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A not too often talked about risk with PWH but something that’s troubled me given their reliance and total dominance in motorsports. What’s to stop another company doing to them what they did to the former incumbent BEHR?
The good news is they have an 8am call tomorrow to present their case. The bad news is prima facie this is their case.

I think a FY26 10% increase in revenue and 20% increase in costs are heroic assumptions, which I've fully adopted because otherwise...
SP to get smashed tomorrow.
Valuation in May 2025 based on 20 cents EPS for FY25 and 10% p.a. growth rate for next 5 years (two thirds of historical average) with PE of 35 (bottom quartile of historical average). I get an expected return of around 12% p.a. for the next 5 years at the current share price of $6.74
It won't all work out exactly like that of course but solid margin of safety built in based on what's known today.
Why do I own it?
# Market leader in bespoke cooling systems for high performance Motor Sports. They design and produce these systems (on the Gold Coast and in the U.S. and U.K.) for every Formula One and many Nascar, Indycar and V8 Supercar race teams. They have the best systems at the best cost for these teams and strong relationships built on trust and performance. This is a strong trapdoor moat.
# They have begun expanding into Aerospace and Defence (A&D) cooling systems, which also often require bespoke designs and small runs at a time. This business is growing quickly off a low base and they recently won a $9 million contract which is about 8% of this years revenue.
# Doing all their manufacturing in-house protects IP, especially in the later stages of manufacturing. It also reduces the risk of freight damage if unfinished products were transported to and from third parties to work on. They are very protective of all of this, given the competitive nature of motor sports and secrecy surrounding many defence projects.
# They are expanding production capability with a doubling of the facility on the Gold Coast to be completed in FY26 that sets them up for the next decade plus of solid growth. This is a $35 million investment that has impacted FY25 EPS and also sentiment which has provided a suitable entry price with a 5+ year view of the business.
# Business is well diversified geographically and likely to avoid negative tariff impacts with a good spread across the US, Europe and Australia.
# They mostly exited the OEM / mass production market in FY25 which was a short term hit to sales and earnings. This seems a sensible decision so they can focus on the much more profitable bespoke products and ramp up in A&D.
# Has a strong and entrepreneurial founder in Kees Weel who is CEO and Managing DIrector and he still holds 16% of the shares. Do need to see how talent underneath him develops though.
# The Board is small and well suited to the industries they are focused on. Chair Roland Dale has strong experience in Motor Sports. Directors Kym Osley and Amanda Holt are very experienced in the Defence industry. Founder Kees Weel also sits on the Board. Then they complement this small but knowledgeable group with two "professional" Directors that cover legal and accounting.
# It's quite a simple business to understand (although I don't understand the manufacturing part of the products themselves), isn't likely to be easily disrupted and also has a simple balance sheet.
# The culture courtesy of Kees had a reputation for being old school and quite tough. Staff turnover was high at around 40% probably due to both the high demands and mediocre pay rates. Over the last few years they have recognised this is a problem. So they have made a significant investment to raise the pay rates which has seen around a 20% increase in staff costs year over year, despite a fairly flat headcount. This has reduced turnover down to around 15% in FY25. They are also developing PWR Academy in the new site, with a focus on apprentices and development of existing people. Given the strong attraction for people to be able to work on Formula One or top Aerospace projects, if they can improve retention and development further it will only strengthen the moats of this business.
# Strong balance sheet with net cash of $6 million in FY25. Debt to equity ratio of only 15%. ROE / ROC is consistently over 20%.
# Net margins have consistently been over 20% but as they are currently investing heavily in expanded production capability and people, that will impact the margins short term.
# Acceptable MOS at current price of $6.80 in May 2025 at two thirds of the historical growth rate. The business has compounded revenue at around 18% p.a. for more than a decade. (Most Directors have been buying shares in FY25)
# They can deliver double digit revenue and earnings growth for 5 + years so the return should meet my 15% p.a. + target.
What to watch
# Some key person risk if something were to happen to Founder and major shareholder Kees Weel who is currently out on medical leave but expected to return - need to watch how next level of management progresses in the next couple of years. (Very impressed with CFO Sharyn Williams. And acting CEO Matt Bryson is very knowledgeable having been with the business for 25 years and also holding $20 million in shares...however he lacks the personality to be a permanent CEO in my view)
# Need to closely watch progress in A&D as motor sports is unlikely to grow at past rates.
# Need to watch culture / turnover rates to ensure this is improving.
Get well soon Kees.
PWR Founder and Managing Director Takes Medical Leave
PWR’s Managing Director and Founder, Kees Weel, is taking temporary leave from his full-time role to seek treatment for an
acute medical condition. PWR’s Executive Leadership Team will assume Kees Weel’s day-to-day responsibilities, with Chief
Technical and Commercial Officer, Matthew Bryson, appointed by the Board to the role of Acting CEO.
Kees Weel said, “While I will remain active in PWR’s overall direction, I have advised the Board that concentrating on my
recovery is my priority. Matthew Bryson and the Executive Leadership Team have my full support, and I have complete faith that they will be able to deliver on PWR’s objectives and the move to PWR’s new headquarters, which has successfully commenced.”
PWR’s Chairman, Roland Dane said, “The Board supports Kees in his decision to focus on his health and wishes him all the best for his recovery. We look forward to welcoming him back when he is ready.”
About Matthew Bryson
Matthew joined PWR in 2000 as a design and manufacturing engineer contributing to PWR’s formative years across product and production engineering responsibilities. This role progressed to the position of Engineering Manager at PWR, as a position held
for 15 years, working closely with PWR’s customers to grow the business, and overseeing the continued development of PWR’s product and advanced manufacturing capabilities. In July 2020, Matthew commenced the position of Chief Operating Officer at
PWR, before taking on his current role of Chief Technical and Commercial Officer in August 2021 to support the future growth of PWR.
Remuneration details for Matthew Bryson are summarised below:
Length of Contract Open ended
Notice Period 6 months
Total Fixed Remuneration $420,300
Additional Remuneration for Acting CEO role $220,000
Short Term Incentive Plan Participation Up to 50% of Total Fixed Remuneration
Long Term Incentive Plan Participation Up to 50% of Total Fixed Remuneration
Matthew Bryson Sharyn Williams
Acting CEO Chief Financial Officer
+61 7 5547 1600 +61 7 5547 1600
PWR Holdings (PWH) released results after market close last night. From their presentation:

