Cyient Suffering from its Vertical Mix From the numbers, it may not show. But Cyient is
Akka Raises EUR 200m. Share Up 40%
Akka’s share was up by almost 40% on Tuesday (October 6). The company reassured investors by raising EUR 200 at favorable terms for existing shareholders
Alten Accelerates its M&A Activity
Alten will accelerate its M&A activity in 2020. This is one of the tactical changes that the company announced during its H1 2020 results presentation. The company is also shifting its commercial effort to financial services, energy, and life science, and slightly accelerating its offshore deployment.
Assystem Reassures About Expleo’s Financials
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Assystem Upbeat about Nuclear Engineering
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Ricardo Suffers from its Exposure to Automotive in FY20
Ricardo paid the price for its exposure to the automotive sector, which represents 55% of total revenues. After a stable H1 FY20 (the ending June 30, 2020), H2 collapsed with revenues down 23% at cc/cs (our estimate). Surprisingly, Ricardo performed worse than an automotive pure-play such as EDAG (-14.8% during the same period) and Akka (-20.3% at cc/cs).
SII Does Better Than Expected in Q1 FY21
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Bertrand Does Better than Competitors in Q3
Bertrandt reported its Q3 FY20 results (calendar Q2 2020). Revenues were EUR 205m, down by a massive-20.9% yoy, and the EBIT margin was -0.9% (Q3 FY19: +2.7%). Yet, Bertrandt’s results were better than those of EDAG ( yoy revenues down by 32.6%) and Akka (-31.4% yoy at CC/CS).
Cyient Acquires An Onshore Mining Consulting Unit in Australia
Cyient is to acquire Melbourne-based Integrated Global Partners (IG Partners) for AUD 12m in cash (USD 9m) + earn-outs. IG Partners is a mining business and organizational consulting firm. The company has a specialty in enterprise asset management. It had in FY20 revenues of AUD 15m (USD 11m) and a headcount of 40.
EDAG Declined by 33% in Q2 2020
We were expecting EDAG would have a difficult Q2, as the company is very European and services mostly the automotive sector. However, we had not anticipated a decline of this scale: revenues were down by 32.6% in Q2. Unsurprisingly, the EBIT margin was significantly in negative territory (-14.4%).
Assystem Bounced Back in June
As expected, Assystem suffered in Q2 2020: revenues declined by 13.7% yoy CC/CS during the quarter. Staffing was down by 16.3%, while Energy & Infrastructure did somewhat better (-13.3%). The core nuclear engineering business was down by 10.1% (our estimate).
Alten Does Better than Expected in Q2. H2 Outlook Is Uncertain
Alten announced better than expected revenues in Q2 with a CC/CS decline of 18.4% (we expected -23%), after a growth of 4.0% in Q1. During H1, the decline was 7.3% (guidance: -9%).
UPDATED: Akka Suffers Greatly from its Lack of Client Diversification in H1 2020
Revenues Collapsed in H1 2020 Akka suffered greatly in H1 2020, with revenues down by 20.3%
Unofficial: Renault Selects its Four ER&D Preferred Vendors
According to unofficial sources, Renault has now finalized its list of preferred ER&D service vendors, reducing it from nine vendors to four. The four winners are Akka, Bertrandt, Expleo, and Segula. They will now grab 80% of Renault’s ER&D spending and double their market shares.
Earnings Preview: Revenues of Alten to Plunge in Q2
ER&D’s largest pure-play globally, Alten, will be announcing its Q2 2020 revenue by the end of July. The company had a very decent Q1, with a 4% CC/CS revenue growth. However, it warned that revenues would be down by ~22% in Q2.
AFRY Hit by Collapse in Automotive Engineering Demand in Q2
No surprise. AFRY had a terrible Q2 2020: revenues were down by 9.2% yoy at CC/CS. The Industry and Digital Solutions Division led the decline (with revenues down yoy at 16.3% at CC/CS). The Division suffered in the automotive sector, whose revenues collapsed by 40% during the quarter.
Expleo’s New CEO: A Perfect Resume and Daunting Challenges
We just learned that Expleo has a new CEO, Rajesh Krishnamurthy. On paper, Mr. Krishnamurthy, has everything right for Expleo. He is a French citizen of Indian origin. He has held senior roles at Infosys, including one as head of the Energy, Utilities, and Telco division, a major responsibility as Infosys is organized by vertical. He also led Infosys Global Consulting.
AFRY: One Year After the Merger, Still Struggling on Organic Growth
One year after its merger with Pöyry, AFRY is still struggling. At the time of the Pöyry acquisition, AFRY, the ÅF, wanted to reignite organic growth and improve its profitability. The result is mixed.
Ricardo Exits the Automotive Engine Testing Business
Ricardo divested, as expected, its engine testing and prototype facility in Belleville, MI. The company had looked for a buyer for more than one year and even bought the property to make the sale of the facility easier.
Bertrandt Suffers from its Lack of Diversification in Q2 FY20
A bit more than two years ago, the share of Bertrandt was above EUR 100 and its market cap above EUR 1bn. Investors liked Bertrandt’s annual growth of 10% and its high-single-digit EBIT margin. Today, Bertrandt’s market cap varies between EUR350-400m, and the financial performance continues to deteriorate.
Assystem Adds Risk Management to its Nuclear Engineering Portfolio
Assystem made a tuck-in acquisition with British risk management firm, Corporate Risk Associates (RCA). As its name suggests, RCA is a risk consultancy that is active across several sectors (including nuclear, oil & gas, defense).
COVID-19: Cyient Warns of 15-20% Decline in Revenues in Q1 FY21
Cyient surprised, negatively, the markets by announcing a decline of 9.7% in its Q4 FY20 revenues (to USD 149m) and an adjusted EBIT margin down 440 bps (to 8.4%).
Despite COVID-19, SII Grows – Slightly – in Q4 FY20
Without surprise, French ER&D service vendor SII announced a slowdown in its Q4 FY20 (ending March 31): revenues were up 2.2% at CC/CS during the quarter.
Renault Considering R&D Outsourcing to Save EUR 200m Annually
Renault is considering R&D outsourcing to save EUR 100-200m annually. The company currently works with approximately 15 ER&D vendors and wants to reduce its number of preferred partners to five.
PSA To Deploy Systematically Work at Home Policy
During the crisis, PSA more than doubled the number of employees WaH from 18,000 concurrent connections to its IT to 38,000.