LIBRAIRIE-EDITIONS L'HARMATTAN : revenue, balance sheet and financial ratios

In 2024, LIBRAIRIE-EDITIONS L'HARMATTAN achieves revenue of 8.0 M€. Activity remains stable over the period (CAGR: -0.5%). Slight decline of -7% vs 2023. After deducting consumption (2.1 M€), gross margin stands at 5.9 M€, i.e. a rate of 74%. This ratio measures the ability to generate value from commercial activity. EBITDA (= Gross margin - Personnel expenses - Taxes) reaches 842 k€, representing 10.5% of revenue. Warning negative scissor effect: despite revenue change (-7%), EBITDA varies by -36%, reducing margin by 4.8 pts. This reflects costs rising faster than revenue. This level of operating margin is satisfactory for the sector. Net income is negative at -36 k€ (-0.4% of revenue), which will impact equity.

The debt ratio (= Financial debt / Equity x 100) stands at 111%. Debt level is high: negotiating margin with banks is reduced. Financial autonomy (= Equity / Total assets x 100) reaches 37%. The balance between equity and debt is satisfactory. Debt repayment capacity (= Financial debt / Cash flow) indicates it would take 25.3 years of cash flow to repay all financial debt. Beyond 7 years, banks generally consider credit risk as high. Cash flow represents 1.6% of revenue. Cash flow measures resources generated by operations, available for investment and debt repayment.

The liquidity ratio (= Current assets / Current liabilities) stands at 283.85. 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 11.4x. 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: 114 days (formula: Customer receivables / Revenue incl. VAT x 360). Supplier term: 37 days. The gap of 77 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 25 days (= Average inventory / Cost of goods x 360). Fast turnover, sign of good inventory management. Overall, WCR represents 158 days of revenue, i.e. 3.5 M€ to permanently finance. Over 2016-2024, WCR increased by +56%, requiring additional financing.

Based on 104 transactions of similar company sales (all years), the value of LIBRAIRIE-EDITIONS L'HARMATTAN is estimated at 1 336 734 € (range 672 956€ - 3 855 322€). With an EBITDA of 841 681€, the sector multiple of 1.1x is applied. The price/revenue ratio is 0.24x (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.