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A sweet deal
We find the acquisition of Candywriter accretive as it has been struck at attactive multiples of 3.4x (upfront payment of USD 74.4m) and 8.9x (including the full earn-out of USD 120.6m) based on our 2020 adjusted EBIT estimate for Candywriter of USD 22m, which we find achievable given its Q4 2019 revenue run-rate, BitLife appearing to be trending upwards on the charts in Q1, strong organic growth, short payback time on UAC, frequent content updates and several visible group synergies plus Stillfront’s management views the growth prospects for BitLife as very promising. We have included Candywriter as of 1 May and raise our adjusted EBIT estimates by 12-16% for 2020-2022E. Buy reiterated with a new target price of SEK 637 (558).
Candywriter – another accretive acquisition added to the group
Candywriter brings a portfolio of games but is mainly about the highly rated life-simulator game BitLife, released 2018, that accounts for ~85% of its revenue and has good growth prospects as about 70% of installs are organic and the return on UAC seems to be strong with payback in less than 100 days on UAC at scale. Stillfront sees visible and in our view easily collectable synergies in localisation and culturalisation opportunities: the game is currently only available in English, insourcing of marketing to Stillfront, it can share its expertise in live-ops and Candywriter brings in-game advertising expertise that can be leveraged throughout the group.
Q1 preview – the Q1 report is due out 6 May
We published our Q1 preview on 7 April (“Storming ahead”), expecting revenues of SEK 672m, growth of 60% y/y, adjusted EBITDA of SEK 235m, margin of 35% (37%), with Storm8 contributing from 1 March.
Buy reiterated with a raised target price of SEK 637 (558)
Our TP is based on an average 2020-21E adjusted EV/EBIT multiple of 14x (reflecting operational EBIT), in line with global gaming peers.
[Contact analyst(s)](mailto:lars-ola.hellstrom@paretosec.com ?subject=Ref: Stillfront Group AB - A sweet deal - Update&cc=)
Analyst(s):
Lars-Ola Hellstrom, +46 8 402 5277, lars-ola.hellstrom@paretosec.com