Egm x-rayed: Mare group reports 23% higher ebitda
This is the result marked in the first nine months of 2024 by the Campania-based company active in digital engineering and with interests in Aerospace and Defence
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Key points
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Its official name is Mare Engineering Group, but it does not operate in the nautical sector, it is not located on the sea (its registered office is in Pomigliano d'Arco), and it calls itself Mare Group. A group it undoubtedly is (also because it has been pursuing growth through external lines for years), but above all there is a lot of engineering: understood, however, as digital engineering. In fact, Mare Engineering offers consultancy for innovation (Mare Consulting brand), digital technology integration services through its proprietary platform Delfi.Ai (not a casual reference to the ancient Greek oracle of the same name) under the Mare Digital brand, and product and process engineering services under the Mare Industrial brand (the latter is aimed at medium and large enterprises, while the first two refer to SMEs).
Mare Engineering was listed on Euronext Growth Milan on 28 May 2024, and already distributed a dividend to shareholders on 31 July (EUR 0.01 per share) for the financial year 2023. The total dividend payout was EUR 120,500, corresponding to a very low pay-out compared to the net profit of EUR 2.4m. Previously, only a dividend payout of 1.3 million was distributed for the financial year 2021.
The numbers
.The company is one of the very few in Euronext Growth Milan to have provided guidance on the entire 2024 financial year, and in particular, production value is expected to be between EUR 42 million and EUR 45 million, EBITDA between EUR 12.5 million and EUR 14 million, and net financial debt between EUR 14 million and EUR 17 million, compared to 2023 values of EUR 39.4 million, EUR 10 million and EUR 25.6 million, respectively (the latter figure is obviously before the IPO, from which net proceeds of EUR 6 million were obtained). These estimates include orders totalling EUR 1.1 million for two recent collaborations in Italy and Germany in the strategic Aerospace, Defence and Automotive sectors for Extended Reality and Digital Twin (virtual computer replication of a physical asset) activities.
In the first nine months of 2024 Mare Engineering achieved a value of production of 29.8 million (+14% compared to the same period in 2023), and in particular sales revenues jumped 31% to 24.5 million, an ebitda of 7.4 million (+23%, with an ebitda margin rising from 23% to 24.8%) and a net financial debt of 19.1 million. It should of course be emphasised that for companies in the It sector, the fourth calendar quarter of each financial year is characterised by favourable seasonality.
As for the bottom end of the income statement, in the first half of 2024 Mare Engineering, against a value of production up 7.2% to €18.8 million, saw ebitda jump 44.2% to €4.1 million, while ebit almost doubled (+99.2% to €1.46 million) and net profit rose from €100,000 to €572,000. This despite the presence of non-recurring operating charges that went from €425,000 to €276,000 and write-downs that went from €85,000 to €100,000. As at 30/6/2024, the group's equity amounted to EUR 24.3 million, which outlines an estimated Debt/Equity ratio of less than unity by the end of 2024.
