DEFFONTAINES : revenue, balance sheet and financial ratios

In 2024, DEFFONTAINES achieves revenue of 3.1 M€. Over the period 2017-2024, the company shows strong growth with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of +11.1%. After deducting consumption (729 k€), gross margin stands at 2.4 M€, i.e. a rate of 77%. This ratio measures the ability to generate value from commercial activity. EBITDA (= Gross margin - Personnel expenses - Taxes) reaches 306 k€, representing 9.8% of revenue. This level of operating margin is satisfactory for the sector. Ultimately, net income (= EBIT +/- financial result +/- exceptional - corporate tax) amounts to 110 k€, i.e. 3.5% of revenue. This profit can be retained or distributed to shareholders.

The debt ratio (= Financial debt / Equity x 100) stands at 611%. Critical situation: debt significantly exceeds equity, severely limiting borrowing capacity and exposing the company to default risk. Financial autonomy (= Equity / Total assets x 100) reaches 9%. Low autonomy: the company heavily depends on external financing (banks, suppliers). Debt repayment capacity (= Financial debt / Cash flow) indicates it would take 11.8 years of cash flow to repay all financial debt. Beyond 7 years, banks generally consider credit risk as high. Cash flow represents 7.8% 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 174.89. 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 15.0x. 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: 228 days (formula: Customer receivables / Revenue incl. VAT x 360). Supplier term: 145 days. The gap of 83 days means the company finances its customers for over a month before being paid relative to supplier payments. This weighs on cash flow. Inventory turnover is 50 days (= Average inventory / Cost of goods x 360). Overall, WCR represents 255 days of revenue, i.e. 2.2 M€ to permanently finance. Over 2017-2024, WCR increased by +103%, requiring additional financing.

Based on 138 transactions of similar company sales (all years), the value of DEFFONTAINES is estimated at 953 934 € (range 326 051€ - 1 594 137€). With an EBITDA of 305 918€, the sector multiple of 3.3x is applied. The price/revenue ratio is 0.41x (conservative valuation). 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.