which should drive up valuation multiples over time. We also note a forecast dividend yield of more than 3%. Triggers for share price appreciation include large licence wins in TXT Retail, evidence of growing North American and Asia Pacific market share and further international wins in TXT Next.
Review of Q316 results
Exhibit 1: Quarterly results highlights
Q316a |
Q315a |
Change |
|
Revenues |
16.9 |
14.3 |
18.5% |
TXT Retail |
8.9 |
8.4 |
5.1% |
TXT Next |
8.0 |
5.8 |
37.9% |
Gross margin |
54.2% |
52.5% |
1.7% |
EBITDA |
2.4 |
1.6 |
49.0% |
EBITDA margin |
14.3% |
11.4% |
2.9% |
Normalised EBIT |
2.2 |
1.4 |
61.4% |
Normalised EBIT margin |
13.3% |
9.7% |
3.5% |
Reported EBIT |
2.1 |
1.3 |
58.1% |
Reported EBIT margin |
12.3% |
9.3% |
3.1% |
Net cash |
2.7 |
9.4 |
-71.7% |
Source: TXT e-solutions, Edison Investment Research
For Q316, TXT reported y-o-y revenue growth of 18.5%, with 5.1% growth from TXT Retail and 37.9% growth from TXT Next. Stripping out the €1.6m revenue contribution from the Pace acquisition, underlying TXT Next revenues grew 10.3% y-o-y (vs 9.5% organic growth in Q216 and 7.4% in Q116). As Pace contributes software revenues to TXT Next, which was previously mainly a services business, the group gross margin increased by 1.7 percentage points y-o-y. Operating expenses in Q3 were €1.3m lower than in Q2 (excluding acquisition-related costs incurred in Q2). This resulted from a combination of currency effects (UK-related costs became slightly cheaper) and a slower ramp in headcount in TXT Retail. This resulted in a 49% increase in EBITDA and a 2.9 percentage point increase in EBITDA margin y-o-y.
The company reported a tax rate of 26% for Q316 and 24% for 9M16. Net cash at the end of Q316 stood at €2.7m compared to €0.5m at the end of H116.
Business update
TXT Retail – raising the profile
In Q3, TXT Retail signed new contracts with customers including GiFi (French multi-channel retailer with 400 home and family stores), WE Fashion (Dutch fashion retailer with 240 shops across the Netherlands, Germany and France), Brunello Cucinelli (Italian cashmere clothing and accessory retailer selling across all continents), Christian Dior (France), and Cotton-on (Australian fashion retailer with 1,200 stores across Australia, Asia, South Africa and the US).
In September Gartner released an update of the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Merchandise Assortment Management Applications. Last year TXT was placed in the Leader category (high ability to execute, high completeness of vision). In Gartner’s own words, TXT moved significantly up the ‘Ability to Execute’ category over the last year. We believe this should help raise the company’s profile, particularly in the US, and should increase the likelihood of the company being asked to quote.
TXT Next – strong growth
The Pace integration is on track and Pace continues to win new business. It recently signed a contract with Icelandair to equip its entire fleet with Pace’s Flight Profile Optimizer fuel efficiency software. The original TXT Next business also continues to generate strong growth, with customer wins in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.
Outlook and changes to estimates
Management anticipates a positive business development in Q416 for both divisions, but highlighted that forecasting for TXT Retail in particular is difficult.
For FY16, we have revised our forecasts to reflect the revenues achieved in Q3 and reduced our TXT Retail Q4 estimate, while slightly increasing our TXT Next estimate. We have also reflected the lower level of operating costs.
For FY17, our revenue forecasts are substantially unchanged, hence our EBITDA forecast is unchanged.
In both years, we have increased our tax rate assumption from 20% to 22%. For the nine months to September 2016, TXT reported a 24% tax rate. The effective rate will depend on the geographies in which profits are generated, as well as the availability of tax losses in certain regions.
