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Through a programme of investment in systems and staff, CentralNic deliver 39% organic revenue growth in FY21, with gross revenues rising 71% y-o-y to US$411m. Net revenues rose 58% to US$118m, with gross margins easing to 29% (FY20: 31%). Adjusted EBITDA rose 57% to US$46m, with margins falling to 11.3% (FY20: 12.2%). Tightening margins are a factor of changing product mix, with the privacy-safe Online Marketing division growing 133% y-o-y versus 17% for Online Presence. CentralNic has also completed the €60m acquisition of VGL, a product comparison website, funded by a £42m placing (at 120p per share), a €21m bond issue, with a £3m open offer outstanding.
CentralNic Group |
VGL acquisition follows a strong FY21 |
FY21 results and M&A |
Software & comp services |
9 March 2022 |
Share price performance
Business description
Next events
Analysts
CentralNic Group is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
Through a programme of investment in systems and staff, CentralNic deliver 39% organic revenue growth in FY21, with gross revenues rising 71% y-o-y to US$411m. Net revenues rose 58% to US$118m, with gross margins easing to 29% (FY20: 31%). Adjusted EBITDA rose 57% to US$46m, with margins falling to 11.3% (FY20: 12.2%). Tightening margins are a factor of changing product mix, with the privacy-safe Online Marketing division growing 133% y-o-y versus 17% for Online Presence. CentralNic has also completed the €60m acquisition of VGL, a product comparison website, funded by a £42m placing (at 120p per share), a €21m bond issue, with a £3m open offer outstanding.
Year end |
Revenue (US$m) |
Adjusted EBITDA* (US$m) |
PBT* |
EPS* |
DPS |
P/E |
12/20 |
240.0 |
29.4 |
18.6 |
10.0 |
- |
16.9 |
12/21 |
410.5 |
46.3 |
31.9 |
11.8 |
- |
14.3 |
12/22e** |
516.1 |
60.6 |
46.3 |
15.4 |
- |
10.9 |
12/23e** |
605.2 |
69.9 |
57.0 |
17.3 |
- |
9.7 |
Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items, share-based payments and non-core operating expenses. **FY22e and FY23e EPS figures reflect 268.7m voting shares in issue (post-placing).
VGL funded by placing, bond issue and open offer
VGL is CentralNic’s largest acquisition to date and completed on 7 March 2022. It is an online marketing business working principally with German e-commerce companies and delivered 65% organic growth in FY21 and US$55m in sales. CentralNic has paid €60m upfront (net of cash), with an earn-out of up to €38m payable over the next three years. The initial acquisition multiples are 1.2x historic sales and 6.2x EV/adjusted EBITDA. The acquisition lifts CentralNic’s unaudited FY21 proforma revenues to US$471m and adjusted EBITDA to US$58m and is expected to lead to ‘double-digit’ earnings enhancement for FY22, before synergies. The acquisition has been funded by a £42m placing at 120p per share, as well as a €21m bond issue, with a £3m open offer outstanding.
Raised estimates reflect growth of Online Marketing
Even before considering VGL, Online Marketing represented 64% of FY21 gross revenues and 55% of net revenues. Reflecting the continuing strong growth of Online Marketing, FY21 growth of 133% y-o-y versus 17% for Online Presence, we are raising our estimates for FY22/23. Including VGL (FY21 revenues of US$55m, EBITDA of US$11m), forecast gross revenues rise 23% and 33% to US$516m and US$605m in FY22 and FY23, respectively, delivering adjusted EBITDA of US$61m and US$70m.
Valuation: Growth at a reasonable price
On our updated estimates, CentralNic trades on an FY22 P/E of 10.9x and on 8.7x FY22 EV/adjusted EBITDA, markedly below its peer group. It has a seven-year revenue CAGR of 73%, putting it in the top 50 fastest growing technology companies in Europe (FT, 2022). CentralNic offers strong growth, with our estimate of 26% revenue growth for FY22, cash conversion over 100% and recurring revenue products contributing over 99% of total gross revenues.
