Foreign serial offenders

Could the company’s growth profile be so high that one has to pay more for it? 50% growth is at a high level and has apparently continued this year. :slightly_smiling_face: Perhaps Berner can even help accelerate it. Revenue would appear to increase by about a couple of percent at the entire Berner Group level. On the other hand, arrangements involving smaller company sizes carry less risk than larger ones. So, it could be a good targeted acquisition at this point. On the positive side, these acquisitions have started coming in this year.

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The deal is very well organized. Promising technology, but the business is still small. Considering that, most of the transaction sum will only be paid when there is more evidence of the business’s scalability and potential.

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Here are SEB’s quick comments on the deal. ABG has apparently stopped coverage, by the way. :slightly_frowning_face:

https://research.sebgroup.com/oapi/puppeteer/138584

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According to SEB, the acquisition target is priced at only EV/EBIT 6x the purchase price, with additions separately. :smiley:

Pays an upfront EV/EBIT multiple of 6x based on 2024 earnings

Typhonix will continue to operate as an independent company within Berner Industrier’s Energy & Environment business area, and the acquisition is expected to be completed in Q1 2026. Berner will pay SEK 22m upfront, corresponding to 6x 2024 EBIT. In addition, a performance-based earn-out linked to results in 2025 and 2026 will be paid in two instalments through to 2027. The maximum total consideration amounts to SEK 68m, which in our view implies high expectations for continued strong growth, consistent with Berner Industrier’s disciplined approach to acquisition multiples.

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Here are some more figures from Typhonix

17660490581573174373557477038791

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Hopefully there won’t be too many messages about Berner in this thread all at once. But regarding today’s insider trades:

CEO BOUGHT SHARES FOR 2.8 MILLION SEK
Berner Industrier’s CEO Caroline Reuterskiöld has bought around 31,200 shares for approximately 2.8 million SEK in the technical trading group.

This is stated in the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority’s (Finansinspektionen) insider register.

The purchases were made in three separate transactions on Thursday at prices of 90.40-91.00 SEK per share.

After the transaction, Caroline Reuterskiöld owns 146,375 shares in Berner Industrier, according to the ownership data service Holdings.


PERSON CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE CEO OF BERNER INDUSTRIER BUYS SHARES FOR 2.8 MILLION SEK
Carl Reuterskiöld has today bought 31,075 shares in the technical trading company Berner Industrier, where he has a close relationship with CEO Caroline Reuterskiöld. The total purchase amount is 2,823,955 SEK with an average price of 90.88 SEK per share. The transaction was carried out on Nasdaq Stockholm.

This is stated in the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority’s (Finansinspektionen) insider register.


BERNER INDUSTRIER’S SUBSIDIARY CEO MARCUS WIGREN SELLS SHARES FOR NEARLY 0.6 MILLION SEK
Marcus Wigren has on December 18 sold 6,000 B-shares in the technical trading company Berner Industrier, where he is the CEO of the subsidiary Zander & Ingeström. The shares were sold at a price of 94.89 SEK per share, a transaction worth 569,300 SEK. The transaction was made outside of a trading venue. This is stated in the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority’s (Finansinspektionen) insider register.

Wigren subsequently owns 20,000 shares in Berner, according to the ownership service Holdings.

Links to news
https://www.nordnet.fi/markkinakatsaus/uutiset/b091a2a4-6ba7-4c79-8d1b-33cbe56acf06

https://www.nordnet.fi/markkinakatsaus/uutiset/3f779523-ad11-48c9-98ed-d3822b06c804

https://www.nordnet.fi/markkinakatsaus/uutiset/6e048d9c-199e-431a-b8b9-abda60c355ad

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I have started investigating Berner Industrier. Previously, I have leaned more towards the idea that I would prefer to own the “offspring” of Bergman & Beving, as they share a certain DNA and operating model. Another thought is that I should own larger-scale serial acquirers because they have a proven track record (track record), and a single potentially failed acquisition does not affect a large serial acquirer as severely as a small one (assuming both make small acquisitions).

In Berner’s case, I might make an exception. The company’s CEO comes from Lagercrantz, which in my view increases credibility. Lagercrantz’s Niche Products is a very profitable sector that Caroline led for 5 years, so I would hope that they are trying to create something similar at Berner.
For those who have followed the company for longer, do you know if Berner follows the P/WC 45% principle, which has been an important metric at companies like Lagercrantz?

The company’s profitability has also started to improve, apparently through cost-saving measures. Do those of you who have followed the company longer see the profitability as being on a sustainable level? Has the company under-invested to improve profitability quickly?

In my opinion, the potential earn-out (lisäkauppahinta) paid for new acquisitions causes a bit of concern. When acquisitions are successful, fast-growing companies support value creation more strongly, but I believe the risk level for failure is higher—though, of course, if growth were to stall quickly, the earn-out would not need to be paid. Do you see the company’s risk profile as having risen, driven by the two most recent acquisition targets? Do you believe the company’s acquisition profile is more growth-driven, or are they looking for companies with a cash-flow-first profile?

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Caroline’s appointment as Berner’s CEO certainly brought a very interesting factor to Berner’s investment story. I couldn’t find the P/WC metric in the company’s reported key figures. It is, of course, possible that there are more internally monitored metrics than what are published under “key figures.”

This year’s expenses have developed roughly at last year’s level. That is a good achievement, as typically expenses have grown annually. Under Caroline’s leadership, expense growth is very moderate for 2023-2025. I can’t really say whether part of the savings could be under-investment, or if, for example, the production chain has been optimized to be more cost-effective.

Total expenses (green row)

I think the company is in a cyclical industry, which can cause profitability to fluctuate in different years. Is the current level of profitability sustainable over many years, or is there even room for improvement? In my opinion, one can only get a better perspective on that over a slightly longer period. We need to watch the situation for another year, two, or three under Caroline’s leadership.

During Caroline’s time, only two acquisitions have been made so far. Evaluating acquisitions will also be easier once we get a bit more data. In my opinion, the acquisitions lower the risk profile of the investment story, because the hope was that Caroline would continue at Berner with the same approach she implemented at Lagercrantz. And that Berner becomes a high-class serial acquirer. The acquisitions have been quite small and, in my opinion, do not raise Berner’s risk profile. The purchases made have seemed quite appropriate. I will only be worried about earn-outs (lisäkauppahinnat) if too high a price were paid for too small a success.

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Exactly, I was wondering if this had come up in some investor presentation or similar. I haven’t come across this in the company materials yet, but it could certainly be an internal metric, as this seems to have been a very important part of all Bergman & Beving companies, so it would be interesting if the CEO hadn’t implemented it from Lagercrantz. And if not, it would be interesting to hear why :slight_smile:

You’re right, it’s better to examine costs on an annual level, as there can be fluctuations between quarters, especially in how acquisitions and their resulting costs happen to be timed.

It would also be great if the Energy & Environment segment showed organic growth, as the segment’s profitability is clearly better at this stage.

Small acquisitions are at least on my own wish list. As soon as you move to larger deals, the multiples rise and the expected return falls. At the same time, the risk also increases because the relative size of the new company compared to Berner would be larger.

What I like is that the company seems to have a focus on increasing the number of acquired companies that have their own products, instead of value-added distribution. Both have their pros and cons, but I personally prefer product companies. Additionally, the significant improvement in cash flow should be noted. The CEO mentioned that it was first important to get cash generation in order so that they could start executing acquisitions.

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