AQUAZERGUES : revenue, balance sheet and financial ratios

In 2024, AQUAZERGUES achieves revenue of 267 k€. Revenue is declining over the period 2017-2024 (CAGR: -12.6%). Significant drop of -54% vs 2023. After deducting consumption (1 k€), gross margin stands at 266 k€, i.e. a rate of 100%. This ratio measures the ability to generate value from commercial activity. EBITDA (= Gross margin - Personnel expenses - Taxes) reaches 82 k€, representing 30.7% of revenue. Positive scissor effect: EBITDA margin improves by +42.2 pts, sign of improved operational efficiency. This high EBITDA margin provides strong self-financing capacity and resilience to uncertainties. Ultimately, net income (= EBIT +/- financial result +/- exceptional - corporate tax) amounts to 49 k€, i.e. 18.5% of revenue. This profit can be retained or distributed to shareholders.

The debt ratio (= Financial debt / Equity x 100) stands at -372%. This very low level reflects a solid financial structure, offering significant room for future investments or acquisitions. Financial autonomy (= Equity / Total assets x 100) reaches -23%. Low autonomy: the company heavily depends on external financing (banks, suppliers). Debt repayment capacity (= Financial debt / Cash flow) indicates it would take 11.2 years of cash flow to repay all financial debt. Beyond 7 years, banks generally consider credit risk as high. Cash flow represents 7.6% of revenue. Cash flow measures resources generated by operations, available for investment and debt repayment. Satisfactory level allowing partial financing of growth.

The liquidity ratio (= Current assets / Current liabilities) stands at 279.94. Concretely, the company has €2 of liquid assets for every €1 of short-term debt: no cash risk within 12 months. The interest coverage ratio (= EBIT / Interest expenses) is 6.2x. Operating income very largely covers interest expenses: high safety margin.

Working capital requirement (WCR) measures the cash timing gap between customer collections and supplier/inventory payments. Average customer payment term: 618 days (formula: Customer receivables / Revenue incl. VAT x 360). Supplier term: 73 days. The gap of 545 days means the company finances its customers for over a month before being paid relative to supplier payments. This weighs on cash flow. Overall, WCR represents 695 days of revenue, i.e. 515 k€ to permanently finance. Over 2017-2024, WCR increased by +54%, requiring additional financing.

Based on 114 transactions of similar company sales (all years), the value of AQUAZERGUES is estimated at 342 793 € (range 191 943€ - 582 695€). With an EBITDA of 81 904€, the sector multiple of 5.1x is applied. The price/revenue ratio is 0.72x (in line with sector norms). This multiples method compares the actual sale price of similar companies to their financial indicators (Revenue, EBITDA, Net Income). It provides a market-based indicative estimate.