FY21 results
Strong growth driven by Online Marketing
CentralNic’s FY21 results confirm what was disclosed in the two trading updates since year end. Driven by its investment programme, CentralNic delivered 39% organic revenue growth, with FY21 gross revenues rising 71% to US$411m (FY20: US$240m). Net revenues rose 58% to US$118m (FY20: US$75m), with gross margins stepping down to 29% (FY20: 31%). Adjusted EBITDA rose 57% to US$46m (FY20: US$31m), with margins contracting to 11.3% (FY20: 12.2%). The reason for the tightening margins was the continuing growth of its privacy-safe Online Marketing solution, with revenues growing 133% y-o-y (to US$261.3m) versus 17% for Online Presence (to US$149.3m). Online Marketing now represents 64% of group revenues and 55% of gross profits (before VGL), with gross margins of 25% versus 36% for Online Presence.
On a statutory basis, CentralNic reported an FY21 PBT of US$1.6m (FY20: loss of US$11.8m), leading to a loss after tax of US$3.5m (FY20: loss of US$10.9m) and a basic EPS loss of 1.6 cents (FY20: loss of 5.5 cents). This compares to FY21 adjusted PAT of US$26.8m (FY20: US$19.6m) and FY21 adjusted EPS of 11.8 cents (FY20: 10.0 cents). We include the 16.9m remaining shares held by the employee benefit trust in the fully diluted EPS, but because they are non-voting shares, we do not include them in the basic EPS calculation.
Given the c US$30m difference between reported and adjusted earnings in FY21, we note that adjusted earnings exclude non-cash charges and non-core operating expenses related primarily to acquisitions, integration and other related costs not incurred as part of the underlying trading performance of the group. The primary adjustments relate to amortisation of intangibles, non-core operating expenses and share-based payments (Note 7 to the accounts).
CentralNic reported adjusted operating cash conversion of 116%, with recurring revenue products contributing over 99% of revenues. This strong cash conversion contributed to a fall in net debt to US$75m (gross interest-bearing debt of US$131m, cash of US$56m) from US$85m for FY20, despite CentralNic making four acquisitions with a combined value of US$18m in FY21 and the settlement of US$2m of deferred consideration.
Management expects to continue its M&A-driven strategy, consolidating a large, global and fragmented market.
Segmental analysis: Online Marketing and Online Presence
The group’s segmental reporting has simplified considerably over the last few years, with CentralNic now reporting on two core divisions:
■
Online Presence, which incorporates CentralNic’s Indirect segment, the wholesale and registry businesses, selling to domain name retailers, as well as the group’s direct segment, which incorporates the small business and enterprise segments.
■
Online Marketing, incorporating the domain monetisation and performance advertising business for domain investors. Online Marketing was only established in December 2019, with the acquisition of Team Internet. However, since then, through strong organic growth (FY21: 65%), together with a range of acquisitions (including Zeropark, Voluum, Wando Internet and most recently Fireball Search and NameAction), Online Marketing now represents 64% of group revenue and 55% of net revenues.
Exhibit 1: FY21 net revenue split |
Exhibit 2: FY21 geographical split |
Source: CentralNic |
Source: CentralNic. Note: The chart shows channel partner location and not the breakdown of end users. |
Exhibit 1: FY21 net revenue split |
Source: CentralNic |
Exhibit 2: FY21 geographical split |
Source: CentralNic. Note: The chart shows channel partner location and not the breakdown of end users. |
■
Online Presence. FY21 gross revenues of US$149m, 17% growth, 9% organic growth. Growth was led by the group’s wholesale and enterprise segments, with enterprise benefiting from the SafeBrands acquisition (January 2021). The average annual revenue per domain increased from US$9.02 to US$9.24, with value-added service revenue rising by 8.3% in FY21.
