(News Bulletin 247) – The French cold logistics specialist is well oriented on the Paris Stock Exchange, driven by solid half-year results. With the sale of its maritime activities to CMA CGM, Stef begins to refocus on its core business.

Stef displays an unfailing resilience. Despite a continuous decline in the volumes of food products transported in Europe, the French specialist in cold logistics published results on Thursday evening after the market that exceeded market expectations.

The “French transport and cold storage company” born in 1920, which has simply become Stef, thus saw its turnover rise to 2.17 billion euros between January and June 2023, which represents a growth of 11 % over one year. On a like-for-like basis, growth is contained at 3.5%.

The dynamic proved positive internationally, particularly in the countries of Southern Europe which make the strongest contribution to the group’s results, in particular to operating profit (Ebit). International profitability increased by 40% to stand at 45.9 million euros in the first half.

The good performance of international activities thus offset the decline in profitability in France, with operating income contracting by 7% to 63.4 million euros against 68.3 million euros a year earlier. . Stef attributes this erosion of profitability in France to the drop in volumes in the fresh produce business due to food price inflation. At group level, the company thus posted operating profit up 8.9% to 113.2 million euros.

These results came out above the expectations of TP ICAP Midcap, and illustrate Stef’s ability to “cope with difficult situations”, judges the design office. These solid results published by Stef for the first half of 2023 are also appreciated by investors. The title of the specialist in temperature-controlled transport and logistics rose another 2.4%, around 3:30 p.m. in a hesitant Parisian market.

Stef refocused on his core business

This half-year was marked in particular by the sale of maritime activities to the shipowner CMA CGM. “The first half of 2023 marks an important strategic turning point for our group, which has refocused on its core business following the sale of its Maritime activities,” said CEO Stanislas Lemor.

For Stef, this disposal is proving to be very beneficial since it has made it possible to eliminate a source of losses. The logistician’s maritime activity has been greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic which has affected all maritime transport. At the beginning of the year, the management of La Méridionale had even taken the decision to stop the Barcelona-Tangier link to refocus solely on the Marseille-Tangier service, which itself was a source of losses for the company.

From a financial point of view, the sale also made it possible to externalize net income from discontinued operations of 15.6 million euros. This contribution has thus strengthened the net income group share to 94.8 million euros.

“Beyond the potential cash recovered by the group, the sale would be excellent news for the equity story (stock market history, editor’s note), making Stef a pure player (a company operating in a single activity) in logistics and transport at controlled temperature, ruling out a discount which was systematically applied to the title due to the lack of visibility on La Méridionale”, said Florent Thy-tine, head of equity research at TP ICAP Midcap in February.

It is therefore a Stef relieved of his maritime activities who displays his confidence in the solidity of his “business model and its ability to adapt”, to a context of sustainable inflation. The group has not revealed any quantified outlook for the whole of 2023, but claims to remain focused “on its strategy as a pure player in food logistics by continuing to enrich its value proposition, preserving its ability to carry out external growth operations”.

For its part, TP ICAP Midcap reiterates its confidence in the file the day after the group’s half-yearly publication, with a target price of 131 euros. This target implies a growth potential of more than 15% for the cold logistician title.