Arseus sold 5 of its dental distribution, lab and software activities to global player Henry schein for a total cash amount of € 50m.
The divested activities represent annual sales of € 70m and will be deconsolidated as of 1 January 2014. More news on the remaining Healthcare Solutions and Specialities activities are expected in 1H14.
Our View:
The divestment is the result of the strategicreview of Arseus’s Solutions and Specialities activities which was announced in August 2013 and which was promised to be disclosed and executed by YE13.
Henry Schein is a logical choice to acquire the Dental activities as they are a global player in office-based dental (and other) activities. In our view they are increasing their European market share.
The today’s divested activities are part of both the Solutions and the Specialities divisions. While undisclosed, we estimate around € 44m of sales is part of the Specialities division (FY13 sales estimate of € 87m, -5% y/y, 10-11% REBITDA margin) and € 26m from Solutions (FY13 sales estimate of € 120m, -5%, 2% REBITDA margin). For Henry Schein, the acquisition will be dilutive of $ 0.03/share, or around € 2m.
In combination with the divestment of the French dental distribution activities as announced in November 2013, around € 100m of dental activities have been divested. This represents around 60% of the ‘former’ Dental activities that Arseus had in 2012 before the reorganization of early 2013.
Conclusion:
Pending further information from the conference call, our first read is positive on the transaction. Indeed, while a substantial part of the divested activities have a reasonable margin, several of the pure distribution activities are only close to break-even (or even loss making) and as such a € 50m cash payment represents at least a high single digit REBITDA multiple. This cash will used to further grow the Fagron and Corilus activities.
We hope the conference call will provide information on key questions such as: impact on goodwill and potential impairments for the Group (recall that the book value of many dental activities was still substantial, cfr our note of 5 August 2013), impact on the group’s REBITDA and details on the remaining dental activities (and their margin).
Another consideration investors may take is, now that the divestment is a fact, if the all-time high PE multiple of Arseus will be sustainable or if investors will sell on the news…
Conference call details: at 9.30 AM with CEO and CFO: +31 10 713 72 95 (Netherlands) or +32 2 404 03 34 (Belgium).