■
Online Marketing. FY21 gross revenues of US$261m, 133% growth, 65% organic growth. Growth was predominantly driven by CentralNic’s PubTONIC media buying business (part of the Team Internet acquisition in December 2019), with the M&A-driven growth arising from the full-year impact of the Zeropark and Voluum acquisitions in September 2020 and the acquisitions of Wando and the White & Case website portfolio in FY21. Importantly, none of CentralNic’s marketing platforms use third-party cookies or collect personal data. As the provider of an alternative means of online monetisation, CentralNic hopes to benefit from any ban by Google on third-party cookies and App Tracking Transparency in Apple's iOS 14.5. Revenue per thousand sessions increased by 36% y-o-y from US$48 to US$65.
VGL acquisition: Earnings and margin enhancing
VGL Verlagsgesellschaft (VGL) is CentralNic’s largest acquisition to date, lifting CentralNic’s FY21 pro forma revenues and EBITDA to US$471m and US$58m, respectively.
Exhibit 3: Pro forma FY21 gross revenue breakdown by segment (post-VGL) |
Source: CentralNIc, Edison Investment Research |
VGL is an online marketing business working principally with German e-commerce companies that delivered 65% organic growth in FY21. Management expects future annual growth to be above that for the CentralNic group, but slightly below that of the Online Marketing division. With FY21 gross revenues of US$55.3m and adjusted EBITDA of US$10.9m, FY21 margins were 19.7%, significantly above CentralNic group margins (FY21: 11.3%) and those for Online Marketing.
CentralNic has paid €60m upfront (net of cash on the VGL balance sheet), with an earn-out of up to €38m payable over the next three years. The acquisition multiples for the initial consideration are 1.2x FY21 sales and 6.2x FY21 EV/adjusted EBITDA. Management expects the deal to be ‘double-digit’ earnings enhancing for FY22, before synergies.
The acquisition has been funded through a £42m placing at 120p per share, as well as a €21m bond issue, together with a £3m open offer (due to complete on 21 March 2022, also at 120p per share), Together, these have funded the €67m initial cash consideration, with the earn-out expected to be funded from operating cash flows.
The placing has led to the issue of 35m new shares (with a further 2.5m due to be issued under the open offer), taking the total number of voting shares to 269.2m (286.6m fully diluted, including 17.4m non-voting shares held by the employee benefit trust). In total, the new shares will represent c 14% of the enlarged voting share capital.
Bond refinancing could lead to US$2.5m of annualised savings
At 31 December 2021, CentralNic had US$117m of outstanding bonds. With a further c US$23m added through the acquisition of VGL, there are a total of US$140m of bonds outstanding post-VGL. Management has indicated there is an opportunity to refinance these bonds between H222 and Q123. The bonds were issued in 2019 when the group was smaller and less well established, with a coupon of 7% above Euribor. As such, management hopes to attract considerably better financing terms, with recent tap issues confirming demand at a 5% coupon and below. A saving of 2% on US$140m of bonds would equate to annual interest savings of over US$2.5m.
Estimates updated for growth of Online Marketing
Despite the early stage of the year, management guidance is for FY22 revenues and adjusted EBITDA at or above the high end of analyst expectations (FY22 revenues US$469m and adjusted EBITDA US$51m), before factoring in the impact of the VGL acquisition, which delivered FY21 revenues of US$55m and adjusted EBITDA of US$11m. In line with management guidance, and incorporating VGL, we have updated our estimates for FY22/23.
