Aspo - High and resilient EBIT

Aspo’s Q4 adj. EBIT reached EUR 13.9m; we believe ESL’s and Telko’s results are resilient while the guidance doesn’t appear to set the bar very high either for H1 or H2.

Q4 adj. EBIT was very high, outlook still favorable for H1’22

Aspo Q4 revenue grew by 27% y/y to EUR 160m, somewhat above the EUR 153m/148m Evli/cons. estimates. The EUR 13.9m adj. EBIT was clearly above the EUR 10.8m estimates. Aspo’s H2’21 involved, in essence, a couple of positive profit warnings as there were a few impairment losses which burdened the headline EBIT. The cargo market situation was well-known and hence another record ESL EBIT was in the cards; we expect some long-term pressure on the 16.5% ESL H2 EBIT margin, although based on Aspo’s comments there shouldn’t be any imminent negative factors. Forest, steel, and energy industries continue to drive robust cargo volumes also in H1’22. Telko’s EBIT was a bit soft relative to our estimate but still amounted to a very decent 6% margin. Leipurin recorded an impairment loss of EUR 4.3m, but other than that the results were much as we expected.

We estimate EBIT well above EUR 40m in the coming years

The spot market for large vessels has slipped a bit from the recent tops, yet ESL’s focus means results should be resilient even in the face of a marked drop. The geopolitical tensions, should they happen to escalate, would cast some uncertainty around the short-term performance of Telko and Leipurin, but in our view any major long-term adverse effects would be unlikely given the fact that both have a history of operating in challenging Eastern European countries. In our opinion the flat EBIT guidance appears conservative, especially considering the relatively undemanding H1’21 comparison figures and the fact that ESL’s strong H2’21 performance should extend itself well this year. We make only minor estimate revisions; our new FY ’22 EBIT estimate is EUR 43.4m (prev. EUR 42.4m).

Modest multiples given the guidance and LT positioning

We find Aspo’s current valuation level undemanding, not much more than 6x EV/EBITDA and 10x EV/EBIT on our FY ’22 estimates, especially when we view a positive profit warning much more likely than a negative one. We believe ESL can well beat our estimates and our 5.8% EBIT estimate for Telko isn’t that high either. We retain our EUR 14 TP and BUY rating.

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