Feedback from the Lyon Pôle bourse Forum part 1: Visiativ
It will be a series of article as I was able to see 8 french micro, small and mid caps. The posts will be coming in quick sucessions.
I was lucky to participate at an event where investors could exchange with french companies during the whole day. Needless to say that I had a great time and the one to one or one to few were very interesting.
Visiativ (one to one)
The company announced a new strategic plan (by 2028 they are aiming for 500 M€ (258 M€ in 2022) in sales (with 50% coming from the international) and 100M€ (27,4M€ in 2022) in ARR (SAAS model). H1 2023 results saw expenses rise as they are proceeding to the unification of their brands to boost sales. International is more profitable as they sell and distribute the solutions which are developped (expensed and immobilized) in France (R&D).
Sales teams incentives were changed to take into account the transition towards the SAAS model (now it is based on the bookings and no longer on the invoice).
There was another employee sahreholding plan bringing their stake up to 6,37% when including shares held directly by employees and shareholders. Employee participation was a bit lower then the previous plan as conditions were less attractive. Treasury shares were used to give the stake to the employees.
External growth focuses on
1/ resellers /integrator of Dassault Systèmes solutions,
2/ consulting (helps cross selling) and,
3/ software editor (helps cross selling).
Why do you use factoring?
It is very competitive to finance our working capital and it guarantees our cash towards our clients which are mainly good quality SME’s. It also helps to neutralize seasonality as maintenance kicks in H2. Factoring is only used in France. Factoring has become more expensive with rate increases
Why do you immobilize some R&D?
We immobilize 7 M€ (amortization is done on 1 and 3 year periods). The amount is stable over the last couple of years. It shows that we are innovative.
At its origin Visiativ is a distributor and seller of Dassault Systèmes products. Their products represent 50% of our sales. As time goes by this percentage will decrease. Dassault Systèmes products helps us to conquer clients and gain entrance so that we can then sell additionnal services.
My understanding is that Dassault Systèmes focuses on big accounts while Visiativ focuses on SME’s.
I don’t own any Visiativ shares as I still consider them as a distributor of someone elses products. In other words, there is a certain form of dependency to an outside product.
A dividend is being paid out since 2021 which can probably be explained by the fact that the Alliativ (founders and manager) holding has financial leverage.
Cheers!
Jeremy
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Disclaimer: The above article constitutes the authors’ personal views and is for entertainment purposes only. It is not to be construed as financial advice in any shape or form. Please do your own research and seek your own advice from a qualified financial advisor. The author may from time to time hold positions in the aforementioned stocks consistent with the views and opinions expressed in this article. Disclosure – I do not hold a position in Visiativ at the time of publishing this article (this is a disclosure and NOT A RECOMMENDATION).