Exhibit 4: Edison’s revised estimates
Year end 31 December US$'000 |
Actual |
Change (%) |
Old |
New |
Change (%) |
Old |
New |
Change (%) |
Gross revenue |
410,540 |
70% |
420,183 |
516,125 |
23% |
453,797 |
605,201 |
33% |
Net revenue |
118,499 |
55% |
138,660 |
144,515 |
4% |
149,753 |
166,430 |
11% |
Adj. EBITDA |
46,251 |
51% |
48,006 |
60,634 |
26% |
51,846 |
69,888 |
35% |
Profit before tax (norm) |
31,939 |
61% |
33,635 |
46,316 |
38% |
37,181 |
56,990 |
53% |
Profit before tax (reported) |
1,555 |
14,174 |
15,361 |
21,413 |
28,143 |
|||
Reported tax |
(5,097) |
(5,437) |
(5,986) |
(6,424) |
(10,429) |
|||
Net income (normalised) |
26,842 |
29% |
28,198 |
40,329 |
43% |
30,757 |
46,561 |
51% |
Basic average number of shares outstanding (m) |
227,381 |
16% |
230,381 |
261,321 |
13% |
230,381 |
268,692 |
17% |
EPS - basic normalised (c) |
11.80 |
12% |
12.24 |
15.43 |
26% |
13.35 |
17.33 |
30% |
*EPS - diluted normalised (c) |
10.69 |
5% |
11.16 |
14.35 |
29% |
12.17 |
16.15 |
33% |
Revenue growth (%) |
71.0 |
9.4 |
25.7 |
8.0 |
17.3 |
|||
Gross margin (%) |
28.9 |
33.0 |
28.0 |
33.0 |
27.5 |
|||
Adj. EBITDA margin (%) |
11.3 |
11.4 |
11.7 |
11.4 |
11.5 |
|||
Capex |
(3,555) |
(17)% |
(4,747) |
(5,830) |
23% |
(5,126) |
(6,837) |
33% |
Closing net debt/(cash) |
74,975 |
(12)% |
59,873 |
68,359 |
14% |
30,690 |
35,526 |
16% |
Source: CentralNic accounts, Edison Investment Research. Note: *Edison assumes a total of 288.4m fully-diluted shares (after the placing), including employee benefit trust shares in the fully-diluted EPS calculation.
As a result, we have revised our estimates, reflecting the following principal changes:
■
Gross revenue growth. We have raised our organic growth rate for CentralNic in FY22 and FY23 from 10.0% to 12.5%, having updated the FY21 revenue run-rate for the strong end to the year. Including VGL, this translates to a 23% rise in our FY22 gross revenue estimate to US$516m, with a 33% rise in FY23 to US$605m.
■
Gross margin. CentralNic’s FY21 gross margin was 28.9%, meaningfully below our prior FY22 forecast of 33%. We have decreased our FY22 gross margin to 28.0%, with FY23 at 27.5%, assuming a degree of ongoing group margin erosion as Online Marketing continues to outgrow Online Presence.
■
Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margins. Despite our base assumption for ongoing margin erosion as long as Online Marketing continues to outgrow Online Presence, we have raised our FY22 margin assumption to 11.7% (from 11.3% in FY21) and 11.5% in FY23 to reflect the higher margin contribution from VGL (FY21: 20%). This leads to an FY22 adjusted EBITDA of US$61m (26% increase) and US$70m in FY23 (35% increase).
■
We assume operating cash conversion of 110–120% for FY22/23.
M&A: Continued consolidation of a fragmented market
In our note, A scaling player in online services, we discussed the first three acquisitions of FY21: SafeBrands (Direct), a French-based brand protection software provider for US$3.7m (plus a US$0.7m earn-out); Wando Internet Solutions (Online Marketing), for US$13.0m in cash (including a US$6.5m earn-out); and a publishing network of revenue generating websites from White & Case for US$6.5m in cash (Online Marketing).
CentralNic completed one more acquisition in FY21, with two further small deals in FY22:
■
NameAction (December 2021):
■
CentralNic acquired the assets of NameAction, a domain name and brand protection business based in Chile, for US$1m in cash. Management expects NameAction to provide a springboard for CentralNic to expand in Latin America, contributing c US$2m in annual recurring revenues and US$0.2m in adjusted EBITDA from FY22 and implying acquisition multiples of 0.5x sales and 5x adjusted EBITDA.
■
Fireball Search (February 2022): the Fireball Search and .ruhr top-level domain (TLD) deals were acquired for a total cash consideration of €0.5m, at multiples of c 0.3x sales and c 0.6x EBITDA. Fireball was the leading search engine in Germany before it was bought by Lycos Europe in 2000. It was relaunched as an independent company in 2016. Fireball offers new traffic sources for CentralNic to monetise and adds alternative monetisation channels to generate revenues from internet traffic.
