December 13 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian software and IT services group Bianor Holding [BUL:BNR] said that it is looking at potential deals with local companies to complement the organic growth it foresees in 2023, mostly driven by defence projects and activities in the video data streaming industry.
In the coming weeks, the group plans to propose to shareholders to authorise the board to carry out a capital increase to finance potential acquisitions, managing director Kostadin Yordanov said at an investor presentation on Monday.
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There are no plans for deals with specific companies at present, but Bianor is in early exploratory discussions to identify potential transaction partners with niche or complementary activities, Yordanov said as seen in the video presentation.
The software company could further boost liquidity by offering shares and warrants it owns in US AI-powered video app Triller, an emerging rival of short-video app TikTok, during Triller's planned initial public offering (IPO) next year.
Bianor's holding in Triller is valued at some 6.44 million levs ($3.5 /3.3 million euro) as at September 30 and represents over 65% of the group's assets, according to the company's most recent consolidated financial statement. Bianor acquired shares in the AI-powered social media platform after it agreed to divest its wholly-owned subsidiary Flipps Media to Triller in 2021, in a cash-and-stock deal worth over $7.52 million (7.1 million euro).
New long-term projects in the defence sector involving wholly-owned subsidiary Bianor Services -- two ongoing and five upcoming ones, are expected to ensure revenue predictability and resilience at the company, Yordanov noted.
In August, Bianor Services announced it is part of two artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent automation projects backed by the European Defence Fund, an EU body that provides grants to R&D projects in the defence sector. Bianor is partnering for the projects with major European aerospace and defence technology groups such as Indra, Leonardo, Airbus, Rheinmetall and Thales.
The worsening macroeconomic environment has not yet had a noticeable impact on the group's activities. However, Bianor Holding has identified its outsourcing operations as a buffer against potential revenue decline in future, according to the presentation.
The company’s revenue dropped to 4.09 million levs in the nine months through September from 14.6 million levs a year earlier, taking into account the adjustment for the Flipps Media deal, Bianor Holding said in a recent interim financial statement.
In the third quarter alone, the company grew its revenue by 16% year-on-year to 1.4 million levs, whereas earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped 67% to 197,000 levs, it said in its quarterly earnings presentation.
Earlier this year, Bianor shareholders approved the distribution of gross dividend of 4.30 levs per share for 2021, or 2.9 million levs in total.
As at 1407 CET on Tuesday, shares in Bianor traded 22.22% higher at 19.80 levs on the BaSE market of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)