Nabaltec AG
Original-Research: Nabaltec AG (von NuWays AG): BUY

Original-Research: Nabaltec AG – from NuWays AG

Classification of NuWays AG to Nabaltec AG

Company Name: Nabaltec AG
ISIN: DE000A0KPPR7

Reason for the research: Update
Recommendation: BUY
from: 06.03.2024
Target price: 25.00
Target price on sight of: 12 Monaten
Last rating change:
Analyst: Christian Sandherr

FY23 profitability better than expected / valuation too pessimistic

Topic: While profitability in Q4 (preliminary figures) came in
significantly better than expected, sales fell slightly short of
expectations. Although FY24 is seen to also be burdened by the challenging
macro environment, valuation has more than factored it in, in our view.

Q4 sales came in at € 44.2m, down 14% yoy (eNuW € 52.2m). The shortfall to
our estimates was driven by the particularly weak Speciality Alumina (S.A.)
segment where sales declined 31% yoy due to customers’ further inventory
wind-downs, generally weak demand (46% of sales from refractory customers).
Functional Fillers (F.F.) came in as expected at € 32.4m (-6% yoy). FY23
sales decreased by 8.6%; with F.F. down 4% yoy to € 142m and S.A. down 12%
yoy to € 58m. Positively, boehmite sustained its recovery, yet from low
levels. H2 volumes stood at 3.1kt, up ~64% vs H1, leading to FY volumes of
c. 5kt (flat yoy, eNuW). Nabaltec is also gaining further momentum with its
gap filler, APYRAL.

Q4 EBIT came in strong at € 5.2m, down only 6% yoy (eNuW: € 3m), a margin
of 11.7%. This was the result of a positive mix effect, i.e. decent
development of higher margin products like boehmite, APYRAL and ATH from
Nashtec vs. a strong decline at S.A. FY23 EBIT came in at € 18.3m, a 9.1%
margin.

Cautious FY24 guidance. Management expects to grow FY24 sales slightly
(eNuW new: 3.9%) with an EBIT margin of 7-9% (eNuW new: 8.6%). Growth is
expected to be carried by a slight increase of boehmite volumes (+1kt yoy),
further growing gap filler demand and improving utilization rates at its US
plants, while the remainder of F.F. and S.A. should remain rather flat yoy.

The core business (ATH and S.A.) should remain solid going forward, yet
with a certain degree of cyclicality as currently visible. Speciality
products such as boehmite and APYRAL still have the potential to
significantly drive earnings growth going forward. Yet, as a result of
uncertainties regarding the build-up of significant European/US battery
production volumes, timing and degree of growth remains difficult to
assess. Mind you, boehmite is used to coat the separator film and the
electrode in order to significantly improve safety/heat resistance of NMC,
NMx and LFP batteries.

Unjustified valuation. Nabaltec is trading on 7.5x EV/EBIT FY24e (10y avg.
at 11.9x) and a 30% discount to its book value while having a rock-solid
balance sheet (€ 94m cash, € 4m net cash) , good margins and offering a 16%
FCF yield. Remains a BUY with a new € 25 PT (old: € 31) based on FCFY 24e.

You can download the research here:
http://www.more-ir.de/d/29077.pdf
For additional information visit our website
www.nuways-ag.com/research.

Contact for questions
Die Analyse oder weiterführende Informationen zu dieser können Sie hier downloaden
www.nuways-ag.com/research.
Kontakt für Rückfragen
NuWays AG – Equity Research
Web: www.nuways-ag.com
Email: research@nuways-ag.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nuwaysag
Adresse: Mittelweg 16-17, 20148 Hamburg, Germany
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Diese Meldung ist keine Anlageberatung oder Aufforderung zum Abschluss bestimmter Börsengeschäfte.
Offenlegung möglicher Interessenskonflikte nach § 85 WpHG beim oben analysierten Unternehmen befinden sich in der vollständigen Analyse.
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——————-transmitted by EQS Group AG.——————-


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