■
.ruhr TLD (February 2022): .ruhr is the geographical TLD for the area around the river Ruhr in Germany, with c 50 cities, including Dortmund and Essen, roughly five million inhabitants and c 10k registered domain names. .ruhr will be fully managed by CentralNic, alongside existing regional TLDs, .saarland and .London, as part of CentralNic’s expanding portfolio of geographic TLDs. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of May 2022.
Valuation: Growth at a reasonable price
With a compelling mix of sticky revenues, strong cash conversion and high growth, CentralNic continues to offer an attractive balance of growth at a reasonable price.
In its latest 2022 index, the Financial Times listed CentralNic as one of the top 250 fastest-growing companies and among the top 50 fastest-growing technology companies in Europe, with a CAGR of 73% over the past seven years, since its AIM IPO.
Whether we compare CentralNic to web services (CentralNic’s Online Presence) or online marketing companies, the group continues to trade at a material discount to its peers, despite the growth it has delivered in FY21, organic growth of 39% and 71% overall revenue growth. Including VGL, we see FY22 revenues of US$522m, or 27% prospective growth year-on-year.
With the superior growth of Online Marketing, which we expect to continue for the foreseeable future, the group is leaning ever more heavily towards digital marketing. We have identified a combination of European and North American peers and are choosing to disregard the large-cap peers, focusing instead on those companies with an enterprise value below US$3bn (Exhibit 4).
Average current year sales growth for the peer group is c 17%, with average EV/EBITDA multiples of 11x and 9x for FY1 and FY2, respectively, and P/E multiples of 26x for FY1 and 21x for FY2. We estimate that CentralNic will deliver 26% sales growth in FY22 (post VGL), meaning it would offer amongst the strongest growth in the group and yet trades on an FY22 P/E multiple of 10.9x and an FY23 P/E multiple of 9.7x, a discount to the online marketing peer group averages of c 30%.
Exhibit 5: Online Marketing peer group
Year end |
Share price |
Quoted Ccy |
EV (US$m) |
Sales Growth FY1 (%) |
EBITDA margin FY1 (%) |
EBIT margin FY1 (%) |
EV/ sales FY1(x) |
EV/ sales FY2 (x) |
EV/ EBITDA FY1 (x) |
EV/ EBITDA FY2 (x) |
P/E 1FY (x) |
P/E 2FY (x) |
|
CentralNic Group |
Dec-22 |
128.5 |
GBp |
527.3 |
25.7 |
11.7 |
10.9 |
1.02 |
0.87 |
8.7 |
7.5 |
10.9 |
9.7 |
Online marketing peers |
|||||||||||||
Magnite |
Dec-22 |
12.7 |
USD |
2,166 |
29.3 |
32.3 |
10.4 |
4.0 |
3.3 |
12.5 |
9.8 |
16.9 |
12.4 |
Taboola.com |
Dec-22 |
5.6 |
USD |
1,277 |
21.4 |
12.3 |
1.7 |
0.8 |
0.7 |
6.2 |
5.3 |
NM |
34.9 |
PubMatic |
Dec-22 |
21.7 |
USD |
989 |
25.2 |
36.3 |
16.4 |
3.5 |
2.8 |
9.6 |
7.5 |
32.5 |
