The company is expected to report a strong set of 9M’19 results today after market close. Sales growth will originate mainly from the IT Services division (where Unisystems exceptional performance will continue both on strong projects execution domestically and internationally), the Retail products segment (on strong Infoquest Technologies and Apple brand name, ie iStorm and iSquare performance on new iPhone 11 launch and demand) and skyrocketing energy sector contribution (on new solar park acquisition as of beginning Q3’19).
- Courier and Postal Services (ie ACS) is expected to remain in positive mid-single digit top line growth territory while Electronic Transactions will post a 20% decline in top line as a result of new commercial agreement signed with banks by end 2018. Thus we forecast sales growing by 13.1% to €391.3mn vs €345.91mn a year earlier.
On the profitability line (EBITDA) we see a stronger 21.8% acceleration to €36.91mn vs €30.32mn last year, on 67bps EBITDA margin improvement courtesy of stronger energy sector EBITDA margin, IT services EBITDA margin boost due to the lack of loss making domestic projects (as was the case last year), continuous courier services margin enhancement on cost efficiencies and retail products margin expansion on €1.4mn reversal of provisions for iSquare and Infoquest Technologies and operating efficiencies.
- Finally, on the net income line higher depreciation charges (IFRS 16 effect), flat negative financial expenses and lower effective tax rate (to 290 lead to our call for a c.30% growth to €14.7mn compared to €11.3mn last year.
The following table summarizes our estimates for Quest Holdings Q3/9M’19 financial performance:
INFO QUEST | 2018 | 2019 | Y-o-Y | 2018 | 2019 | Y-o-Y |
EUR thous. | 9Μ | 9Μ Est. | (%) | Q3 | Q3 Est. | (%) |
Sales | 345,905 | 391,300 | 13.1% | 115,922 | 133,122 | 14.8% |
EBITDA | 30,315 | 36,910 | 21.8% | 10,097 | 11,265 | 11.6% |
EBITDA Mrg | 8.8% | 9.4% | +67 bps | 8.7% | 8.5% | -25 bps |
Net Income | 11,324 | 14,700 | 29.8% | 3,938 | 4,280 | 8.7% |
Net Mrg | 3.3% | 3.8% | +48 bps | 3.4% | 3.2% | -18 bps |