Datatec Limited (DTC) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. Today, we are presenting our first half FY '23 results. I'll just quickly go through the agenda. Our format is unchanged other than we are presenting updated category information to show better aligned comparative industry reporting around financial disclosure and ratios with segment analysis for hardware, software, recurring services and cloud revenues. Slide 4, our financial results summary. The reported numbers represent ongoing operations whereas the combined include Analysys Mason, the management consulting business, which was still owned in H1, but sold in September. Revenue and adjusted EBITDA grew. However, gross profit fell entirely due to the strengthening dollar, which was mitigated by hedging policies in Westcon that protect from extreme movements. Our underlying earnings per share fell to USD 0.036 from USD 0.083 a year ago. Slide 5. We had excellent operational performance in Westcon with continued leverage across that group. The level of recurring business and software sales continue to grow. Logicalis was reporting of two halves. Latin America, which remained a very challenging region and the rest of the world, which had a solid performance and is now managed as Logicalis International. Supply chain constraints impacted all businesses but had a greater negative impact to Logicalis as a large proportion of its services business is related to the commissioning of product solutions. Following the completion of the sale of Analysys Mason to Bridgepoint Private Equity, we have declared a dividend of ZAR 2.7 billion, which currently represents approximately 30% of our market capitalization. Current trading, demand was strong for networking, cyber security products and solutions using cloud infrastructure. Software and services continued to improve in the overall mix. supply chain constraints did impact deliveries, adding to rising backlog. However, some hardware supplies are now improving. Despite rising interest rates, we have been able to well manage working capital and debt levels to mitigate this. Westcon and Logicalis, both won this year's leading Cisco Global Distribution and Integration award, along with other accreditations from Microsoft, Palo Alto and multiple vendors. I will hand over now to Ivan.

Thank you, Jens, and good morning, everyone. A key feature of these interim results is the classification of Analysys Mason as held for sale in H1. The full result for Analysys Mason have been consolidated for the first half and the effective date of the disposal was September 2022. Under IFRS 5, assets held for sale are disclosed as discontinued operations with a net result in the P&L being shown on the discontinued line and the prior year is being represented. On the balance sheet, the prior year results are not restated, but the held-for-sale assets are separately disclosed under assets and liabilities in the current year. The cash flow statement is not represented and is shown on a combined basis. Slide 8 sets out the P&L results for the year. On a combined basis, revenue for the year increased by 9% or 15% in constant currency. Analysys Mason was owned for the 6 months under the review and the disposal transaction closed in the second half, as previously mentioned. We had strong revenue growth in Westcon and Logicalis International and a decline in revenue in Logicalis Latin America as expected. The significant strengthening of the U.S. dollar compared to especially the sterling and the euro during the first half had a significant negative impact on gross margins in Westcon Europe, largely offset by realized and unrealized foreign exchange gains on hedging contracts. Group realized foreign exchange gains amounted to just over $11 million and unrealized gains were $18.5 million. These unrealized foreign exchange gains arose mainly in Westcon Europe on open positions of forward exchange contracts. The FECs hedge the net open working capital position of the business as well as the open order backlog, which constituted the majority of the unrealized gains. If exchange rates remain where they currently are, this could result in further depressed gross margins as the back order unwinds. There was a substantial increase in share-based payment charges representing significant improved Westcon performance. Net finance costs increased as a result of rising interest rates. The effective tax rate for the period was 33% on a combined basis, representing a more normalized rate for the group. Underlying earnings per share reduced to $0.036, mainly due to the weak performance in Latin America and the increased share-based payment charges. Slide 9 sets out the segmental financial performance for our continuing operations. With effect from this financial year, Logicalis is being shown as two segments: Logicalis International and Logicalis Latin America. In line with peer reporting, we have amended our definition for adjusted EBITDA. This metric excludes the impact of restructuring costs, share-based payment charges, one-off tax items impacting EBITDA as well as acquisition, integration and corporate actions costs. Slide 10. This slide further illustrates that Latin America was our most challenged region. This was in line with our expectations and the guidance we gave in our FY '22 results announced in May. We had seen an increased contribution from North America and Asia Pacific. Slide 11. As the business has become less asset intensive over the years, software and services have grown significantly. Hardware is expected to fall below 50% of the revenue mix. Slide 12, the balance sheet. Analysys Mason is separately shown as held for sale in the current period and the prior year numbers are not represented in the balance sheet. The balance sheet remains strong, driven by solid working capital management. This resulted in reduced net debt and liquidity remains strong. Segmental balance sheet, Slide 13. This slide represents the segmental balance sheet for our continuing operations. The reduction in net debt in Westcon is especially pleasing, considering the very strong growth incurred during H1. Slide 14, combined cash flow statement. The cash flow statement is presented on a combined basis with no restatement required under IFRS 5. We had much improved operating cash generation despite strong growth and supply chain constraints. The structural improvements in the working capital profile in Westcon over recent years continue to pay off. I will now hand back to Jens to cover the rest of the presentation.