Overall, our FY16 normalised EPS forecast increases by 6.4%, as the reduction in operating costs more than offsets the higher tax rate. In FY17, with EBITDA unchanged, the tax rate increase reduces our normalised EPS forecast by 2.4%.
Exhibit 2: Changes to forecasts
FY16e old |
FY16e new |
change |
y-o-y |
FY17e old |
FY17e new |
change |
y-o-y |
|
Revenues (€m) |
70.2 |
69.3 |
-1.3% |
12.7% |
74.5 |
74.7 |
0.2% |
7.7% |
TXT Retail |
37.5 |
36.3 |
-3.0% |
-0.9% |
39.0 |
39.0 |
0.0% |
7.3% |
TXT Next |
32.8 |
33.0 |
0.7% |
32.7% |
35.5 |
35.7 |
0.5% |
8.1% |
Gross margin |
53.1% |
53.3% |
0.2% |
53.6% |
53.3% |
-0.2% |
||
Gross profit |
37.3 |
37.0 |
-1.0% |
14.3% |
39.9 |
39.8 |
-0.2% |
7.8% |
EBITDA (€m) |
7.9 |
8.5 |
7.1% |
27.0% |
8.5 |
8.5 |
0.0% |
0.6% |
EBITDA margin |
11.2% |
12.2% |
1.0% |
11.4% |
11.4% |
0.0% |
||
Normalised EBIT (€m) |
7.1 |
7.8 |
8.8% |
33.6% |
7.7 |
7.7 |
0.0% |
-0.9% |
Normalised EBIT margin |
10.2% |
11.2% |
1.0% |
10.3% |
10.3% |
0.0% |
||
Normalised net income (€m) |
5.5 |
5.9 |
6.3% |
24.2% |
6.0 |
5.8 |
-2.6% |
-1.2% |
Normalised EPS (€) |
0.47 |
0.50 |
6.4% |
24.9% |
0.51 |
0.50 |
-2.4% |
-1.2% |
Reported basic EPS (€) |
0.39 |
0.45 |
15.2% |
34.3% |
0.43 |
0.42 |
-2.4% |
-5.7% |
Net cash (€m) |
2.3 |
2.7 |
18.2% |
-67.7% |
4.2 |
4.0 |
-3.7% |
50.5% |
Dividend (€) |
0.26 |
0.26 |
0.0% |
4.0% |
0.27 |
0.27 |
0.0% |
3.8% |
Source: Edison Investment Research
Exhibit 3: 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 |
69,341 |
74,673 |
Cost of sales |
(22,351) |
(24,854) |
(26,455) |
(29,189) |
(32,380) |
(34,837) |
||
Gross profit |
24,148 |
27,706 |
27,955 |
32,351 |
36,962 |
39,836 |
||
EBITDA |
|
|
5,322 |
6,263 |
5,324 |
6,659 |
8,455 |
8,506 |
Operating Profit (before amort and except) |
|
|
4,283 |
5,241 |
4,284 |
5,820 |
7,775 |
7,706 |
Amortisation of acquired intangibles |
0 |
(285) |
(285) |
(285) |
(549) |
(637) |
||
Exceptionals and other income |
939 |
0 |
1,468 |
0 |
(300) |
0 |
||
Other income |
0 |
0 |
0 |
(740) |
0 |
(500) |
||
Operating Profit |
5,222 |
4,956 |
5,467 |
4,795 |
6,926 |
6,569 |
||
Net Interest |
(37) |
(435) |
(249) |
(151) |
(100) |
(100) |
||
Profit Before Tax (norm) |
|
|
4,246 |
4,806 |
4,035 |
5,669 |
7,675 |
7,606 |
Profit Before Tax (FRS 3) |
|
|
5,185 |
4,521 |
5,218 |
4,644 |
6,826 |
6,469 |
Tax |
(188) |
121 |
(1,046) |
(762) |
(1,502) |
(1,423) |
||
Profit After Tax (norm) |
4,092 |
4,927 |
3,226 |
4,739 |
5,986 |
5,933 |
||
Profit After Tax (FRS 3) |
4,997 |
4,642 |
4,172 |
3,882 |
5,324 |
5,046 |
||