On paper an ugly result but was well flagged in their trading update from Nov 24. Decrease in revenue mostly due to delays and cancellations is its automotive OEM segment but this was offset by a large increase in A&D revenue.

FY25 is an investment year for PWH as they look to upgrade their Australian factory as well as increase capacity in Europe and North America. This coupled with the loss of revenue in some segments of the business means that this result along with the FY25 result will look ugly.

Outlook was given with the company expecting FY25 revenue to be around 5-10% less than FY24. Although on the call Kees did mention that this was mainly due to some "timing issues" with regards to them moving to the new factory along with them being a bit more conservative with guidance in the hope of "under promising and over delivering".

At the current share price it definitely looks expensive looking backwards and you'd hope that this current investment period will bear fruit in the medium-long term future. I'm willing to give management the benefit of doubt that they will pay off in the future so will likely top up on expected share price weakness.
Disc: Held IRL and on Strawman.
Not much info here other than a USD 5.5m order but a positive nevertheless
Perhaps justifies the current valuation now?
Before we get too excited, it's just an "order" and not yet converted to sales... or hard money. And no exact timeframe of delivery (sometime in 2025)
No idea of costings as well.

[not held]
BAE systems has made the first STRIX VTOL test flight PWR Holdings involvement in this project is for the cooling system.
Reference of PWR Holdings initial involvement can also be found on the BAE systems website - https://www.baesystems.com/en-aus/blog/how-pwr-went-from-f1-to-drone-technologies
I think this project with BAE systems has been the only thing supporting the share price lately although the price appears to pump in the morning before getting dumped late in the day. Interesting this bit of news was not announced recently to the market.
Hard to say where the market demand for this drone will be in the future.
Being a test flight it is still early days so we shouldn't expect what is on the latest AGM presentation below

What happens to a growth company with a high PE when it announces it won't be growing the coming 12 month period, then subsequently announce to market that it's revenue will reverse?
Well the share price will fall, substantially. We are down ~23% at time of writing, and down close to 50% in the space of about 3 months. Why?
Well, PWR Holdings (PWH), has provided this update to the market this morning.

