Ordissimo buys Pix Star, an American company twice the size of its size, which is also very profitable


The year could not have started better for Ordissimo, a small company in the Paris suburbs, which sells computers, tablets and smartphones designed to offer simplified use to people aged 55 to 75. Its shares are extracted from their historic lows and soar 85%, to 2.46 euros, following the announcement of the acquisition of the company Pix Star in the United States, specializing in photo frame technology digital connected. This is profitable, unlike Ordissimo, which again suffered a loss of around 394,000 euros at the end of the first half of 2021 (the annual accounts will be published in February).

The year in which the French company returned to growth, in 2020, with billings reaching 4.7 million euros (of which around 20% thanks to teleshopping channels in Europe), Pix Star achieved a turnover of 10.6 million dollars (9.3 million euros) and generated a net profit of 1.7 million dollars (1.5 million euros), thanks in particular to controlled structural costs (the fixed costs total just over 1 million euros, just like the marketing expenses). The gross margin was between 35 and 40%.

Not only, thanks to this acquisition, Ordissimo penetrates the American market, in full growth, but the operation will also allow it, as of this year, to boost its net income per share. The United States will become the first market for the French company which, until then, sold its solutions mainly in France, in its store in Montrouge, on its website or via distributors such as Fnac, Darty or Boulanger.

The acquisition of Pix Star, for an undisclosed amount, “Reinforces the unique ecosystem of digital solutions dedicated to seniors”, explains the management in a press release. “Pix Star photo frames are easy to use, allow you to simply exchange photos or videos from social networks (Instagram, Facebook, etc.) or from a smartphone. ” Each frame has a dedicated email address, filtering spam, which can receive photos.

Illectronism

Technology has invaded our daily lives, some people, often among the oldest cohorts, may feel overwhelmed; one speaks then of illectronism. Ordissimo develops, from applications or known operating systems, simplified versions, with clear terms allowing immediate understanding and access: a simple search engine based on Firefox, an operating system that runs on Linux and which prevents viruses, and LibreOffice (for, among other things, word processing), each in a reworked version of its own.

A quick tour of the discussion forums allows, for example, to understand that one of the great strengths of Ordissimo’s products is the keyboard, which is very simplified: one sign per key, no F1 to F12 key, a direct key for @, etc. There is never a double-click, drop-down menu, right click, left click, or CTRL-Alt.

It is on this promise to simplify technology that Ordissimo went public in the summer of 2018, at a price of 5.28 euros per share. Since then, its shares had lost 75% of their value, going so far as to fall, on December 20, to the unit price of 1.27 euros. Shortly before, the company had announced a capital increase of 800,000 euros for, she then indicated, “Achieve external growth currently under negotiation. ” The acquisition of Pix Star, effective from 1er January, was also financed, in part, by bank loan, says the company, which expects to “Very strong growth” of its activity this year.




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