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Original-Research: Marley Spoon Group - from NuWays AG

Classification of NuWays AG to Marley Spoon Group

Company Name: Marley Spoon Group

ISIN: LU2380748603

Reason for the research: Update

Recommendation: Kaufen

Target price: EUR 7.00

Target price on sight of: 12 Monaten

Last rating change:

Analyst: Mark Schüssler

Mixed 2024 guidance // efficiency measures bearing fruit; chg.

Last week, Marley Spoon Group ('MSG') released a mixed 2024 guidance. Sales

are expected to grow by a single-digit percentage versus the prior year

(eNuW new: +9% yoy; eNuW old: +17% yoy), largely driven by two separate

developments owing to MSG's structure, which consists of the core mealkit

business Marley Spoon SE (>95% ownership) and the newly acquired bistroMD,

operating in the ready-to-eat business:

1) While consumer demand has stabilized throughout 2023, the company cited

cautious consumer behavior in the meal-kit market as the main culprit for

the muted outlook and now expects a single-digit percentage decline for

FY24e (eNuW new: -3% yoy; eNuW old: +5% yoy). In our view, this should be

explained by a continued normalization in the number of active subscribers

from Covid highs (eNuW: -3% yoy), the effect of which is likely more

pronounced for Europe and Australia than for the US.

2) The guidance implies, however, that on a group level its recent

acquisition of bistroMD shows a noticable impact on the overall topline

development (FY24e revenue of EUR 39m, +10% yoy; eNuW), demonstrating the

attractiveness and resilience of the ready-to-eat market. Besides

bistroMD's leading doctor-designed RTE meal plans playing on relevant

consumer trends like health, convenience, and weight-loss, this acquisition

likely offers MSG an opportunity to use its own data and technology

platform to generate synergies over time.

Though MSG expects its contribution margin to remain flat (FY23: ~31.7%),

operating EBITDA is seen to grow to a positive mid-single-digit figure for

the full year (eNuW: EUR 2m), despite the fact that bistroMD should operate

on a lower contribution margin (eNuW: ~30%) and negative EBIT due to lack

of scale. The positive margin outlook is seen to be carried by (1) a

rectified voucher strategy, likely increasing marketing efficiency and

early cohort retention rates in H2'23 and Q1'24 and (2) a more streamlined

G&A setup (-11% yoy to c. EUR 69m, excluding one-off costs) as costreduction

measures from automation, centralization, and the closure of underutilized

operations begin to kick in.

While it looks like 2024 will be another challenging year for the meal kit

market, we like both the strategic outlook and the operational progress MSG

has made over the past quarters towards group profitability, leading us to

reiterate our BUY rating with a changed PT of EUR 7.00 (old: EUR 8.00) based on

DCF.

You can download the research here:

http://www.more-ir.de/d/29307.pdf

For additional information visit our website

www.nuways-ag.com/research.

Contact for questions

Die Analyse oder weiterführende Informationen zu dieser können Sie hier downloaden: www.nuways-ag.com/research.

NuWays AG - Equity Research

Web: www.nuways-ag.com

Email: research@nuways-ag.com

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