Dal WSJ di oggi:
Yellow Pages Still Deliver in Italy
By JOHN JANNARONE
In much of the world, yellow pages survive only as doorstops and booster seats. In some rare cases, directories businesses may have long lives ahead.
One standout is
PagesJaunes LOCAL.FR -1.85%Group. It developed an online platform quickly in France where the likes of
Google GOOG +1.29%and Yelp have been slower to build a presence.
A currently hobbled directory company, yet one that may deserve another look: SEAT Pagine of Italy. It has been whacked by weak economic conditions and is in the process of restructuring a hefty debt load.
At the moment, the stock is essentially worthless and the bonds trade at around 28 cents on the euro. Yet it may have earnings power.
Like PagesJaunes, SEAT Pagine has invested heavily in an online platform. Some 60% of the company's revenue comes from its online division, where sales rose a respectable 9.5% in the nine months through September, according to the most recent data. That limited the decline in overall revenue for the company to 8.5%, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization falling just 4.5%.
Even the printed phone-book business should last a while in Italy. More than 35% of Italians have never used the Internet, nearly the lowest rate in the European Union, according to Europestat. And while smartphone penetration is on the rise, only about 50% of mobile-phone users have smartphones. That is considerably lower than other markets like Spain and the U.K.
Even if Silicon Valley heavyweights offer impressive rival services, Europe isn't always the most welcoming environment. Google, for instance, has been sued in France over giving away map services for free, likely preventing the U.S. company from growing faster.
At current prices, SEAT Pagine's 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) in debt is valued at around €420 million. Assuming the debt is converted to equity at that level and adjusting for cash and the company's 77% stake in German call-center company Telegate, SEAT Pagine has an enterprise value of about €150 million. That is equivalent to about 1.5 times the company's forecast for 2013 Ebitda.
Certainly, the company and creditors would need to agree on a restructuring plan, so the road could be bumpy. But with PageJaunes trading around 5 times Ebitda, investors shouldn't lose SEAT Pagine's number.
Heard on the Street: Yellow Pages Still Deliver in Italy - WSJ.com
