Fresenius Medical Care (FME) reported robust FY23 results with revenue growth at 5% yoy in constant currency, which is in line with expectations. The Company continues to make significant progress in executing its strategic plan. During the year, FME completed its change of legal form into a German stock corporation, executed its operational efficiency program and optimized its portfolio by exiting non-core and dilutive assets. Furthermore, FME reduced the net debt by 11% yoy to EUR 10.8bn using an improved FCF during the year. The board proposed a EUR 1.19 per share dividend, which corresponds to an increase of 6% yoy compared to the prior year's dividend. AlsterResearch’s analysts have incorporated the figures and the outlook into the valuation model. The same applies to the long-term target of at least 10% EBIT margin. As the assumptions are largely in line with AlsterResearch’s estimates, the analysts confirm their price target of EUR 39.00 and their rating remains HOLD. The full update can be downloaded under https://www.research-hub.de/companies/Fresenius%20Medical%20Care

UniDevice's preliminary Q4/FY23 results met AlsterResearch’s sales expectations but fell short on profits due to weak consumer sentiment in Germany, reflected in a 5% yoy sales decline and lower gross margins of 1.7%. Despite this, the company's resilience is evident, managing a decent FY profit of EUR 1.6m amid challenging market conditions. Encouragingly, Q4 showed signs of recovery with sales up over 4% yoy, and FY24 started strong with January sales soaring 42% yoy and improving margins. With a robust balance sheet boasting an equity ratio of over 65% and EUR 7m unused credit lines, UniDevice is poised to sustainably pay a high dividend, projecting EUR 0.12 per share, offering investors a compelling 10%+ yield. AlsterResearch’s analysts reiterate their BUY rating, with a revised PT of EUR 2.30 (old EUR 2.50), reflecting model adjustments. The full update can be downloaded under https://www.research-hub.de/companies/UniDevice%20AG.

Taking off well into the year; chg. ests. Topic: FWAG released January traffic results last week, which came in better than expected. Moreover, the Athens International Airport IPO gives a read across for FWAG's valuation. Strong start into the year: In January, the group started strongly into the year with double digit passenger growth of 12 [ … ]

Recent weakness should be a clear BUYing opp. In our view, the recent share price weakness (-23% YTD) is highly unjustified and should rather offer an attractive entry point as we advise investors to BUY the dip. Here is why: Operational turnaround in full swing. As outlined in our recently published long-note (click here), things took a turn [ … ]

Strong year end burdened by one-offs Topic: Cloudberry released its preliminary Q4’23 figures with the annual report expected to follow on March 20th. The operationally strong Q4 results were burdened by a NOK 57m one-off effect related to a complete write down of its 100 MW shallow water wind project Steenkalles in cooperation with Hafsl [ … ]

Sartorius has published its final FY23 figures, which were in line with the prelims. In ‘23, sales decreased by 18.7% to EUR 3.4bn and EBIT (EUR 504m) more than halved compared to the strong corona-year 2022 (FY22 EUR 1.07bn). A bitter pill for investors may be the halved dividend, which is expected to amount to only EUR 0.74 per preferred share (previous year: EUR 1.44). Management expects customers to continue destocking, but the recovery is likely to take some time. The start of ‘24 should be weak, but order intake should gradually pick up. However, AlsterResearch’s analysts believe it will take a few strong quarters for investors to regain confidence in the medium-term targets. In view of the high level of debt, Sartorius has raised equity and intends to aggressively deleverage in 2024 (net debt/reported EBITDA ´23 at 6.25x). Furthermore, AlsterResearch’s analysts continue to believe that Sartorius’ high valuation multiples appear stretched and incorporates final figures and introduces the FY26 estimates. SELL, with slightly adj. PT of EUR 240 (old EUR 235). The full update can be downloaded under research-hub.de/companies/Sartorius%20AG

The 2024 reserve report, prepared by independent auditors, shows a very positive development of producing reserves, which increased by 28% to 18.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), with a replacement ratio of almost 200%. The discounted net cash flow of producing reserves also increased by around 27% to USD 313 million (EUR 290 million), indicating significant valuation upside despite its conservative nature. Despite a 12% reduction in proved reserves due to asset sales and production, the value of proved reserves at constant prices increased by between 25% and 46%, mainly due to a higher proportion of reserves in production. The report underlines the undervaluation of Deutsche Rohstoff's shares and supports AlsterResearch’s BUY rating with a price target of EUR 52.00 and a significant upside of more than 70%. The full update can be downloaded under https://www.research-hub.de/companies/Deutsche%20Rohstoff%20AG

Strong order momentum to fuel 2024e growth; chg. est. Topic: Rosenbauer released solid FY23 preliminary figures, with sales slightly below and profitability in line with the company’s guidance, which has been increased in October. More importantly, the all-time high in order backlog coupled with unbroken order momentum looks set to pave t [ … ]

Case fully intact despite PW; chg. Topic: MLP released a profit warning and is now expecting an FY'23 EBIT of € 71m, thus missing the guidance of € 75-85m due to € 4m of goodwill impairments in the real estate business. Below market expectations: Adjusting for the impairment, the guidance range should have been met at the lower [ … ]

TAKKT released prelim. Q4 ‘23 results. Revenues declined at a steeper 11% yoy in Q4 on an organic basis amid the challenging operating environment. However, the gross margin improved by 170bps yoy to 39.9% and the EBITDA margin widened by 40bps yoy to 8.6%, supported by the company’s various cost-management initiatives. Overall, full-year revenues and EBITDA were in line with guidance and free cash flow grew 31% yoy. Management expects ‘24 to remain challenging, due to stagnation and negative sentiment in Europe and the US, indicating that top line recovery could be gradual with meaningful recovery only in H2, in the view of AlsterResearch. Given the company’s cash-generative business model and comfortable equity ratio of 63.8%, management is now looking to actively pursue M&A activities that should help accelerate growth momentum. AlsterResearch’s analysts maintain their PT at EUR 15.00 and confirm their BUY rating. The full update can be downloaded under https://www.research-hub.de/companies/research/TAKKT%20AG