Thanks, Ivan. So I'm going to move on to the operational review, starting with Westcon International highlights, Slide 17. A very robust performance, the businesses gain market share in many segments driven by improved execution, higher levels of customer service and enhanced automation. The growth across all regions coupled with enhanced productivity, has generated operational leverage to significantly improve EBITDA. Strong order intake momentum was apparent across networking and cyber security in particular. Disciplined working capital management with rising profitability helped to reduce net debt. Slide 18. Total revenues rose 16%. Recurring revenues, which include all software licenses, support contracts and associated cloud revenues grew by 21%. This was an exceptional performance given all the business is derived from non-U.S. dollar markets where currency was a headwind. Increasing cyber security is driving recurring revenues. Slide 19. Revenues grew in all regions, again remarkable considering the headwinds from the very strong dollar, both networking and cyber security demand underpinned the solid performance. Asia Pacific had the highest percentage growth rate at over 20%. A very pleasing performance. Slide 20, which shows the backlog. Total backlog continued to grow and now equates for almost 1/4 of annual gross revenue bookings. For so long as growth outstrip supply, this trend could continue. However, there are signs of supply side improvement as the rate of backlog growth slows as semiconductor availability improves and shipping cost decline. We show software separately, which is often tied to the supply of hardware. The proportion of business derived from Cisco is represented in the Comstor segment and has tracked over 40% for many years. The customer segmental analysis is also very consistent over the years, with SMB customers forming the majority of the business. Most vendors rely exclusively on distribution channels to reach many thousands of resellers and IT services organizations. Slide 22. Cyber security and networking continue to outpace other categories. With security -- within security, there are solutions from most leading vendors such as Palo Alto, Check Point, CrowdStrike, Zscaler and many others, but also includes Cisco's considerable security portfolio. Cloud infrastructure is mainly around data center and virtualization solutions. Unified Communications covers audiovisual, conferencing and converge digital telephony. Slide 23. We do not employ hedge accounting. Our hedging ForEx appears in our operating costs. As such, ForEx gains or losses are not part of gross profit. If there was a sudden collapse in the U.S. dollar, you would expect to see the reverse occur. Slide 24, EBITDA. There was a significant jump in EBITDA on both a reported and adjusted basis. The latter jumping by over 80%. This outperformance was driven by a combination of strong revenue growth, stable underlying gross profit and the beneficial timing of ForEx profits associated to backlog and future revenues. Strong revenue growth with a strong U.S. dollar meant that local currency operating costs translated favorably when reported in dollars. The valuation of the business has also increased considerably, reflected in the IFRS 2 charge. Slide 25. The rise in inventory is a direct consequence of the extended supply chain and rising backlog as we have had to stock many items while waiting for complete deliveries. Our customers do not accept partial deliveries and buffering this over the past year has exaggerated our inventory. To mitigate this, some vendors have provided extended credit days to help normalize the working capital cycle. Slide 26. We are both encouraged and cautious of the medium-term outlook. Our relative position and alignment with strong technology secular trends remains good. The headwinds of semiconductor shortages and supply chain delays are reversing. However, new challenges remain. The war situation in Ukraine, extreme energy prices and inflation, coupled with the extremely strong dollar everywhere hurts global growth. The multiyear strategy of Westcon has proven a winning formula as we continue to outperform many of our peers. Moving on to Logicalis Group, Slide 28. We show the -- as there was and is two pictorial representations here to better align with our longer-term strategic goals and regional priorities. The Logicalis Group will be managed in two focused segments reporting directly to and consolidated by Datatec. This change has also eliminated certain costs at the Logicalis Group level, while others such as HR and M&A support will be shared. The two go-to-market divisions will be reported as Logicalis International and Logicalis LATAM. International comprises North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific. LATAM comprises Brazil along with Southern Latin America, referred to as SOLA and Northern Latin America, referred to as NOLA. Starting with international, Slide 30. Business momentum remains strong. While public cloud consumption has softened and consumers and small businesses cut back on new applications, private and hybrid cloud solutions continue to underpin most enterprises. The new frontiers of connectivity are in 5G, software-defined networking and in secure access for users from any location. Product shipment supply delays affected revenues. And against this backdrop, working capital has been tightly managed and cash generated. Slide 31. Revenues increased 6% and mainly driven by product sales. Most services are in local currencies, which were impacted by the translation effect when reported in U.S. dollars. Recurring revenues include annuity services and software licenses, the cloud element of these grew strongly. Slide 32, the EMEA region posted decline driven mainly by Germany, but compounded by the very weak euro and pound sterling. North America and Asia Pacific showed good growth. Slide 33. Product backlog of mostly hardware but also software stepped up in all regions. However, the rate of increase reduced considerably overall. Throughout this period, Asia Pacific, which have structurally much longer-term projects and larger inventories was relatively unaffected. North