24.4 |
Media and Games Invest |
Dec-22 |
3.3 |
EUR |
757 |
20.9 |
28.1 |
17.8 |
2.3 |
2.0 |
8.1 |
6.8 |
15.1 |
12.7 |
Tremor International |
Dec-22 |
534.0 |
GBp |
738 |
8.5 |
41.3 |
25.8 |
2.0 |
1.7 |
4.8 |
4.7 |
9.9 |
8.4 |
dotDigital Group |
Jun-22 |
58.0 |
GBp |
180 |
9.4 |
32.5 |
22.1 |
2.1 |
1.9 |
6.6 |
6.1 |
14.7 |
14.1 |
Quinstreet Inc |
Jun-22 |
10.5 |
USD |
456 |
5.1 |
7.0 |
3.5 |
0.7 |
0.7 |
10.7 |
7.8 |
20.9 |
15.1 |
Viant Technology Inc |
Dec-21 |
7.4 |
USD |
435 |
29.8 |
15.8 |
(23.3) |
2.0 |
1.7 |
12.9 |
11.3 |
NM |
NM |
Dianomi PLC |
Dec-21 |
345.0 |
GBp |
127 |
NM |
8.2 |
7.8 |
2.7 |
2.1 |
32.3 |
25.1 |
46.2 |
35.8 |
AcuityAds Holdings Inc |
Dec-21 |
3.5 |
CAD |
97 |
16.0 |
17.1 |
9.2 |
1.0 |
0.8 |
5.9 |
5.7 |
18.8 |
24.1 |
Ad Pepper Media |
Dec-21 |
3.9 |
EUR |
70 |
7.7 |
15.9 |
11.6 |
2.3 |
2.1 |
14.6 |
11.2 |
55.7 |
32.5 |
Mean |
17 |
22 |
9 |
2.1 |
1.8 |
11 |
9 |
26 |
21 |
||||
Median |
18 |
17 |
10 |
2.1 |
1.9 |
10 |
7 |
19 |
20 |
Source: Refinitiv. Note: Priced at 8 March 2022; CentralNic estimates are from Edison Investment Research.
Given the group’s domain name and web services origins, we also look at international web services pers. Disregarding Verisign, which we include for completeness, the web services peer group in Exhibit 5 trades at average EV/sales multiples of 2.3x for FY1 and 2.1x for FY2 and EV/EBITDA multiples of 8x for FY1 and 7x FY2. In terms of P/E, the peer group trades at 16x for FY1 and 14x for FY2, with CentralNic trading at a c 30% discount.
Exhibit 6: Online Presence peer group
Year end |
Share price |
Quoted Ccy |
EV (US$m) |
Sales Growth FY1 (%) |
EBITDA margin FY1 (%) |
EBIT margin FY1 (%) |
EV/ sales FY1(x) |
EV/ sales FY2 (x) |
EV/ EBITDA FY1 (x) |
EV/ EBITDA FY2 (x) |
P/E 1FY (x) |
P/E 2FY (x) |
|
CentralNic Group |
Dec-22 |
128.5 |
GBp |
527.3 |
25.7 |
11.7 |
10.9 |
1.02 |
0.87 |
8.7 |
7.5 |
10.9 |
9.7 |
Web services / Online Presence peers |
|||||||||||||
Verisign |
Dec-22 |
217.9 |
USD |
24,582 |
8.2 |
66.8 |
65.0 |
17.1 |
15.5 |
25.6 |
21.4 |
36.1 |
29.9 |
GoDaddy |
Dec-22 |
80.5 |
USD |
16,111 |
8.9 |
22.5 |
11.6 |
3.9 |
3.5 |
17.2 |
15.2 |
37.7 |
29.2 |
Criteo |
Dec-22 |
29.7 |
USD |
1,273 |
13.0 |
31.1 |
21.2 |
1.2 |
1.1 |
3.9 |
3.5 |
9.7 |
8.5 |
Catena Media |
Dec-22 |
41.4 |
SEK |
384 |
16.1 |
46.8 |
39.2 |
2.2 |
2.1 |
4.8 |
4.3 |
8.0 |
6.9 |
iomart group |
Mar-22 |
151.6 |
GBp |
286 |
(5.9) |
36.8 |
17.6 |
2.1 |
2.0 |
5.6 |
5.6 |
12.1 |
12.2 |
R22 |
Jun-22 |
41.5 |
PLN |
173 |
NM |
26.6 |
21.3 |
2.2 |
2.0 |
8.1 |
7.4 |
14.3 |
13.4 |
Mean |
8 |
38 |
29 |
4.8 |
4.4 |
11 |
10 |
20 |
17 |
||||
Mean (ex Verisign) |
8 |
33 |
22 |
2.3 |
2.1 |
8 |
7 |
16 |
14 |
||||
Median |
9 |
34 |
21 |
2.2 |
2.0 |
7 |
7 |
13 |
13 |
Source: Refinitiv. Note: Priced at 8 March 2022; CentralNic estimates are from Edison Investment Research.
