TeamViewer, Water Ways Technologies, Zooplus - Further underwater

Dramatic development

Water is our most precious commodity. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), society is not in the least prepared for an impending catastrophe. Improvements are most likely to be needed in agriculture, which is responsible for around 70% of global freshwater withdrawals. Old irrigation systems should be urgently renewed. Canadian-based Water Ways Technologies has been researching the solution since 2003, providing intelligent and complex irrigation and control systems for agricultural producers.

Originally founded in Israel, the center of agri-tech, the Company's customers are spread around the globe. With a bulging order book and orders from South America, Canada, China, Ethiopia and Mexico, Water Ways Technologies is growing dynamically. This year, the largest single order in the Company's history came from Uzbekistan, amounting to CAD 4.1 million.

Dynamic growth

After already reporting record results in the 1st half of the year, the Company, represented by branches in China and Israel, set yet another scent mark. In the first nine months of the fiscal year 2021, sales were pushed to a record level of CAD 15.77 million, an increase of 65% over the previous year. Revenue from service projects exploded by 258% to currently CAD 2.24 million. Gross profit also nearly doubled by 93% to CAD 2.94 million. On a positive note, record revenues were achieved both in the subsidiaries in the Middle Kingdom and Israel and at the headquarters in Canada.

Further growth was also secured with an oversubscribed private placement of CAD 4.4 million. Future plans include expansion into other markets, such as the USA. Water Ways Technologies is growing dynamically and should be increasingly called upon to solve the problem of intelligent irrigation in the coming years. The stock market value of the Frankfurt-listed Company is currently EUR 32.70 million.

Dive continues

There is no end to the slide for the specialist in cloud-based solutions that enable users to collaborate online and provide remote support globally. As reported at researchanalyst.com, the company, listed in Deutsche Börse's MDAX, has had to cut its forecasts twice this fiscal year. Due to lower than expected billings and a higher cost base, the EBITDA margin is expected to be "only" 44%-46%. The revenue side has also been capped at EUR 495 million to EUR 505 million.

The sponsoring contracts in the sports sector are putting pressure on the margin, above all the 5-year contract with the Manchester United soccer club, which the Goeppingen-based Company is paying around EUR 46 million per year for. Despite the latest Corona wave, a renewed hype about TeamViewer's software is unlikely, as everyone working in a home office and every schoolchild has already had their system set up for months. For this reason, it would not be surprising in our opinion if the even lower annual targets were to be missed again.

Further miss and takeover?

In this case, a further slide in the share price into the single digits would probably be the consequence. On the other hand, as reported, a takeover by software giant SAP would make perfect sense. The cooperation with TeamViewer has already started successfully, and the Walldorf-based Company lacks such software in its bulging portfolio. As reported in an interview with Handelsblatt, SAP CEO Christian Klein wants to turn the Company into one of the largest cloud companies in the world in the long term. Christiano Ronaldo wouldn't mind wearing the three letters from Walldorf on his chest when he enters Old Trafford instead of the TeamViewer logo.

Slipped out of the index

The sharp drop in the TeamViewer share price - at its peak, one share was worth just under EUR 50.00 - is now also impacting various index compositions. As the index provider Qontigo, which belongs to Deutsche Börse, announced on Wednesday evening, two other German companies besides TeamViewer have to say goodbye to the broad-based Stoxx Europe 600. They will no longer be listed in the index as of December 20. Both Grand City Properties and the operator of an Internet trading platform for pet supplies, Zooplus, will have to vacate their places.

Zooplus is to disappear from the stock exchange altogether. The Munich-based company is being taken over by financial investors from Hellman & Friedman (H&F) and EQT at a valuation of EUR 3.7 billion. The delisting offer is already underway, and around 90% of shareholders have already transferred their shares. The Executive and Supervisory boards recommend that the remaining shareholders accept the delisting offer for EUR 480 per share.

Water is our most precious resource. Water treatment and intelligent irrigation solutions should save humanity from disaster in the coming decades. Water Ways Technologies is growing dynamically and is entering the new year with a full order book. At TeamViewer, there are no signs of any easing at present.