Over the last few years Uls Technology showed solid growth in fundamentals
05 Jul 2016 • About Uls Technology (
$ULS) • By InTwits
Uls Technology is a growth stock in Media industry. Its revenue performance, profitability and healthy financial model stands it out vs. other public companies on the market.
Growth story
Uls Technology showed fast growth in the last financial year. The company's revenue surged on 28.0% in FY2016. The growth also happened in EBITDA of 20.1% for the same period.
If we look for the longer period the company showed fast revenue growth of 25.0% from FY2013 to FY2016 annually. EBITDA surged on 33.4% from FY2013 to FY2016 annually.
Uls Technology ($ULS) financials for the last 5 years
| mln. £ | FY2012 | FY2013 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 |
|---|
| Revenue | 8 | 11 | 16 | 16 | 21 |
|---|
| Revenue growth, % | | 26.6% | 53.9% | -1.0% | 28.0% |
|---|
| Gross margin, % | 31.3% | 31.2% | 32.2% | 37.4% | 41.9% |
|---|
| SG&A, % | | | | 18.8% | 23.7% |
|---|
| EBITDA | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
|---|
| EBITDA growth, % | | 21.8% | 58.4% | 24.9% | 20.1% |
|---|
| EBITDA margin, % | 16.9% | 16.3% | 16.7% | 21.1% | 19.8% |
|---|
| Net Income | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
|---|
| Net Income margin, % | 9.94% | 9.63% | 13.2% | 6.79% | 11.5% |
|---|
| |
| CAPEX | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
|---|
| CAPEX/Revenue, % | 0.886% | 1.36% | 4.16% | 0.917% | 0.247% |
|---|
| Debt | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
|---|
| Cash | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|
| Net Debt/EBITDA | 1.4x | 0.8x | -0.0x | -0.4x | -0.7x |
|---|
| |
| ROIC, % | | 33.2% | 44.1% | 39.6% | 39.3% |
|---|
| ROE, % | | 58.6% | 64.8% | 20.0% | 34.7% |
|---|
Profitability and return on investment
Despite revenue growth EBITDA margin declined slightly from 21.1% in FY2015 to 19.8% in FY2016. In the last 3 years Uls Technology showed fast EBITDA margin growth of 3.50 pp from 16.3% in FY2013 to 19.8% in FY2016.
We call Uls Technology an attractive growth stock as together with the growth it delivers high ROIC at 39.3%. Three years ago it was lower at 33.2%. It's average level of ROIC for the last three years was 41.0%.
Uls Technology showed fast Net Income margin growth of 4.70 pp from 6.80% to 11.5% in FY2016. In the longer period Net Income margin surged on 1.90 pp from 9.60% in FY2013 to 11.5% in FY2016.
Uls Technology operates at ROE of 34.7%. For the last three years the average ROE was 39.8%.
Capital expenditures (CAPEX)
The company's CAPEX/Revenue was 0.247% in FY2016. The company showed big decline in CAPEX/Revenue of 1.11 pp from 1.36% in FY2013 to 0.247% in FY2016. It's average CAPEX/Revenue for the last three years was 1.78%.
Leverage (Debt)
Having such a fast growth profile Uls Technology keeps negative net debt at -0.7x Net Debt/EBITDA. In the last 3 years the company showed big decline in leverage of 1.50x from 0.79x in FY2013 to -0.71x in FY2016.
Valuation vs. comparable companies
At the end of trading day today Uls Technology traded at 9.4x EV/EBITDA which is 64.8% lower than 26.7x Media peer group avearge calculated on the basis of 113 companies. The company trades at 17.4x P/E which is not surprisingly 24% higher than 14.0x Media industry avearge calculated based on 8 companies.
Peers in Media
Below we provide Uls Technology benchmarking against other companies in Media industry for the last 5 years. We show data for the top-5 companies by key financial metric together with the median value for all the companies in the industry.
