(News Bulletin 247) – The electronic label specialist announces that it has reached an agreement with “the largest furniture distributor in the world” to deploy its solutions in the 110 stores of this retailer, based in 6 European countries. The title also benefits from a positive rating from Berenberg which confirms its recommendation to buy, with a price target exceeding 200 euros.

After being in turmoil at the end of June with the attacks by Gotham City Research, SES-imagotag has been gaining momentum since the beginning of July. The specialist in electronic labels has had a series of commercial successes and the one announced this Tuesday morning is not insignificant given the potential identity of the company.

SES-imagotag indicates that it has signed a contract with “the world’s largest furniture distributor”, which is moreover of Swedish origin, to deploy its cloud computing platform Vusion IoT Cloud and its smart labels. The first phase of this agreement will concern 110 stores based in 6 of the brand’s European countries. If the name of this furniture giant is not given, the description of the group looks like Ikea.

The French group explains that the retailer in question has taken the decision to deploy the solutions offered by SES-imagotag in its stores, on the basis of “a fruitful partnership” forged between the two companies over the past few years. SES-imagotag and the global furniture giant collaborated to develop a solution that meets the retailer’s specific hardware and software needs.

“The solutions developed by SES-imagotag will play a key role in the digitalization of the retailer’s stores, enabling a faster digital transformation towards delivering most online orders from physical stores”, indicates the French group.

On the Paris Stock Exchange, the market appreciates this announcement, SES-imagotag progressing by 7.3% to 132.80 euros and occupies the head of the SBF 120, around 10:50 am.

A positive analyst rating

The title of the smart label manufacturer also benefits from a positive rating from Berenberg, which confirms its recommendation to buy with a new target price of 215 euros, against 175 euros previously. This target assigned by the research department shows a potential upside of 62%, taking into account the increase of the day and 73% compared to the closing price of Monday evening, of 123.80 euros.

Quoted by Cerclefinance, Berenberg had briefly placed “under review” his recommendation on the title of the French group, following the publication at the end of June, of a vitriolic report from the American fund Gotham City Research. The latter accused SES-imagotag of having published “misleading, incorrect and deficient” financial reports between 2020 and 2022.

For the research department, the French group negotiated this complicated episode very well and felt that it had responded effectively to the accusations of the overdrawn fund. “Investors should be prepared for a strong comeback from buyers on the stock,” agrees Berenberg. Especially since he praises the group’s attractive position in the under-penetrated electronic shelf tag market.

The financial intermediary expects the contract concluded with Walmart in the United States to encourage other retailers to adopt the French group’s technology.

A historic first half

In early July, the electronic label specialist announced several commercial successes in the United States, including the signing of a contract with one of the largest American chains of convenience stores. In all, nearly 6,000 stores will be equipped with SES-imagotag solutions in North America.

SES-imagotag, which plans to publish its turnover for the first half on July 27, has also already given some details on the direction of the progress of its business on the sidelines of one of its responses to the accusations made against it. by Gotham City, end of June. The French group then announced that the first half of 2023 will be “the best historical half of the company”, with growth in consolidated turnover of around +30% in line with its annual forecasts. The company still plans to achieve annual sales of around 800 million euros.