Growing by acquisition adds risk

Article Excerpt

TOPICUS.COM INC. $124 is a hold. The company (Toronto Venture symbol TOI; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 39.9 million; Market cap: $4.9 billion; No dividend paid; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.topicus.com) is a Netherlands-based provider of education, finance and health-care software. On January 5, 2021, Constellation Software Inc. (Toronto symbol CSU) spun off Topicus as a separate firm. Constellation investors received 1.86 subordinate voting shares of Topicus for each CSU common share they held. Topicus still maintains a 30.35% voting stake. The company’s revenue in the three months ended September 30, 2021, jumped 46.1%, to 177.1 million euros from 121.2 million euros a year earlier (1 euro = $1.43 Canadian). Factoring out acquisitions, revenue gained just 5%. Costs to integrate those new businesses cut its earnings per share by 43.8%, to 0.09 euros from 0.16 euros. The shares have doubled since the spinoff. However, the company’s aggressive growth-by-acquisition strategy adds risk. Topicus.com is okay to hold. hold…