Analyst Reports
26/08/2008 - Wilson HTM Investment Group - FY08 Results
Brett Devenish
Peoplebank Australia Limited (PBA) has announced its FY08 results. Strong revenue growth was supported by the contribution from the newly acquired Ambit group, while the existing PBA business had organic revenue growth of c17%. The integration is nearly complete with a successful combination of offices and sales teams, and retention of all clients. With a 12.3% dividend yield in FY09 and a strengthened management team we expect PBA to be well placed to continue its growth despite concerns over business confidence and IT&T investment spending.
03/07/2008 - Wilson HTM Investment Group - FY08 Update
Brett Devenish
We retain our BUY recommendation on Peoplebank Australia Limited (PBA), despite reduced company guidance. We expect the company will see improved profitability from the Ambit acquisition in FY09 and at its current share price PBA is trading at an FY09 P/E of 4.6x and yielding 14.6%.
02/07/2008 - Lodge Partners Research Not on Peoplebank
Brett Devenish
Integration costs and margin compression affect 2HY08 earnings: PBA released market guidance of $13m EBITDA for FY08, which includes 20 weeks of Ambit. This figure does not include one-off integration costs, which are likely to be between $2-3m, so the reported FY08 EBITDA is likely to be between $10-11m. This compares to our forecast of $14m EBITDA in FY08, which included $1m in net expenses. So the $3-4m downgrade to our FY08 EBITDA is based on both additional integration costs ($1-2m) and underlying margin compression ($2-3m).
29/02/2008 - Wilson HTM Investment note 1HFY08 PBA Results
Brett Devenish
Peoplebank Australia Limited (PBA) has announced their 1h08 results. Revenue was up 20.6% to $80.5m compared to our forecasts of $78.6m and reported NPAT rose 34.5% to $2.5m compared to our forecasts of $2.6m. An increase of 102% in permanent placement revenues supported the strong result.
14/01/2008 Wilson HTM Investment Group - Ambit Acquisition - Independent Experts Report
Brett Devenish
Following the release of the Independent Experts Report we have retained our BUY recommendation and 12 month share price target of $1.65. The Independent Expert has assessed the deal as not fair, but reasonable. PBA intends to acquire Ambit for $100m cash to be funded from expanded debt facilities and a $50m share placement with private equity firm Navis Capital Partners. A further $10m has been underwritten by Navis and is expected to be sourced from institutional investors. A meeting of PBA’s shareholders is to be held on 4th February 2008 to vote on the proposal.
18/12/2007 Wilson HTM Investment Group - Peoplebank Acquires Ambit
Brett Devenish
We have retained our BUY recommendation and upgraded our 12 month price target to $1.65 (previously $1.44). Peoplebank Australia Ltd (PBA) has announced an intention to acquire 100% of the issued capital of Ambit Group Pty Ltd for $100m payable in cash. The acquisition is subject to shareholder approval, which is expected to be sought at an Extraordinary General Meeting towards the end of January 2008.
31/08/2007 Lodge Partners Research - Demand for people will put money in the bank
Katie Belle
BUY Recommendation 
(408kb)
Price Target $1.55: Post FY07 results and change of analyst, we have increased the price target from $1.30 to $1.55. We assume no margin improvement in FY08 and longer term EBITDA margins stabilising at ~5%. In addition, our earnings forecasts do not include acquisition growth. PBA is well positioned to take advantage of the booming IT industry and strong demand for IT staff industry wide.
However, the key challenge for PBA over the next two years will be
finding their own recruitment consultants internally. At current prices,
PBA is trading on a PE of 8.9x in FY08 and 7.9x in FY09, which we
consider to be inexpensive given our forecast 23% EPS growth in
FY08. We therefore maintain our BUY recommendation.
31/08/2007 Wilson HTM Investment Group - FY07 Result
Brett Devenish
BUY Recommendation (58kb)
Peoplebank Australia Limited (PBA) has announced its FY07 results supported by a strong 2h07 result. FY07 NPAT of $4.4m was at the high end of our expectations.
The 2h07 result was supported by improved contribution from permanent placement revenues and the outlook for FY08 is a continuation of high levels of demand for IT&T staff and a full year contribution from newly acquired Gryphon Consultants. We retain our BUY recommendation and increase our 12 month share price target to $1.44.
24/05/2007 Wilson HTM Investment Group - Earnings upgrade due to acquisition
Brett Devenish
BUY Recommendation (51kb)
We maintain our BUY recommendation for Peoplebank Australia Limited (PBA) and increase our 12 month share price target from $1.29 to $1.34.
The acquisition of Gryphon Consultants is expected to be EPS accretive and funded through existing debt facilities. Based in Perth, Gryphon will provide PBA with significant exposure to the WA market and access to WA state government panels as well as blue chip corporate clients.
26/03/2007 Wilson HTM Investment Group
Brett Devenish
BUY Recommendation (552kb)
We initiate coverage on Peoplebank Limited (PBA) with a BUY rating and a
12 month share price target of $1.29.
PBA operates as a niche player within the recruitment sector as a provider
of IT staff. As such it is fully leveraged to the current growth in IT
spending.
Capacity constraints have resulted in PBA’s 1h07 profit falling against
1h06, however with a focus on increasing the number of permanent
recruiters combined with strong forecast IT spend we see growth through
to FY09.