America and Europe had the biggest increases. We believe we are nearing the peak in backlog and some normalization will begin later this year. Slide 34. Most services are in local currency. So the extremely strong U.S. dollar reduces the translated value of these services outside the U.S. Services have tracked close to 40% of the total mix in recent years, which drives the majority of the gross profit. The 40% increase in cloud revenues includes Software-as-a-Service, consumption and associated cloud professional services. This new category was nonexistent 3 years ago. Slide 35. The main factors behind the reduced gross profit and margins was due to product mix as larger product projects cascaded due to supply chain delays and the lower translated dollar value of non-U.S. professional and managed services, which contributed more than half of the total gross profit. Slide 36, the fall in gross profit contribution fell through to EBITDA, the weaker trading of margins were in Germany and the U.K. Despite this, adjusted EBITDA fell by $2 million and less than the drop in gross profit as operating costs were kept in check. Reported EBITDA fell by $10 million as the restructuring of group downsizing and other one-off charges had a greater impact. Slide 37. DSO and accounts receivable debtors fell from the prior year-end. Inventory and payables to trade creditors increased as supply chain and partial shipments for our orders held up customer invoicing, which reduced revenue recognition. The extended payment cycles to suppliers significantly improved overall net working capital by $75 million. And as a result, net debt fell. Latin America, Slide 39. Relatively a much more challenging environment, but with similar albeit exaggerated themes to the rest of the world. Weak but stable regional LATAM currencies, especially the Brazilian real and Mexican peso fared much better than the European and Asian currency counterparts. This helped lift the value of all services, which showed good year-over-year growth. Cloud revenues, which are still small, grew nicely, but overall product revenues tumbled as the weakness in Brazil, Argentina and Chile was further compounded by delivery delays. Slide 40. The lower product sales in Brazil and Southern Latin America were the main reason for the revenue decline. Recurring revenue saw a small reduction in software license sales, while annuity services and cloud revenues grew but it was a much more stable picture. Slide 41. Brazil and SOLA, which is mainly Argentina and Chile had the weakest trading. Mexico and Colombia within NOLA had a robust performance, albeit a much smaller region. Across Latin America, delays on product shipments have had a big impact as the nature of the business is very much aligned to large infrastructure projects. Slide 42. In contrast to the International division, the rate of increase in LATAM's backlog accelerated during the last past 6 months. This is the highest closing level of backlog we have ever seen. The unwind of some of this in the second half could provide a strong boost to revenue. Slide 43. As a result of the reduction in both hardware and software, products sales, services grew in absolute and overall percentage sales -- percentage terms, sorry, and now represent 45% of the mix. As mentioned throughout the strong U.S. dollar reduces the translated value of these services which are largely in local currencies. Similar to Logicalis International, cloud revenues grew rapidly as more customers adopted hybrid cloud infrastructure and onboarding Software-as-a-Service solutions. The outperformance -- Slide 44, the outperformance of services against a backdrop of delivery delays and poor product sales acted as a buffer for gross profit. The 14% drop in dollar reported gross profit contribution was much less than the percentage drop in revenues. Slide 45. Unfortunately, the high fixed cost base throughout the region, where we are reluctant to reduce further our skilled technical workforce, meant a significant compression in profitability. Adjusted EBITDA fell 78%, while reported EBITDA was basically nothing for this period. We believe operating with the rebalanced cost base is warranted as most of the pain during this period came from external events out of our control, and that should normalize. Slide 46, working capital. Similar to the other divisions, extended payables and extra creditor days mitigated the buildup in inventories. The main cause behind the increase in inventory is suppliers shipping partial inventory to us that we cannot commission with customers until complete. Long lead times and large infrastructure projects pushed out debtor days outstanding and increased the receivables. Despite this, there was a slight decrease in net working capital overall. Slide 47. The uncertainty in economic conditions everywhere, record inflation and the soaring U.S. dollar is starting to hit the growth of public cloud consumption as like any utility tariffs are rising. The digital transformation and technologies behind this are still in strong demand, and private or hybrid cloud configurations are being supported by the continuing shift to hybrid working. While the supply chain disruption remains challenging, we suspect a turning point later this year with gradual improvements ahead. And going to Slide 49 to wrap up. We are in a good position to perform better and adapt faster when economic conditions improve. Our market positioning is strong. Supply chains will improve but many remain elevated, which could suit the role of intermediaries that often act as a buffer for the end user markets. The reducing delivery bottlenecks and lower shipping costs will help ease technology inflation. Our longer-term strategic objectives remain intact, but shorter term, our focus is on continuous business improvement. So that concludes the presentation. And if we could hand over to the conference call if there are any questions from the participants.

[Operator Instructions] There are currently no questions. Jens, I think let's give it -- so just a short while.

No questions? All right. Well, thank you for the participants and we'll close the session. Thank you.

Thank you.