CEO Interview APC Technology: Positioned for Growth

Apc Technology (LON:APC) founded in 1982 is an AIM listed specialist distributor of electronic components, who have in recent times followed a potentially transformational diversification strategy into the energy saving products, services and technologies market. 

APC Technology is vastly different now to the company I originally invested in, and is now well placed following years of strategic manoeuvers and hard work, to capitalise on the energy savings and sustainability sector.

Following the recent acquisition of a fellow AIM listed constituent Green Compliance, Mark Robinson has kindly taken time out to discuss various aspects of the business, including, the GCO acquisition, synergy benefits, LED order, invisible monitoring and more.

Q1. APC Technology have recently completed the acquisition of a fellow AIM listed constituent Green Compliance, can you please explain the rationale behind this acquisition?

APC’s strategy is to expand its presence within the sustainability sector in general and the Green Compliance acquisition is in line with this. To date, through Minimise Energy, we have been focussed on providing products and technologies which help improve the efficiency of energy consumption. Earlier this year we added consulting services and a project financing capability which up to now have supported Minimise Energy but are designed to support our future, wider sustainability strategy which includes water and on-site waste management and ‘embedded’ renewable generation. The vision is for APC to become a one-stop, end-to-end solution designed to meet all of a customer’s sustainability needs  – something that hasn’t been done before. The acquisition of Green Compliance delivers the water management element and we expect to add the other capabilities at some point in the future.

The aforementioned strategy is underpinned by our belief that the business models of every organisation will, in the future, demand a complex sustainability strategy to overcome rising utility costs and increasingly punitive legislation. Accordingly, if they aren’t already, we believe that the 750 direct customers of Green Compliance, who are clearly aware of water management issues, will also be interested in the energy-related technologies we have to offer, opening up huge cross-selling opportunities.

Apart from the rationale mentioned above, we believe that Green Compliance is, in its own right, a business which has strong foundations for organic growth and, as such, it will provide a stabilising influence across the Group.

Q2. Can you briefly give us the rundown on Green Compliance as a business and its potential for the group in terms of achieving synergy benefits such as increased revenues, reducing costs, enhanced customer base, combined staff/management talent etc?

Green Compliance was restructured in 2013 to focus on water hygiene & treatment with continuing revenue of £8.1m in year ended 31 March 2014. It is a nationwide business with 145 employees servicing a very strong client base in the UK. It currently has 750 direct customers but a good number of these are facilities management companies serving many customers of their own so the total number of buildings addressed is significantly higher. We believe that its water hygiene & treatment activity is, in itself, a fundamentally healthy business though perhaps not suited to an AIM listing by itself.

Green has been showing signs of growth, in part due to on-going customer-led expansion of its offering from water hygiene & treatment into sustainability-led water consumption management. We believe that this growth will continue and can be accelerated as part of the APC Technology Group. Adaption of APC’s Invisible Systems (ISL) monitoring technology is already underway and will enable us to measure water flow rates and water pressure in much the same way that we are able to measure electricity and gas consumption. This, for example, can then be sold in to the enlarged Group’s current customers as a water smart-metering solution. The system can also be used to address Legionella risk and will be available for Green’s customers through the Company’s existing online cloud-based customer portal. Importantly, once a monitoring and control platform is in place, that system can then combine monitoring and control of water and energy to enhance the cost effectiveness of the proposition even further.

Significant revenue and operational synergies which the enlarged Group will benefit from include the cross-selling of energy and water services and products to the  combined customer bases, the advantages in purchasing and operating synergies which will be realised due to improved market presence and  size and annual cost savings associated with Green no longer being an independently listed business. Additionally it is expected that the integration of the two businesses will strengthen the depth and quality of the senior management of the enlarged Group at board and operating level.

Q3. Over the last couple of years, substantial orders have been achieved from Morrisons, however recently it was noted that orders had ceased from this customer at the beginning of April.  How big a blow was this? and can we expect any future orders from this customer?

Morrisons was the Groups largest customer from the time that Minimise Energy began the replacement of their lights in 2012 so it was obviously disappointing that revenues dried up so abruptly at the start of the second half of FY14. Strong sales to Morrisons through the autumn and winter months led to a great first Half Year but it was almost immediately followed by a cessation of shipments leading to a disappointing second half. During this period the challenge was to bring new business in to fill the void and we made good progress with a dozen or so large customers and many more smaller ones. However, as we have stated in numerous announcements, these accounts take a long time to develop and there was a gap between sales to Morrisons coming to a halt and sales to new customers ramping up. I’m pleased to report that the gap is now being successfully bridged and the Company is very well placed going forward as a result.

As for Morrisons, we remain hopeful that they will remain a significant customer but there isn’t any certainty one way or another at this point.

Q4. Following a stellar first half with revenues up 32% and PBT up 1519%%, the July second half trading update noting that revenues and profits for the current financial year will be below market expectations was a surprise, was this solely down to the supermarket LED orders grinding to a holt?   

Fundamentally yes, but it was also due to a much lesser extent to an increase in Minimise Energy overheads which was necessary to develop the wider customer base which is now beginning to generate revenues.

Q5. APC Technology has recently received a new order valued at £0.425 million for the installation of LED lighting at three buildings operated by one of the UK's high street banks, what does this order involve and can any follow up orders be expected from this bank?

