Drone Volt

Our EPS for 2024 have been affected primarily by the impairment of the Aquline drones stake (€3.4m impact) that we had not anticipated, a higher-than-expected tax level (c.€1.6m) and the higher D&A (€0.8m).

We have updated our NAV to take into account the strong rerating of Defence activities by the market, thus increasing the multiple for the Drone Volt Factory from 2x to 3x as this business is poised to benefit from Defence orders, as witnessed by the latest order from the Marine Nationale of a HERCULES 20 and a HELIPLANE. We have also taken into account the 400k higher net debt level at end 2024, resulting in a c.€7.4m uplift to the NAV.

Our DCF has been updated to take into account the better prospects for Drone Volt in Defence notably and the efforts made on profitability which should lead to a gradual increase in margins, especially when taking into account the operating leverage on the internal drones. We thus now forecast a 8.5% long-term revenue growth rate and a 9% EBITDA growth rate compared to 8% before for both, resulting in a slightly positive impact on our FCF positively amounting to c.€0.3m per year.