Top companies by Revenue growth, %
| FY2012 | FY2013 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 |
|---|
| Top 5 |
|---|
| Tla Worldwide ($TLA) | 5,338.4% | 25.0% | 6.3% | 130.0% | |
| Porta Communications ($PTCM) | 970.2% | 10.7% | 150.9% | 46.5% | |
| Jaywing ($JWNG) | -16.6% | -27.9% | -0.7% | 26.6% | |
| Marimedia Ltd ($MARI) | 24.4% | 71.1% | 45.7% | 20.1% | |
| Dcd Media ($DCD) | -17.0% | -23.4% | -21.2% | 14.5% | |
| |
|---|
| Median (22 companies) | -2.9% | -2.5% | 1.5% | 1.5% | -9.7% |
|---|
| Uls Technology ($ULS) | | 26.6% | 53.9% | -1.0% | 28.0% |
Top companies by Gross margin, %
| FY2012 | FY2013 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 |
|---|
| Top 5 |
|---|
| Jaywing ($JWNG) | 79.8% | 76.8% | 81.0% | 89.0% | |
| Brainjuicer Group ($BJU) | 77.2% | 78.0% | 78.8% | 80.4% | |
| Porta Communications ($PTCM) | 55.3% | 89.2% | 83.4% | 79.0% | |
| Tla Worldwide ($TLA) | 96.1% | 96.6% | 99.9% | 78.8% | |
| Haynes Publishing Group ($HYNS) | 59.9% | 59.6% | 52.9% | 60.2% | |
| |
|---|
| Median (23 companies) | 41.3% | 41.9% | 43.7% | 41.8% | 42.8% |
|---|
| Uls Technology ($ULS) | 31.3% | 31.2% | 32.2% | 37.4% | 41.9% |
Top companies by EBITDA margin, %
| FY2012 | FY2013 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 |
|---|
| Top 5 |
|---|
| Dq Entertainment ($DQE) | 42.8% | 49.2% | 62.4% | 59.1% | |
| Haynes Publishing Group ($HYNS) | 25.7% | 23.4% | 38.8% | 33.5% | |
| Tla Worldwide ($TLA) | 43.5% | 39.1% | 40.6% | 28.5% | |
| Quarto Group Inc ($QRT) | 20.0% | 25.9% | 27.8% | 28.4% | |
| Dcd Media ($DCD) | 41.7% | 41.6% | 9.5% | 23.2% | |
| |
|---|
| Median (23 companies) | 14.7% | 13.9% | 12.7% | 8.4% | 2.5% |
|---|
| Uls Technology ($ULS) | 16.9% | 16.3% | 16.7% | 21.1% | 19.8% |
Top companies by CAPEX/Revenue, %
| FY2012 | FY2013 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 |
|---|
| Top 5 |
|---|
| Avesco Group ($AVS) | 22.7% | 13.2% | 18.6% | 14.4% | |
| Mood Media Corp ($MM.) | 8.6% | 6.4% | 6.9% | 8.2% | |
| Spaceandpeople ($SAL) | 3.2% | 4.1% | 1.6% | 5.0% | |
| Dq Entertainment ($DQE) | 6.8% | 2.0% | 0.0% | 4.6% | |
| Naspers ($NPSN) | 4.7% | 4.9% | | 4.0% | 3.1% |
| |
|---|
| Median (23 companies) | 1.4% | 2.0% | 1.6% | 1.2% | 3.1% |
|---|
| Uls Technology ($ULS) | 0.9% | 1.4% | 4.2% | 0.9% | 0.2% |
Top companies by ROIC, %
| FY2012 | FY2013 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 |
|---|
| Top 5 |
|---|
| Independent News & Media ($INM) | -43.9% | 136.2% | 29.6% | 65.1% | |
| Brainjuicer Group ($BJU) | 24.3% | 49.0% | 60.0% | 58.5% | |
| Cellcast Group ($CLTV) | -63.1% | | | 28.4% | |
| Tla Worldwide ($TLA) | | 5.3% | 8.6% | 13.9% | |
| Avesco Group ($AVS) | 7.7% | -10.6% | 1.1% | 13.1% | |
| |
|---|
| Median (23 companies) | 5.4% | 5.3% | 5.0% | 6.4% | -1.0% |
|---|
| Uls Technology ($ULS) | | 33.2% | 44.1% | 39.6% | 39.3% |
Top companies by Net Debt / EBITDA
| FY2012 | FY2013 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 |
|---|
| Top 5 |
|---|
| Johnston Press ($JPR) | 5.8x | | 11.4x | 15.6x | |
| Mood Media Corp ($MM.) | 5.2x | 8.1x | 8.2x | 9.8x | |
| Naspers ($NPSN) | 1.4x | 1.9x | | 6.2x | 14.7x |
| Grupo Clarin Sa ($GCLA) | 0.9x | 0.8x | 0.7x | 4.3x | |
| Dq Entertainment ($DQE) | 1.1x | 1.5x | 1.5x | 2.8x | |
| |
|---|
| Median (21 companies) | 0.9x | 0.8x | 1.1x | 1.1x | 14.7x |
|---|
| Uls Technology ($ULS) | 1.4x | 0.8x | -0.0x | -0.4x | -0.7x |
