(BFM Bourse) – The smart label specialist announces that it has entered into exclusive negotiations for the acquisition of the young French company In the Memory. SES-imagotag will thus strengthen its expertise in the processing of data collected in shops.
Purchase after purchase, SES-imagotag strengthens its expertise in the management of supermarket shelves. The group announced on Tuesday evening after the market that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with a view to acquiring In the Memory, a young company specializing in the processing of data collected in businesses.
Created in 2018, In the Memory develops a data management and decision analysis platform for physical retail professionals. The young French start-up supports distribution players in their business decision-making on issues related to “category management”, a procedure for optimizing sales on a product category (product presentation, promotions plan, etc.), while improving the customer shopping experience.
“Several functionalities are possible such as the construction of assortments according to the expectations and anticipated needs of consumers, the construction of a ‘pricing’ strategy by targeting investments on relevant products, or the personalization of media actions. “, recalls Louis-Marie de Sade, analyst at EuroLand Corporate in his note devoted to this announcement.
Moreover, many leading distributors such as Auchan, Carrefour, Metro and Casino are customers of In the Memory. The Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Pernod Ricard brands have also placed their trust in the French company. “Based on its activity and with 64 employees, we believe that In the Memory probably achieves a turnover of around 8 million euros,” said Stifel.
A reinforced Data offer
The entry of In the Memory into the scope of SES-imagotag will thus extend the field of action of the specialist in smart labels. The latter will be able to expand its offer for distributors and brands and complete its range of tools around Data through all channels including physical stores, “the poorest channel in terms of data at present, but also the most promising,” says SES-imagotag.
“Memory’s expertise will be invaluable to us in improving our Internet of Things solutions applied to physical & Data points of sale so that they are best suited to decision-making needs. Conversely, the new data sources resulting from digitalization will make it possible to “enhance the value of Memory solutions, and increase the return on investment of the digitization of stores. Our customers will be the big winners of this merger”, explains Thierry Gadou, CEO of SES-imagotag.
“A real growth driver for the group, SES-imagotag’s data offer is thus strengthened to best meet the needs of retailers”, adds analyst Louis-Marie de Sade. “Paid entirely in cash, the closing [la finalisation, NDLR] of this operation is expected in January 2023”, continues the specialist.
Internet of Things technologies applied to physical points of sale (digital tags, cameras and connected sensors), of which SES-imagotag is the specialist and world leader, now make it possible to capture large quantities of store data in near time. real and communicate with consumers.
With this new acquisition, which follows that of the Irish MarketHub at the start of 2022, the SES-imagotag group is continuing to build its Data division, which also includes the company Captana, which specializes in the real-time analysis of rays by digital analysis. images and artificial intelligence, as well as several solutions within the VUSION platform. The latter “helps merchants transform their physical stores into real digital assets, highly automated, data-driven, and connected in real time to brands and consumers”, explains the specialist in smart labels.
“As a reminder, SES-imagotag acquired Findbox in 2017, which enabled the group to develop Captana,” recalls Stifel in his note of the day.
A change of dimension
SES-imagotag therefore has a string of successes with internationally recognized expertise. The group counts among its customers more than 300 brands in Europe, Asia and North America. The smart label specialist has gained momentum in North America. The group enjoyed a huge spotlight in March, after greatly expanding its partnership with US retail giant Walmart. In September 2022, Fnac Darty selected SES-imagotag to deploy its smart label solutions in 200 stores.
In the space of ten years, SES-imagotag has therefore multiplied its turnover by 10 and should thus reach 800 million euros by 2023. The group specifies that its order book and the contracts confirmed under contractual negotiation already cover more than 80% of this objective for the current year.
It also unveiled in November a new strategic plan for 2027 showing an ambitious objective of 2.2 billion euros in revenue within five years, compared with 423 million euros in turnover. business in 2021 and the 600 million euros expected for 2022. “This strategic plan seems entirely achievable to us and should allow SES-imagotag to significantly change in size… and capitalization”, assures Louis-Marie de Sade. Stifel estimates that SES-imagotag could reach “a market capitalization of around five billion euros in 2026”.
A remarkable stock market journey
This confidence of financial intermediaries in the SES-imagotag dossier is not due to chance. The smart label specialist has chained stock market records after reporting exceptional growth over the quarters. Between June and September 2022, for example, SES-imagotag posted insolent growth of 107.9%, driven by dynamic activity in Europe but also in the United States, thanks to its partnership with Walmart.
The group founded in the early 1990s has thus achieved a remarkable stock market performance in recent years. The share of the world leader in electronic labeling of items in the physical retail universe closed the year 2022 with a gain of 62.23% just behind Dassault Aviation and its 66.53% increase over the financial year. previous fellow. Over the last ten years, the rise of the SES-imagotag share is even more impressive with gains of almost 1000% posted on the counter over the period. This sparkling stock market performance was also rewarded at the end of last year by a promotion within the SBF 120, the antechamber of the very prestigious CAC 40 index.
The start of the year is also promising for SES-imagotag after experiencing slight profit taking in recent weeks given this exceptional stock market performance. SES-imagotag rose 2.2% on Tuesday, in response to the future takeover of In the Memory, bringing the stock’s rise to 6.1% over the last five sessions.
Sabrina Sadgui – ©2023 BFM Bourse
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