IVE Group: Acquisition synergies realised, gross profit up, costs down & net profit through the roof
IVE Group Managing Director Matt Aitken 3AW, 2GB, 4BC & 6PR Bulls N' Bears Report
Listen to ASX-listed IVE Group Managing Director Matt Aitken talk to Matt Birney on the Bulls N’ Bears Report about IVE Group’s impressive December half yearly numbers and profit forecast for the year.
TO LISTEN TO THE IVE GROUP AUDIO INTERVIEW - CLICK BELOW
IVE Group runs an extraordinarily diverse group of businesses that are broadly cantered on ecommerce, marketing, packaging and logistics to name just a few. A couple of years ago the company went on a major buying spree, picking up an online retail aggregation business, a cardboard box maker and a creative production agency and it seems the synergies from those acquisitions have been well realised after the company tabled a lovely set of numbers in its December half yearly report.
RADIO INTERVIEW - TRANSCRIPT
Matt Birney - Welcome to Bulls N' Bears brought to you today by IVE Group.
Matt Birney - ASX code: IGL
Matt Birney - I'm Matt Birney and I'm joined now by the Managing Director of IVE Group, Matt Aitken.
Matt Birney - Hi Matt.
Matt Aitken - G'day Matt.
Matt Birney - Okay IVE Group runs an extraordinarily diverse group of businesses that are broadly cantered on e-commerce, marketing, packaging and logistics to name just a few.
Matt Birney - A couple of years ago the company went on a major buying spree, picking up an online retail aggregation business, a cardboard box maker and a creative production agency and it seems the synergies from those acquisitions have been well realised after the company tabled a lovely set of numbers in its December half yearly report.
Matt Birney - Okay Matt we'll get to those numbers in a minute but firstly without getting too detailed just give me a roll call of the five or six business sectors
that contribute the most to IVE group's revenue because it's pretty diverse right?
Matt Aitken - Yeah Matt we're a very large diverse conglomerate business. We have big capabilities in creative content and e-commerce, brand activations, working with retailers, events, all aspects of printing, packaging and warehousing and logistics right around the country.
Matt Birney - All right well let's get into those half yearly numbers for the December half with some rapid fire questions and answers, so firstly what was your revenue for the half year and how did it compare with the same period last year?
Matt Aitken - Revenue was 508 million and that was stable on the same period for the prior year.
Matt Birney - What sort of gross profit margin did you achieve for the half year and how does that compare to the prior corresponding period?
Matt Aitken - Gross profit margin pleasingly was up at 48.5%, on the prior period it was 46.2%.
Matt Birney - And what about your net profit after tax for the half year? How'd that go?
Matt Aitken - Net profit after tax was up 29.1% to $29.3 million.
Matt Birney - And what about earnings per share for the half?
Matt Aitken - Earnings per share was 19 cents per share, up 28.1% on the prior half.
Matt Birney - Okay with those numbers I'm guessing you're going to pay an interim dividend, is that right?
Matt Aitken - We've declared a fully franked interim dividend of 9 and a half cents per share.
Matt Birney - Okay so your net profit after tax growth of the half year is extraordinary by any measure, what do you say are the key drivers of that net profit after tax growth?
Matt Aitken - Matt there's three main things, one is we've concluded two prior acquisitions from an integration perspective and captured all of those synergies, a large printing business that we acquired 18 months ago and then a packaging business in the carton space that we acquired 12 months ago.
Matt Aitken - We've increased our gross profits significantly through the half and we've also taken a range of costs out in the business through that same period of time.
Matt Birney - Have you made any predictions about the full year net profit after tax for FY25?
Matt Aitken - Our current guidance has been upgraded to $47 to $50 million of NPAT.
Matt Birney - Now I note IVE Group has announced it's going to use some of that cash generated to buy back its own shares on market, how many shares do you have on issue and how many are you planning to buy back?
Matt Aitken - We have 154 million shares on issue. We will buy back up to 4 and a half million of those shares which is approximately 3% of our equity.
Matt Birney - Matt Aitken from IVE Group.
Matt Birney - Thanks for joining me on Bulls N' Bears and remember we're only here to give you information, not advice, which you should of course seek independently.
Matt Birney - I'm Matt Birney and this is Bulls N' Bears.
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