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 |
50 |
50 |
EPS - normalised fully diluted (c) |
|
|
34 |
41 |
28 |
40 |
50 |
50 |
EPS - (IFRS) (c) |
|
|
45 |
40 |
36 |
33 |
45 |
42 |
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 |
53.3 |
53.3 |
||
EBITDA Margin (%) |
11.4 |
11.9 |
9.8 |
10.8 |
12.2 |
11.4 |
||
Operating Margin (before GW and except) (%) |
9.2 |
10.0 |
7.9 |
9.5 |
11.2 |
10.3 |
||
BALANCE SHEET |
||||||||
Fixed Assets |
|
|
18,570 |
17,850 |
18,019 |
18,132 |
23,473 |
22,856 |
Intangible Assets |
16,621 |
15,370 |
15,078 |
14,692 |
19,913 |
19,246 |
||
Tangible Assets |
1,154 |
1,118 |
1,249 |
1,361 |
1,481 |
1,531 |
||
Other |
795 |
1,362 |
1,692 |
2,079 |
2,079 |
2,079 |
||
Current Assets |
|
|
36,769 |
34,914 |
34,892 |
38,946 |
38,741 |
42,381 |
Stocks |
1,388 |
1,451 |
1,820 |
2,075 |
2,175 |
2,275 |
||
Debtors |
19,562 |
18,642 |
20,768 |
27,791 |
28,496 |
30,688 |
||
Cash |
15,819 |
14,821 |
12,304 |
9,080 |
8,070 |
9,418 |
||
Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Current Liabilities |
|
|
(20,651) |
(17,864) |
(17,451) |
(18,349) |
(21,778) |
(22,294) |
Creditors |
(15,155) |
(14,512) |
(15,297) |
(17,528) |
(17,778) |
(18,294) |
||
Short term borrowings |
(5,496) |
(3,352) |
(2,154) |
(821) |
(4,000) |
(4,000) |
||
Long Term Liabilities |
|
|
(8,666) |
(6,965) |
(6,491) |
(5,105) |
(6,505) |
(6,505) |
Long term borrowings |
(4,301) |
(2,896) |
(1,685) |
0 |
(1,400) |
(1,400) |
||
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 |
33,932 |
36,438 |
CASH FLOW |
||||||||
Operating Cash Flow |
|
|
2,760 |
7,630 |
5,404 |
2,412 |
7,299 |
7,331 |
Net Interest |
(37) |
(435) |
(249) |
(151) |
(100) |
(100) |
||
Tax |
64 |
(1,615) |
(1,344) |
(1,461) |
(1,502) |
(1,423) |
||
Capex |
(405) |
(483) |
(615) |
(763) |
(770) |
(820) |
||
Acquisitions/disposals |
(8,450) |
19 |
0 |
0 |
(5,430) |
(600) |
||
Financing |
1,690 |
(755) |
(597) |
2,215 |
(530) |
0 |
||
Dividends |
0 |
(2,107) |
(2,615) |
(2,678) |
(2,931) |
(3,040) |
||
Net Cash Flow |
(4,378) |
2,254 |
(16) |
(426) |
(3,964) |
1,348 |
||
Opening net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(10,266) |
(6,023) |
(8,575) |
(8,465) |
(8,259) |
(2,670) |
HP finance leases initiated |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
Other |
135 |
298 |
(94) |
220 |
(1,625) |
(0) |
||
Closing net debt/(cash) |
|
|
(6,023) |
(8,575) |
(8,465) |
(8,259) |
(2,670) |
(4,018) |
Source: TXT e-solutions, Edison Investment Research
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