Key points to the above table are as follows:
This has come as a bit of a sucker punch after their full year release back on the 15th of August that FY25 will be a "transitional year" for them as they look to position themselves for "future growth" which will impact margins. What the market didn't expect is that revenue will go backwards, so this is a bit of a surprise and hence likely to take some time to digest.
I'm still mulling this one over, as PWH is a long term compounder for me, however this will cause for some reflection. Concerned about management not guiding for this a couple of months ago, and also the added pressure this will place on management which, if they depart or lighten holdings may be a deal/thesis breaker for me.
At this stage I am keen to see how this transitional year progresses but FY26 will definitely want to see them shift back to some growth and see some runs put on the board after the "transition" settles. Always risky to take a bet on how long this takes.
HELD here and IRL.
Seems like a logical Trump trade

Seems like institutions don't agree

BlackRock still has 900K left to sell. Van Eck has completely gone
[held]
F1 commission had a meeting overnight and approved Driver Cooling Kits to be used in extreme heat. The exact technical details haven't been released yet but may be something for PWH to come up with?
It seems that it will only be used in races of extreme heat which at the moment would only be perhaps the middle eastern races and maybe Singapore?
Disc: Held IRL and on Strawman.
A rare special from Bell Potter
Been quite hard to find any broker report

I did top up here but not in real life since I think maybe price is not right yet and appears a few index funds aren't done selling since it is now below the magical $1bn
[held]
Would be truly gobsmacked if someone or a group was selling purely because they knew the CFO was about to retire and there was nervousness about transition process. Selling on the basis of inside information?
If so, then this is pretty unfair that someone has taken pure advantage of this information that the rest of the market was unaware of. 
Seems to have done a recovery but will have to see...
I guess next time if I see this happen to something I hold, I know where to look...
Probably fully priced
[held]
Update 22/08/2024
Updating with FY24 results added:


FY24 result came in a bit below expectations given that H1 was very strong.
Management have flagged that the next year will likely be an investment year as they build out their capability to facilitate further growth.
I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt that a CAGR of 15% is still achievable in the long run. Discounting it back 10% pa with a terminal PE of 30x gives a valuation of $7.75.
I think I see some value if the price got to below $8 given the potential upside of their Aerospace and Defence segment (100% yoy growth) but this is still only 15% of total revenue.
Disc: Held IRL and on Strawman.
Update 22/02/2024
Updating my charts with 1H FY24 results added:


Revising some assumptions with NPAT growth of 25% for FY24 before returning to 15% growth for the next 4 years.
Discounting back 10% pa with a terminal PE of 30x gives a valuation of $8.14.
Disc: Held IRL and on Strawman.
Update 19/08/2023
Basing my valuation on a return to growth of 15% pa for the next 5 years and a terminal PE of 30x. This gives me a valuation of $6.80 in order to achieve a return of 10% pa.
Disc: Held IRL and on Strawman.
Update 18/03/2023
H1 FY23 results were quite disappointing for a company that was trading on a high PE although I do think the underlying business will benefit from the near term increase in investment to scale out their business.
I still regard this as one of the highest quality companies on the ASX and am willing to maintain my valuation of $6.51. I think if the share price decreased below $7 this starts to look interesting again. Capital allocation from management has always been first class and there are plenty of projects in the pipeline to continue on their growth trajectory.
The skew to 2H has always been strong so I wouldn't be surprised if they had a killer 2H FY23.
Definitely one to watch if there is further share price weakness.
Disc: Held IRL and on Strawman. Did sell some shares above $11 but will likely look to top up again if the SP fell below $7.
Update 18/08/2022
FY22 NPAT came in at around $20.4m representing a 24% increase YOY.
I am usually hesitant to assume that NPAT will continue to grow by such a large amount every year and so if I maintain my assumption of 15% CAGR for the next 5 years, and a terminal PE of 30x. This gives an updated valuation of $6.51.
Disc: Held IRL and on Strawman.
Update 08/06/2022
Just adjusting my valuation slightly as I think there will be further compression of PE ratios.
Same assumptions as above but assuming a terminal 30x PE would give a valuation of $5.77.
A terminal 25x PE would give a valuation of $4.81.
Disc: Held IRL and on Strawman
Original Valuation
PWR is an interesting company focusing on building cooling systems mostly in automobiles but are pivoting into other opportunities such as aerospace and defence.
If they can grow NPAT at 15% per annum for the next 5 years (ambitious but some analysts have forecasts of greater than this) this gives:
Discounting this back 10% per annum gives us an FY22 price of $6.73.
A PE of 40x would have FY22 price of $7.65.
Currently do hold some shares purchased around current prices but wouldn't likely add unless the price started with a $7.xx.
Reported Results after hrs with revenues and profits coming in softer versus consensus forecasts.
PWH: have spent some cash on the business expansion this generally dints the Revenue, Profit trend.
PWH is this a Buy?
The investments in headcount, factory space, equipment and systems are necessary to prepare PWR to deliver on our medium- and long-term growth objective, specifically growth in aerospace and defence, and is consistent with our approach to “invest now and collect later”
Opened down this morning

After hours announcement of FY24 results.

