EXPRESS GAZON : revenue, balance sheet and financial ratios

In 2024, EXPRESS GAZON achieves revenue of 406 k€. Activity remains stable over the period (CAGR: -2.5%). Significant drop of -34% vs 2023. After deducting consumption (16 k€), gross margin stands at 390 k€, i.e. a rate of 96%. This ratio measures the ability to generate value from commercial activity. EBITDA (= Gross margin - Personnel expenses - Taxes) reaches 53 k€, representing 13.0% of revenue. Positive scissor effect: EBITDA margin improves by +6.7 pts, sign of improved operational efficiency. This level of operating margin is satisfactory for the sector. Ultimately, net income (= EBIT +/- financial result +/- exceptional - corporate tax) amounts to 12 k€, i.e. 3.0% of revenue. This profit can be retained or distributed to shareholders.

The debt ratio (= Financial debt / Equity x 100) stands at 688%. 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 12%. Low autonomy: the company heavily depends on external financing (banks, suppliers). Debt repayment capacity (= Financial debt / Cash flow) indicates it would take 55.8 years of cash flow to repay all financial debt. Beyond 7 years, banks generally consider credit risk as high. Cash flow represents 3.0% of revenue. Cash flow measures resources generated by operations, available for investment and debt repayment.

The liquidity ratio (= Current assets / Current liabilities) stands at 1695.69. 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 71.3x. 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: 155 days (formula: Customer receivables / Revenue incl. VAT x 360). Supplier term: 41 days. The gap of 114 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 366 days (= Average inventory / Cost of goods x 360). This high level ties up cash and potentially creates obsolescence risk. Overall, WCR represents 543 days of revenue, i.e. 613 k€ to permanently finance. Over 2016-2024, WCR increased by +111%, requiring additional financing.

Based on 138 transactions of similar company sales (all years), the value of EXPRESS GAZON is estimated at 145 055 € (range 49 238€ - 236 777€). With an EBITDA of 52 948€, 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.