Egm in the X-ray: Omer reports ebitda up 25% to 11.7 million
The Sicilian company, active in railway interior components, reported rising margins in the first nine months of the year
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Key points
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Literary critics have long since come to the conclusion that there is no real 'one poet' named Homer. Instead, the almost homonymous Omer of Carini (Palermo) not only exists, but travels much faster than Ulysses' wanderings. In fact, in the first nine months of 2024, the company, a manufacturer of components for railway interiors, saw its revenues rise by 23% to 58.4 million, thanks not only to an increase in production volumes but also to an increase in sales prices (more precisely, in the price revisions recognised by its main customers in response to the relevant contractual clauses), which led toan EBITDA up 25% to 11.7 million (and the EBITDA margin rose from 19.8% to 20.1%).
The numbers
.With regard to the bottom end of the income statement, it should be noted that in the first half of 2024, with turnover up 19.1% to EUR 39.3 million, ebitda amounted to just under EUR 8 million (+11%), corresponding to an ebitda margin of 20.3%; ebit to EUR 6.2 million (+8%) and net profit to EUR 4.5 million (+23.2%, due to the substantial absence of financial charges and a tax rate that went from 31% to 27.9%).
As at 30/9/2024, Omer had net cash of EUR 19 million, only slightly down from EUR 19.8 million at the end of 2023, despite the fact that a total dividend of EUR 1.7 million had been paid out in the meantime (a low and prudent pay-out of 19.4%, and a similar percentage had also been distributed in the previous year). And investments in 'Plant B' are also underway (in particular in the so-called 'Plant B3', which will be equipped with a new liquid paint plant). To this end, at the beginning of October, Omer also signed a lease agreement with Betha Srl (owned by its own shareholders of reference) for a property complex for industrial use located near Plant B for a term of 9 + 9 years, at € 285,000 per annum plus VAT.
The current backlog covers at least two years of activity
.This expansion is necessary in order to complete the numerous orders received. At the end of September 2024, the backlog amounted to EUR 135 million and the 'soft backlog' (i.e. the countervalue of additional contract options not yet exercised by customers) to EUR 242 million (EUR 125 million and EUR 243 million respectively at the end of 2023). The backlog ensures a visibility of at least two years of business.
Orders received up to September included the supply to Hitachi Rail of furniture components and fairings for 40 Frecciarossa Etr 1000 trains commissioned byTrenitalia (delivery start in 2025 and duration until 2028; this contract contributes between 15% and 20% of the total to Omer's backlog), the supply to Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems Italia of cabins for toilet modules for 130 Coradia Stream trains for the Baden-Wurttemberg railways with an option for a further 100 trains (most of the deliveries, which have already started, will take place in 2026 and 2027, and the order contributes between 5% and 10% to the backlog) and the supply to Siemens Mobility Inc. by its subsidiary Omer North America Corp. of interiors components for 83 Amtrak trains that will run on the New York-Miami route, among others (the order, which will run mainly between 2025 and 2027, contributes between 2% and 4% to the backlog).
