(Boursier.com) — Nextedia , climbs by almost 8% to 0.55 euros this Friday, while the group specializing in the fields of Cybersecurity and Customer Experience published its 2023 annual turnover of 60.4 ME, a sustained increase 13.6% compared to the previous year. It includes a favorable scope effect of 1.1 ME linked to the contribution of the latest acquisition of MANIKA made in July 2022.
Organic growth, which stood at 9.8% in the first half, accelerated in the second to reach 13.1%. In 2023, it stood at 11.6%, illustrating the strong attractiveness of NEXTEDIA’s positioning in an uncertain economic environment. Nextedia is experiencing balanced development of its two activities: Customer Experience (53% of turnover) and Cybersecurity (47% of turnover), in proportions similar to those of 2022.
High potential markets
The economic model is based on a combination of high value-added services (70% of turnover) making it possible to generate income associated with the use of the technological solutions of its strategic partners (30% of turnover). Services turnover stood at €42 million, up 8.3%, driven by the growth in recurring services and the start of major projects with major accounts and public administrations. Technology turnover stood at €18.4 million, an annual growth of 19.5%, benefiting from a strong acceleration over the last quarter. The evolution of this activity towards more recurring activities was confirmed throughout the year…
Quoting…
“A thriving ecosystem of technological partners bases the group’s economic model and its growth on strong partnerships with technological market leaders, including Palo Alto Networks (Platinum Innovator level) on the Cybersecurity activity and Salesforce (Summit Partner level) on Customer Experience” explains management. “Proximity with its partners allows to open markets with high potentialparticularly in Artificial Intelligence applied to the areas of Cybersecurity and Customer Experience”…
Rebound in operational profitability in the 2nd half
After a first part of the year which recorded a one-off contraction in its operating profit, Nextedia improved its operational efficiency in the second half. Consequently, the operating result for the 2nd half is expected to improve significantly compared to the 1st half, which will limit its decline for the whole of 2023.
“Aware that our forecast was prudent since it implied an increase of 4% in H2 after +14% in H1, the group’s performance is still to be welcomed” comments Greensome Finance which underlines that the group clearly outperforms its market, since according to Numeum, Digital Services Companies have, in 2023, shown growth of 4.1% and Engineering and Technology Consulting (ICT) activities of 5.5%.
An analyst sees clearly higher
“After a first half whose profitability was affected by non-recurring elements (weight of sales recruitment, falling invoicing rates, restructuring costs) the group quickly implemented various actions to reduce its costs. So we expect a rebound in profitability in H2 compared to H1” according to Greensome Finance. “In view of a turnover higher than our expectations, we are revising our forecasts and now expect a 2023 EBIT of 2.12 ME vs 1.94 ME, i.e. an MEX of 4.1% in H2 after 2.8% in H1 “.
The analyst continues: “Regarding the sector’s outlook for 2024, they remain positive even if growth is expected to slow down… Numeum anticipates an increase of 3.3% for ESN and 4.6% for ICT. our side despite the advance taken in 2023, we are leaving our forecasts unchanged for the moment and still counting on a 2024 turnover of 62.1 ME, an increase of 3%, in line with sectoral projections…” In the end, we confirm our opinion Purchase with a target price adjusted to 1.20 euros (vs. 1.16 euros). In a speculative sector environment, where delisting operations have multiplied in recent months, we still find that the discount suffered by the group compared to its peers (between 30% and 60% depending on the multiples) is unjustified. concludes the specialist.