Exhibit 7: Financial summary
31-December |
US$’000 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022e |
2023e |
|
INCOME STATEMENT |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
IFRS |
||
Gross revenue |
|
|
109,194 |
240,012 |
410,540 |
516,125 |
605,201 |
Cost of Sales |
(66,419) |
(164,894) |
(292,041) |
(371,610) |
(438,771) |
||
Net revenue |
42,775 |
75,118 |
118,499 |
144,515 |
166,430 |
||
Adj. EBITDA |
|
|
17,921 |
29,394 |
46,251 |
60,634 |
69,888 |
Normalised operating profit |
|
|
16,615 |
27,310 |
42,737 |
56,216 |
64,708 |
Amortisation of acquired intangibles |
(8,299) |
(13,747) |
(18,291) |
(23,004) |
(23,347) |
||
Exceptionals |
(8,259) |
(10,529) |
(7,087) |
(4,000) |
- |
||
Share-based payments |
(2,878) |
(5,113) |
(5,006) |
- |
- |
||
Reported operating profit |
(2,821) |
(2,079) |
12,353 |
29,212 |
41,360 |
||
Net Interest |
(471) |
(8,693) |
(10,798) |
(9,900) |
(7,718) |
||
Joint ventures & associates (post tax) |
74 |
79 |
- |
- |
- |
||
Exceptionals |
- |
- |
- |
(3,950) |
(5,500) |
||
Profit Before Tax (norm) |
|
|
16,144 |
18,617 |
31,939 |
46,316 |
56,990 |
Profit Before Tax (reported) |
|
|
(6,616) |
(11,834) |
1,555 |
15,361 |
28,143 |
Reported tax |
39 |
975 |
(5,097) |
(5,986) |
(10,429) |
||
Profit After Tax (norm) |
16,119 |
19,592 |
26,842 |
40,329 |
46,561 |
||
Profit After Tax (reported) |
(6,577) |
(10,859) |
(3,542) |
9,375 |
17,713 |
||
Minority interests |
64 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
||
Discontinued operations |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
||
Net income (normalised) |
16,183 |
19,592 |
26,842 |
40,329 |
46,561 |
||
Net income (reported) |
(6,513) |
(10,859) |
(3,542) |
9,375 |
17,713 |
||
Basic average number of shares outstanding (m) |
175,084 |
196,680 |
227,381 |
261,321 |
268,692 |
||
EPS - basic normalised (c) |
|
|
9.24 |
9.96 |
11.80 |
15.43 |
17.33 |
EPS - diluted normalised (c) |
|
|
8.97 |
9.57 |
10.69 |
14.35 |
16.15 |
EPS - basic reported (c) |
|
|
(3.72) |
(5.52) |
(1.56) |
3.59 |
6.59 |
Dividend (c) |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
||
Revenue growth (%) |
155.9 |
119.8 |
71.0 |
25.7 |
17.3 |
||
Gross Margin (%) |
39.2 |
31.3 |
28.9 |
28.0 |
27.5 |
||
Adj. EBITDA Margin (%) |
16.4 |
12.2 |
11.3 |
11.7 |
11.5 |
||
Normalised Operating Margin |
15.2 |
11.4 |
10.4 |
10.9 |
10.7 |
||
BALANCE SHEET |
|||||||
Fixed Assets |
|
|
217,544 |
270,578 |
271,830 |
329,188 |
312,610 |
Intangible Assets |
206,055 |
255,716 |
254,169 |
313,364 |
298,351 |
||
Tangible and Right-of-use Assets |
6,427 |
8,677 |
8,601 |
6,764 |
5,638 |
||
Investments & other |
5,062 |
6,185 |
9,060 |
9,060 |
8,621 |
||
Current Assets |
|
|
67,433 |
77,606 |
128,391 |
158,527 |
192,432 |
Stocks |
491 |
1,011 |
895 |
895 |
1,967 |
||
Debtors |
40,760 |
47,941 |
71,363 |
71,363 |
71,363 |
||
Cash & cash equivalents |
26,182 |
