Arbuthnot Banking Group Analyst Q&A: Strong funding and capital position give it a competitive advantage (LON:ARBB)
Hardman and Co’s Analyst Mark Thomas caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview.
Q1: Arbuthnot Banking Group recently announced the acquisition of Asset Alliance. What can you tell us about that deal?
A1: We have long argued that ABG’s strong funding and capital position give it a competitive advantage in doing cheap deals in uncertain markets.
On 10 December 2020, ABG announced the acquisition of Asset Alliance (AA), a vehicle finance and related services provider, predominantly in the truck & trailer and bus & coach markets. The expected consideration is £4.1m, against an NAV of £8.1m (with acquisition adjustments, the expected negative goodwill (an equity uplift) is £1.7m). AA has leases with a net book value of ca.£150m. ABG expects 2021 EBITDA of £5.5m, and with lower-cost refinancing, we expect bottom-line profitability.