Profil:
ASBISc Enterprises plcAsbis IT expects further revenue growth, mainly in African markets
Listed IT equipment distributor Asbis expects further revenue growth, mainly in African markets, the company's CFO Marios Christou told a conference. He indicated that the group is actively looking for companies in which to invest.
In the first quarter of 2025, Asbis generated sales revenue of USD 736.4 million, above the market expectations for revenue of USD 734 million. The group's EBIT reached USD 16.4 million, against the consensus of USD 23.1 million.
The gross margin on sales in the period amounted to 7.00 percent.
"In terms of revenue, this was historically the best first quarter. However, it is accompanied by a lower sales margin - this is an effect of the high base from last year, intensifying grey market sales in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) markets - no longer only in Kazakhstan and Ukraine. It also results from the fact that we have large contracts for the sale of servers and components, where we have high revenues but lower margins," CFO Christou said.
"We expect that in the second half of the year this margin will start to rebound (...) We expect this trend to be upward. It all depends on what will happen in the markets, the war is going on in Ukraine, we don't know when it will end," he added.
It was reported that the United Arab Emirates was the largest country in terms of sales in the first quarter, while the CIS countries maintained the largest share of the group's revenue (over 30 percent).
Poland, in turn, ranked sixth among the group's top-selling countries with revenues of more than USD 40.5 million (up 42 percent year on year).
"We expect further dynamic growth, mainly in African markets. We are also active in Western Europe, while strengthening our positions in Central and Eastern Europe," CFO stated.
"We are actively looking around for companies in which we could invest. It is not about new markets but strengthening our position in markets where we are already present. In general, we want to strengthen our position in existing markets either through new product lines or precisely through acquisitions. But it's all a question of price (...)," he added.
On Wednesday, Asbis said it will pay an additional USD 0.3 dividend per share for 2024, with the company paying a USD 0.2 dividend advance for 2024 in December.
Thus, the company's total 2024 profit dividend including the dividend advance paid in December 2024 will be USD 0.50 per share, representing a total payout of USD 27,750,000.
BELOW ARE ASBIS' RESULTS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2025 VS THE PAP BIZNES CONSENSUS (data in USD mln):
| 1Q2025 | results | consensus | difference | y/y | q/q |
| Revenues | 736.4 | 734.0 | 0.3% | 3.3% | -20.6% |
| EBITDA | 18.4 | 25.3 | -27.3% | -31.9% | -51.2% |
| EBIT | 16.4 | 23.1 | -29.1% | -32.8% | -53.8% |
| Attrib. net profit | 7.4 | 12.9 | -42.4% | -47.1% | -69.8% |
| EBITDA margin | 2.5% | 3.4% | -0.95 | -1.29 | -1.57 |
| EBIT margin | 2.2% | 3.2% | -0.93 | -1.19 | -1.60 |
| net margin | 1.0% | 1.8% | -0.75 | -0.96 | -1.64 |
alk/ nl/ ao/