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14 Jan 2025
Gamma : Taking the smart and sensible option - Buy

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Gamma : Taking the smart and sensible option - Buy
Gamma Communications PLC (GAMA:LON) | 1,046 -20.9 (-0.2%) | Mkt Cap: 964.0m
- Published:
14 Jan 2025 -
Author:
Julian Yates | Roger Phillips -
Pages:
6 -
The FY24 update is solid enough with an upper half EPS outcome, and H2 is broadly consistent on H1, albeit with a possible bit of a sogginess in Q4. The comment about consistent gross margins looks designed to put to rest any concerns about pushing hardware to make numbers.
The real news is the STARFACE acquisition, which at c.£165m essentially takes out the group’s current net cash surplus. We like this deal as a “big bolt-on” reflecting continued targeting of Germany (plus broadening out of geographic exposure within the country), as opposed to the much larger risk of a bigger pan-Euro cloud PBX deal, or the strategic question mark around a defensive UK reseller channel deal. Following Placetel the deal establishes Gamma as number one market share in German cloud PBX, in simple seat terms, at >500k, with more to come through the SIP hardware base (c.360k) migrating progressively over time.
STARFACE is not especially cheap at an early-teens EBITDA, especially as most of these European PBX assets do not necessarily have very advanced products / roadmaps relative to UK, and there is a longer-term product integration programme to come. Still, the business looks attractive at a base level, with c.70% recurring revs (likely to rise to c.90% over time through SIP hardware migration), strong GMs (c.80%), good EBITDA profitability, and a sensible high-single-digit EBITDA growth pa profile historically. The comment over near-term investment probably means the FY24 financials (EUR44m revenue / EUR15m EBITDA) gets applied to FY25 (for a nine month contribution) as opposed to any racy growth estimates, but this still appears to translate down to low-single-digit current year accretion.
We retain Buy and our TP and see a bounce due in the stock.