Daily Brief Australia: Pact Group Holdings, SenSen Networks, EML Payments Limited and more

• Plastic products manufacturer Pact Group Holdings (PGH AU) has announced an unconditional off-market takeover from its major shareholder, Raphael Geminder.
• Geminder, with a current stake of 50%, is offering – via wholly-owned entity Kin Group – A$0.68/share, a paltry 0.07% premium to last close. Shares recently touched an all-time low.
• The Offer is (should be) open for a month. As the bid is unconditional, there’s nothing to stop Geminder from buying shares higher, then simply lifting his Offer price. 

SenSen’s FY23 preliminary results show robust revenue growth, albeit missing our forecasts slightly. Losses narrowed year-on-year from efficiency initiatives. The strategic shift towards more predictable opex and cloud contracts continues to improve the revenue mix. Margin expansion is expected in FY24 following efficiency measures, with potential for cash flow positivity. Valuation remains at a discount to peers despite SenSen being one of the few with a positive FY24 EBITDA forecast.

EML Payments reported FY23 revenue and underlying EBITDA ahead of the top-end of its guidance range, benefiting from higher interest income and improvements to customer contracts in H223. The company is making good progress with its short-term priorities, and while the Barrenjoey strategic review is ongoing, management has started taking action to return loss-making activities to profitability and to reinvigorate growth in its core businesses. We have upgraded our forecasts to reflect better-than-expected performance in FY23 and identified cost savings.