MAX had a strong start into the year, with top- and bottom-line growth beating expectations: Q1 sales rose by 22% yoy to € 111m (eNuW: € 104m) while Q1 EBITDA more than sixfold yoy to € 13.2m (eNuW: € 9.7m). This reflects a brisk performance of the largest subsidiaries bdtronic and Vecoplan, a successful turnaround of ELWEMA as well as the almost finalized closing down of iNDAT. In detail:

• bdtronic grew sales by 44% to approx. € 20m, driven by a strong service business as well as the company working off its high backlog especially for dispensing technology, while EBITDA almost doubled yoy to € 3.3m driven by economies of scale. 
• Vecoplan‘s revenues rose by 37% yoy to € 46m, also benefitting from a high backlog with particular strength seen in Recycling / Waste. EBITDA more than doubled yoy to € 5.6m driven by scale and a one-off from the reversal of provisions.
• Elwema‘s successful turnaround was underpinned by 130% yoy sales growth to € 16m, courtesy of strong automotive demand, and an EBITDA improvement to € 1.1m (€ 0.1m in Q1 '22), thanks to better fixed cost coverage and efficiency measures. Subsidiary iNDAT had an EBITDA loss of € 0.2m (€ -4.9m in Q1 '22), reflecting the discontinuation of the ailing operating business and pending liquidation.

Q1 group order intake rose by 8% yoy to € 121m, with bookings still exceeding billings by c. 10% despite the strong yoy revenue growth, revealing a continued healthy demand backdrop. Bookings growth was above all driven by bdtronic (+172% yoy to € 42m) thanks to strength in automotive, while order intake for subsidiaries NSM+Jücker, Elwema and Vecoplan was either flat or down, mostly due to macro uncertainties and customers entering a period of capacity digestion following earlier strong Investments.

MAX confirmed its FY23e guidance of € 410m to € 470m sales (eNuW: € 451m) and € 35m to € 41m EBITDA (eNuW: € 38m). The excellent operating performance in Q1 coupled with the further increase in the backlog to now € 313m (+3% qoq) suggest that the FY guidance is well in reach, and possibly even conservative, especially on the bottom-line. Indeed, Q1 EBITDA covers 31% of the low-end of guidance and 37% of the high-end, with three more quarters to go.

Reiterate BUY with a € 6.50 PT based on DCF.