28,654 |
56,133 |
86,269 |
119,102 |
||
Other |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
||
Current Liabilities |
|
|
(78,767) |
(96,421) |
(137,129) |
(130,710) |
(131,242) |
Creditors |
(75,683) |
(89,256) |
(117,016) |
(117,016) |
(117,016) |
||
Tax and social security |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
||
Short term borrowings |
(3,084) |
(7,165) |
(13,694) |
(13,694) |
(14,226) |
||
Other |
- |
- |
(6,419) |
- |
- |
||
Long Term Liabilities |
|
|
(129,206) |
(137,867) |
(149,110) |
(172,630) |
(172,630) |
Long term borrowings |
(102,799) |
(113,024) |
(124,356) |
(147,876) |
(147,876) |
||
Other long term liabilities |
(26,407) |
(24,843) |
(24,754) |
(24,754) |
(24,754) |
||
Net Assets |
|
|
77,004 |
113,896 |
113,982 |
184,376 |
201,170 |
Minority interests |
69 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
||
Shareholders' equity |
|
|
77,073 |
113,896 |
113,982 |
184,376 |
201,170 |
CASH FLOW |
|||||||
PBT |
(6,616) |
(11,834) |
1,555 |
15,361 |
28,143 |
||
Depreciation and amortisation |
9,605 |
15,831 |
21,805 |
27,422 |
28,528 |
||
Share-based payments |
2,878 |
5,113 |
5,006 |
- |
- |
||
Working capital |
8,963 |
4,129 |
1,503 |
- |
(1,072) |
||
Exceptional & other |
3,795 |
9,413 |
10,798 |
9,900 |
7,718 |
||
Tax |
(2,309) |
(1,957) |
(2,230) |
(5,986) |
(10,429) |
||
Net operating cash flow |
|
|
16,316 |
20,695 |
38,437 |
46,697 |
52,887 |
Capex |
(15,497) |
(4,259) |
(3,555) |
(5,830) |
(6,837) |
||
Acquisitions/disposals |
(63,840) |
(40,718) |
(20,063) |
(78,950) |
(5,500) |
||
Net interest |
(1,970) |
(9,512) |
(8,647) |
(9,900) |
(7,718) |
||
Equity financing |
2,133 |
34,667 |
- |
54,600 |
- |
||
Dividends |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
||
Other |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
||
Net Cash Flow |
(62,858) |
873 |
6,172 |
6,616 |
32,832 |
||
Opening net debt/(cash) |
|
|
2,115 |
74,998 |
84,985 |
74,975 |
68,359 |
FX |
(6,730) |
1,117 |
(2,718) |
- |
- |
||
Other non-cash movements |
(3,295) |
(11,977) |
6,556 |
- |
- |
||
Closing net debt/(cash) |
|
|
74,998 |
84,985 |
74,975 |
68,359 |
35,526 |
Source: Company accounts, Edison Investment Research
|
|
Research: TMT
CLIQ Digital showed strong profitable growth in its FY21 results, driven by increased marketing spend with a focus on direct media buying. Enriched content on its platform across all channels was also vital for developing its customer base, both in number and lifetime value. The company also announced a proposed 136% y-o-y rise in its dividend to €1.10 (c 5.5% yield), as a result of its strong trading and 40% payout policy. We have left our FY22 forecasts virtually unchanged from our last update and we now introduce our FY23 forecasts, showing our expectation for CLIQ’s positive momentum to continue into FY23.
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