Flatex - Grateful for volatility

Flatex reported H120 earnings of €22.4m (+162% y-o-y) and ROE of 23.1%. Volatile markets helped trade executions jump 127% y-o-y to €13.1m. Client numbers continue to grow strongly, up 35% y-o-y. On 21 July 2020, the Dutch central bank gave Flatex the green light to acquire DEGIRO, a leading Dutch broker. The acquisition (agreed in December 2019) is transformational, adding greater scale and breadth of products to make Flatex Europe’s largest retail online broker, present in 18 countries. If we

Flatex - Waiting for the regulatory go-ahead

Flatex reported FY19 of earnings €14.9m (-15% y-o-y) and a ROE of 8.6%. Lower market volatility affected the results, as did the costs of expansion into the Dutch market before the decision to acquire 100% of DEGIRO in December 2019 for €60m cash plus €190m in shares. The EBITDA margin was 28.5%, down 16.8% y-o-y. The friendly acquisition of DEGIRO is transformational, with greater scale and breath of products. Management has identified €30m in annual synergies. The deal will make Flatex Europe’

Flatex - Dutch delight

Flatex (after its online brokerage brand; previously FinTech) reported a 10% y-o-y increase in revenue in H119. Earnings fell 9% y-o-y to €8.6m (ROE 10.8%) but were +5% y-o-y after adjusting for securities write downs. The successful roll-out of online brokerage to the Netherlands contributed to management raising its FY19 EBITDA margin guidance from 29% to 31% in August. Flatex expects to expand into Spain in Q419. Based on consensus, shares trade at a discount to peers on both P/E and EV/EBIT.

Flatex - Strategic review

FY18 was a strong year for Flatex (FTK) with healthy 17% growth in revenues and expansion in margins. In recent weeks flatex has launched successfully in the Netherlands, with the entry cost considerably lower than expected. Consequently, management upgraded EBITDA guidance in May. Management believes it has all the components for growth (notably, the brokerage platform & banking licence) and has hired an investment bank to review various strategic options. Given the growth potential, we believe

FinTech Group - Banking JV is abandoned with positive effect

FinTech Group’s (FTG’s) proposed banking joint venture (JV) with Austrian Post has been abandoned in accordance with the feedback of the relevant regulatory bodies that the approval of a new banking licence might take between one and a half to two years. This supports FTG’s near-term earnings and leaves the business focused on its online brokerage activities. Meanwhile, 10-month KPIs indicate the brokerage business continues to perform well, with trades up 16% over the corresponding 10-month per

FinTech Group - Banking joint venture with Austrian Post

FinTech Group (FTG) has announced a landmark 50/50 banking joint venture with Austrian Post (VIE: POST, market cap c €2.4bn) where FTG is supplying the technology while Post offers its established infrastructure. The deal creates a new growth arm for FTG that is expected to break even in 2022 and could act as a blueprint for similar deals in other countries. Meanwhile, H1 results were in line with expectations as margins benefited from strong growth in broking volumes. If FTG can meet its objec

FinTech Group - Attractively positioned for growth

FinTech Group’s (FTG) brokerage business benefited from the jump in volatility in Q1. Volatility has since abated, but the business stands to benefit from a new ETP partnership with Goldman Sachs announced in March. Meanwhile, FTG remains well positioned to benefit from a strengthening German economy and the eventual rise in interest rates. Despite being the fastest-growing major broking business in Europe, the shares continue to trade at a discount to the brokerage sector.

FinTech Group - Leading online brokerage

FinTech Group’s (FTG) online brokerage business, Flatex, has been benefiting from the popularity of exchange-traded products and its customer base rose by c 30k over nine months to c 200k as at end-September. Flatex’s market share has risen to c 25% in Germany and c 50% in Austria, and further European expansion is planned. In addition to its brokerage businesses, FTG leverages its value chain by providing modular and standardised core banking technologies to B2B customers, most of which are ban

- Solid H1, with FY17 guidance maintained

FinTech Group (FTG) announced a solid set of H1 results and FY17 guidance was re-affirmed. While EBITDA slipped by 6% to €13.0m, this reflected a €1.8m provision reversal in H116, and hence the underlying growth was 9%. Brokerage customers grew by 11% over H116, and transactions rose by 10%, while three new B2B projects have been delivered that will contribute in H2. Additionally, the collateralised credit book jumped by 42% over the six months to €187m. Consequently, management anticipates a st

Online brokerage leader

FinTech Group (FTG) is growing strongly. Management has created an integrated online broking business which can offer products across the value chain, from white labelled technology platforms to banking services. In our view, this gives it a significant advantage over its peers. The online broking sector in Germany has been consolidating and the fintech sector remains buoyant. Despite being the fastest growing major broking business in Europe, the shares trade at a discount to the sector.

