Q1/11 earnings review; next coupon payment is doubtful
“Hold” the NOVASP 9.625% at a mid price of 59 or a yield of 24.5%
In line with expectations, Novasep released another set of weak quarterly figures and reiterated its FY 2011 guidance. Revenues decreased by 3.5% to EUR 73.9 mn while adjusted EBITDA slumped by 38.1% to EUR 10.4 mn. The very weak performance of the Synthesis segment was the main catalyst for the weak figures. However, the Process segment reported surging revenues, up by 50.4% to EUR 30.7 mn. Liquidity continued to deteriorate, with cash as of Q1 at EUR 35 mn. Considering that c. EUR 18 mn of coupon payments are due on June 15th and that a minimum cash position to run the business of c. EUR 15-20 mn is needed, we believe there is a relatively high likelihood of the company not paying the next coupon on its bonds on due date (June 15th). Novasep refrained from making comments with regards to the coupon payment in the conference call, although it indicated that its current cash position has not changed much since the end of Q1. Possibly, Novasep will buy itself some time by making use of the 30 days grace period to progress further with talks on the financial restructuring. We keep our “Very High Risk” on the LARA scale for now. While we keep our “hold” recommendation for now, we believe that short term risks for its bonds are more skewed towards the downside. For more details please refer to our Earnings Flash published earlier today.