In today’s briefing:
- I Squared & TDR Win the Long Battle for Applus at the Final Auction
- Fanuc (6954 JP): Guidance Points Down, but the Market Sees Recovery
- BQE: Excellent Q4 Financials; Increasing Target Price
I Squared & TDR Win the Long Battle for Applus at the Final Auction
- I Squared and TDR presented a final offer price of €12.78/share in cash, marking a 16.2% increase over their prior bid and surpassing Apollo Global Management’s final offer of €12.51/share.
- The winning offer values the share capital at €1,649 million (7.3x EV/Fwd NTM EBITDA, 13.2x Fwd P/E), 34% above Apollo’s initial offer.
- Gross spread is 0.2%. Settlement could happen around 27 May, with 3.7% estimated annual return.
Fanuc (6954 JP): Guidance Points Down, but the Market Sees Recovery
- Fanuc was up 4.7% this past week as the market reacted to a slight uptick in orders and transparently conservative guidance.
- The book-to-bill ratio remained below 1.0 in 4Q of FY Mar-24, but was up from 3Q, which appears to have been the low point in the cycle.
- Inflation and ongoing inventory adjustments indicate a slow recovery, but demand for automation from traditional markets and new opportunities in aerospace and other industries should support long-term growth.
BQE: Excellent Q4 Financials; Increasing Target Price
- BQE reported Q4 & 2023 financial results yesterday that came in largely ahead of our expectations on revenue.
- Proportional revenue was $5.4M compared to our estimate of $4.2M and adjusted EBITDA was $0.5M compared to our estimate of $0.6M.
- BQE remains well positioned for another record year in 2024, we are expecting 8% revenue growth and 36% EBITDA growth.
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