SOCIETE DES PUBLICATIONS DU COURRIER DE L OUEST : revenue, balance sheet and financial ratios

In 2024, SOCIETE DES PUBLICATIONS DU COURRIER DE L OUEST achieves revenue of 31.2 M€. Activity remains stable over the period (CAGR: -3.5%). Slight decline of -1% vs 2023. After deducting consumption (1.5 M€), gross margin stands at 29.7 M€, i.e. a rate of 95%. This ratio measures the ability to generate value from commercial activity. EBITDA (= Gross margin - Personnel expenses - Taxes) reaches 1.7 M€, representing 5.4% of revenue. Warning negative scissor effect: despite revenue change (-1%), EBITDA varies by -32%, reducing margin by 2.4 pts. This reflects costs rising faster than revenue. The operating margin remains fragile, requiring cost vigilance. Ultimately, net income (= EBIT +/- financial result +/- exceptional - corporate tax) amounts to 926 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 2%. 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 31%. The balance between equity and debt is satisfactory. Debt repayment capacity (= Financial debt / Cash flow) indicates it would take 0.2 years of cash flow to repay all financial debt. This short period demonstrates excellent debt sustainability. Cash flow represents 4.7% of revenue. Cash flow measures resources generated by operations, available for investment and debt repayment.

The liquidity ratio (= Current assets / Current liabilities) stands at 55.05. 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 24.9x. 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: 29 days (formula: Customer receivables / Revenue incl. VAT x 360). Supplier term: 44 days. Favorable situation: supplier credit is longer than customer credit by 15 days. WCR is negative (-316 days): operations structurally generate cash. Notable WCR improvement over the period (-126%), freeing up cash.

Based on 104 transactions of similar company sales (all years), the value of SOCIETE DES PUBLICATIONS DU COURRIER DE L OUEST is estimated at 4 063 700 € (range 1 820 598€ - 9 783 949€). With an EBITDA of 1 674 582€, 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.