Exel Composites - Improvement potential still exists
We continue to expect top line to grow at high single digits
Q4 top line, at EUR 26.6m, was flat y/y and a little soft compared to our EUR 27.8m estimate. This was due to Construction & Infrastructure, where Q4 revenue declined by 2% y/y to EUR 12.6m, while we expected EUR 14.3m. Q4 was thus a relatively slow quarter for the segment, as y/y revenue growth had amounted to 12% in Q3. Exel says there have been no changes to e.g. wind energy demand; there can be wide variations in quarterly figures. Industrial Applications’ Q4 revenue declined by 1% y/y to EUR 8.5m and so the figure was above our EUR 8.0m estimate. Other Applications’ Q4 revenue was in line with our EUR 5.5m estimate. Although Exel’s Q4 top line fell short of our estimate only slightly, adj. EBIT was only EUR 1.3m vs our EUR 2.3m estimate. The gap was due to other operating expenses, which were high at EUR 6.4m (had averaged EUR 5.4m in the last few quarters). Exel says the high expenses were due to items like temporary production plant overlap in China as well as certain production-related one-offs. We find no other surprises on the cost side as gross margin remained at a 60% level and employee expense share continued to decline (down by 200bps y/y to 28%). Order intake continued to increase by 9% y/y.
Exel guides increasing revenue as well as adj. EBIT for ‘20
Exel will likely record some EUR 15m capex in ’20 due to the production plant investment in Austria and residual payments related to a past Chinese acquisition. Overall, we continue to view Exel’s volume outlook favorable. We expect wind energy to provide further strong uplift this year. Exel highlights good volume potential in applications such as cable cores and certain defense-related equipment. With regards to profitability, cost savings measures by themselves should contribute another EUR 1m this year, following the EUR 2m achieved last year.
We see more upside as volume outlook remains good
Exel’s valuation (ca. 8x EV/EBITDA and 13x EV/EBIT ‘20e) is still more than 20% below peer multiples. Although we believe some discount is warranted, we see upside from current levels. Our updated TP is EUR 6.75 (6.00), rating now BUY (HOLD).