LIBERUM: Plus500: Strategic progress pays dividends

Tatton Asset Management (TAM LN) - Record net inflows

Tatton, the leading on-platform discretionary fund manager (DFM) and IFA support services Group has released a trading update ahead of its results to 31 March 2024, due on 18 June 2024.

Hardman & Co Insight: 2023 was an annus horribilis for Quoted UK Infrastructure and Renewable Energy

The focus of Hardman & Co Research is on the nine quoted Infrastructure Investment Companies (IICs) and on the 22 Renewable Energy Infrastructure Funds (REIFs): the stocks analysed are all members of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC). We are updating our publication of January 2023, assessing both the lacklustre share price performances during 2023 and the key issues, including interest rates, inflation and power prices. As a 31-strong group, its combined market capitalisation is no

Ondo InsurTech FY24 Trading Update

Ondo InsurTech has released a brief post-YE update revealing its good progress continued through 2H24 and consequently FY24 will be in line with market expectations.

BlackRock World Mining

BRWM’s managers: we see all the classic signs of high commodity prices...

NextEnergy Solar Fund - Attractive Refinancing

The refinancing of a £135m revolving credit facility and the extension of a similar £70m facility gives NESF firepower as development opportunities for new solar are especially attractive thanks to lower module prices in Europe. They give the fund key financial flexibility at a critical time as it pursues its capital recycling programme.

The Hardman & Co Monthly: April 2024

Feature article: Steady as she goes, but could be better: A review of investment company liquidity since 2016 Liquidity is the lifeblood of equity markets. The measurement of liquid asset availability to a market or company is a way of gauging a market’s health. This article builds on our previous work, which analysed the liquidity data for non-financial trading companies, by applying the same analytical techniques to the investment companies (IC) space. We analyse liquidity for ICs as a whol

Initial Equity Trading Comments - 19 February 2024

M Winkworth+ (WINK, House Stock at 163p) - Solid FY23A results, well placed to grow

Resilient FY24, confident long-term outlook

Vp’s full year update highlights sector-leading results, once again benefiting from the diversity of its end markets and the quality of its specialist businesses. With results expected to be broadly in line with expectations, we trim our FY24 PBT forecast by c.5% to £39.0m, a shade below the FY23 outturn (£40.2m). We consider this an impressively resilient performance set against a mixed market backdrop. Under new leadership, a strategic refresh is underway and management is confident in long

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 16/04/2024

16th April 2024 * A corporate client of Hybridan LLP ** Arranged by type of listing and date of announcement *** Alphabetically arranged **** Potential means Intention to Float (ITF) has been announced Dish of the day Admissions: Delistings: What’s baking in the oven? ** Potential**** Initial Public Offerings: Reverse Takeovers: Electric Guitar (ELEG.L) Concurrent with its Admission to trading on AIM, Electric Guitar is proposing to acquire the entire issued share capital of 3radical Limited for

Hybridan Research: Sector Review: Artificial intelligence in UK cybersecurity: the human uplift 17/04/2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a double-edged sword in cybersecurity. Whilst new AI models, architectures, and innovations are emerging to protect the security posture of organisations, attackers are also benefiting from deepfakes, sophisticated phishing, and automation of malicious codes. To ensure the impact of AI on cybersecurity to be a net-positive, we need to pit good AI against bad AI. Point solutions enhanced with machine learning: Global cybersecurity has been built with point soluti

AUM up 30% in FY24, record flows, forecasts raised

AUM jumped £3.8bn or +30% in FY24, reaching £16.6bn on 31 Mar 24, 12% above our previous forecast of £14.7bn. Including 50%-owned 8AM Global, Assets Under Influence hit £17.6bn. Investment performance provided a tailwind, adding £1.5bn to AUM. But our key takeaway from Tatton’s hugely impressive last few years, is that it has designed and implemented a superior offering in platform-MPS with net flows consistently far higher than peers. That leadership looks even more pronounced in H2-24 with net

Morning Note – 18 April 2024

NextEnergy Solar Fund – High- and growing-income opportunity?

NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF) is almost 10 years old. Since launch, it has built a £1.2bn, 933MW portfolio of 100 operating solar assets, powering the equivalent of over 330,000 homes, declared dividends totalling £333m, and avoided the emission of about 2.2 Mt CO2e. NESF is on track to pay 8.35p in dividends, with forecast dividend cover of about 1.3x. Share price weakness that has afflicted the whole sector means that dividend translates to a yield of 11.1%, one of the highest in its sector, a