This particular order is for the retrofit of LED lighting at a number of head office buildings which are undergoing refurbishment. Further orders have already been received and we hope/expect this to be the start of regular business with the customer.

Q6. APC Technology have recently commenced the delivery to a new food retailer of LED lighting into refrigeration units in its approximate 500 stores through an initial order valued at £1m.  How many stores does this initial order involve? And what potential does this business hold for the company?  

This order is to supply LED lighting for the fridges and freezers across most of the 500 stores being operated by the chain and is set to be completed during September. It is one of a couple of major lighting projects we are working on with the customer and, if the others go ahead, the potential for further orders is significant.

Q7. APC Technology have acquired a 10% stake in Open Energy Market Limited, can you please explain the rationale behind this decision?

It is APC’s strategy to develop ‘deep’ relationships with a customer base that is being challenged to become more profitable by becoming more sustainable. From a top level this can be done by improving the efficiency of energy consumption, managing water more effectively, generating energy renewably on-site and reducing waste to landfill. To help our customers achieve these headline savings, we need a matrix of complementary technologies, products and services. We see OEM as one such service as, by dramatically improving the transparency of the energy procurement process, it will very directly help customers reduce the cost of energy and, in time, water. We’re confident in OEM’s ability to deliver tangible savings and believe that high levels of customer satisfaction will lead to a desire to reduce costs further by reducing consumption levels. Since the investment in OEM, this theory is already becoming a reality and we are confident that it will continue in the same vein. Additionally, we believe that the OEM platform is progressive in its own right so we’re pleased to have secured an option to increase our ownership to 25% in the future.

Q8. Is the company seeing any interest or potential orders for products and services in North America?

It’s been just under a year since we officially launched in the United States and in Canada. During the preceding 12 months we have seen significant interest in our model and a number of orders have been received but I think it is fair to say that it is only now that we are seeing some of the larger opportunities emerging. Given that 18 months is the average gestation time for UK based projects, where our experience enables us to accelerate the process, this timescale isn’t surprising. We are now seeing some positive developments on some potentially significant projects where trials and demonstrations are resulting in the early stage roll out of both monitoring & control systems as well as LED lighting which is very encouraging.

Q9. How is the Invisible Systems Limited 25% stake working for the company?

Without hesitation I would state that the investment in Invisible Systems has been of great strategic importance and is proving to be a great success. The system itself is used to educate our customers as to their energy (and now water) consumption and establishes a base line from which we/they can monitor the performance of low energy lighting or any other intervention they choose to make. It’s very much our starting point in a commercial sense and sales of LEDs and other products follow, but in addition it has great value to our customers in its own right as it enables them to trial changes in technologies and behaviour with direct and immediate access to the result. Accordingly, we are now seeing some significant revenues develop from the sale of the system. These revenues are typically split between the sale and installation of the system and on-going recurring revenues over a number of years associated with the provision of the data and our consulting activities which analyse the data and make on-going recommendations relating to changes in behaviour and the implementation of new technology. We expect these recurring revenues to become significant during the course of the current financial year and build each year as we move forward.  

Q10. It’s easy now to forget the Group's electronic components distribution business, generally how is this side of the business getting on?

Even after the acquisition of Green Compliance the electronic component distribution business remains the Group’s single largest revenue generator so it remains a fundamental part of the business. It has been addressing a difficult market for a number of years and outperformed the market more often than not but frustratingly this hasn’t resulted in increasing revenues as the market has been declining. That said, we are optimistic that a return to growth is not that far away. The business is close to the critical mass at which its profitability increases as a proportion of revenues so we are taking steps to ensure that we make the most of any upturn in the market by controlling costs and looking at expansion into new markets while all the time looking out for suitable acquisition opportunities.

Q11. Following the Green Compliance acquisition the figures for the company will totally change, will there be updated analyst coverage and new company forecast?  

Clearly the acquisition of Green Compliance will have a dramatic effect on the company so analysts at Northland Capital Partners and N+1 Singer will publish new notes taking this into account in the near future. However, given all the activity at the moment, and taking into account it’s all now being overseen by the incoming Chief Financial Officer Richard Hodgson, it’s difficult for me to say exactly when we’re likely to see the new research though it shouldn’t be too long.

Q12. APC Technology is almost unrecognisable from the company I initially invested in a number of years ago, how do you sum up your journey as CEO and obviously there are no certainties and things seldom run in a smooth line, but where do you want to see the business which has played a big part in your family’s life go over the next few years?

I remain very focussed on the future and see enormous opportunity for profitable growth over the next few years. We are creating a unique business model and the executive team that we are pulling together fully believes in the vision and has the attitude and skills required to realise it. As you allude to in the question, I fully expect that there will be challenges along the way but the Company has an enduring resilience in its DNA and I fully expect that we will continue to emerge through the peaks and troughs  bigger and better than before.

Thanks Mark for taking the time to discuss the various business aspects and for sharing your thoughts.

Ticker code: APC, Shares in issue: 73.35m, Current SP: 37.00p, Market Cap: £27.14m, 52 Wk Low: 27.00p, 52 Wk High: 69.00p.

The main article image is with the courtesy and copyright of APC Technology

The interviewer holds shares in APC Technology