Ann: 1H24 Open Brieifing, page-3

Yes, it probably presents an opportunity to those who trust management. Their record on "Hansenisation" of acquired businesses is honorable over the journey. The fact Andrew Hansen has been at the centre of the Powercloud acquisition probably provides me with a good deal of confidence in its transformation under their stewardship.

However as someone who has held them over a decade, I do feel that all of management talk up Hansen excessively during their presentations. I particularly dislike their reference to generating higher EBITDA margins - above 30% in recent years, whereby this metric has been greatly assisted by the removal of lease payments from EBITDA in recent years!

The reality is that they are a very slow growing (defensive like) company who are able to methodically aggregate businesses that they buy on lower multiples to their own. Their ability to generate high free cashflow and discipline to repay debt quickly facilitates this strategy.

I guess a positive is that the acquisition of Powercloud was only effectively 1 x annual revenue and won't require all that much capital, and another acquisition could easily be accommodated soon.