Prepare for some cheap shares since it was after hours.
[held]
In case no one noticed, about a weeks ago this appeared on the news

Now shares are back above $12! And possibly even more expensive than when the report came out
Hard to predict prices these days.
Out of curiosity, anyone got access to that report?
[held]
PWR Holdings (ASX:PWH) updated valuation of $ 8.50 based on their 1H FY24 results and Investor presentation released on 21/02/204.
All comparisons below are with the prior corresponding period 1H FY23
Basic Earnings of 9.74 c.p.s up from 7.77 c.p.s ; an increase of 25.4 %
Revenue increase of 22.2 % $64.2 m from $52.6 m
EBITDA increase of 27.2 % $18.4.m from $14.5 m
NPAT increase of 25.5 % $9.8 m from $7.8 m
Interim Dividend per share increase of 33% 4.80 cents from 3.60 cents
Aerospace and Defence revenue grew by 124% as the number and size of programs continues to increase.
Motorsport revenue grew by 19% due to increased demand for emerging technologies
Maintained its strong balance sheet with $15.6 million in cash as at 31 December 2023
Continue to hold here on SM and in real life.
PWR holdings reported their H1 FY24 results after hours last night. From their presentation:

A much better half compared to this time last year. Their increase in investments over the past year are starting to show through now. Seasonally 1H is always the weaker half with lower revenue and lower margins. Although net margins have improved back above 15% for the half. Overall net margins are usually around 20%.

Customer mix is improving with less than 50% of revenue coming from the motorsports segment showing their increasing footprint into aerospace and defence.
Overall I thought this was a very solid result given the increased investment of the past year and look forward to seeing the growth come through in future periods.
Disc: Held IRL and on Strawman.
Assumed 4 Growth Scenarios ranging from 25% down to 10% over next 5 years . Share Count 100.8m and Net margins of 20% which they have been historically. Blended together and discounted at 10% come up with Valuation $9.28.
Do not hold.
PWH released their FY23 results a few days ago, from their presentation:

I thought the result was pretty solid after a fairly disappointing 1H FY23. This year has been a year of investment in the business with the acquisition of several businesses to increase their footprint into Europe. The increase in net assets and lease liabilities reflects this.
Whilst 1H FY23 saw net margins fall below 15% as a result of this increase in spending and also the increased cost of raw materials. 2H FY23 saw a return to increased profitability with net margins improving to back above 20% again.
Management themselves have mentioned that with the increased investment, they will be able to support further growth with current capacity at their new site in Rugby (UK) only being 50% utilised at present.
Once again there was strong growth in emerging technologies with Aerospace and Defence now making up 9% of total revenue. This table below shows their Revenue by Customer Market.

Still lots of projects in the pipeline and interestingly as an F1 fan, I saw that they had secured the contracts for multiple teams for FY26. This is interesting as this is around the time that several major teams will be entering/re-entering the F1 scene. I believe given the growth of F1 in North America, there will likely be more than 10 teams on the grid, thus providing more teams for PWH to work with.
Will update my valuation shortly. Whilst the business seems to be back on track, shares are still quite expensive, and growth would need to continue into the future to support the current price.
Disc: Held IRL and on Strawman.
PWR Preliminary Final Report and 2023 Annual Report
Your new Chairman, Roland Dane, who has unanimous support of the Board, has substantial Board, leadership, operational and financial experience and has been a Board member since March 2017. Roland will take over as Chairman at the conclusion of the 2023 Annual General Meeting













Return (inc div) 1yr: 4.38% 3yr: 27.35% pa 5yr: 27.90% pa
PWH: returns are like the leaky radiator at the moment. Engine light is amber!!! not red yet...

PWR Holdings (PWH) released their 1H FY23 results after market yesterday. From their presentation:

Probably not the best result considering before the results release they were trading on a PE of around 60x. Management stated that increase labour costs and raw material costs impacted the bottom line. They also spent money to expand into Europe in the last half.
I think in the long term PWH should benefit from the current investment period. Their business is relatively capital intensive, needing to purchase assets in order to scale up their business, and so it remains to be seen whether this level of investment will pay off in years to come.
Shares are still too expensive (even after today's pullback) for mine. I did sell around half of my shares at above $11 around a month ago as I thought the valuation was looking stretched then. At under $7 I think I will likely top up my holdings but they remain a solid hold at the moment. Still lots of projects in the pipeline.
Disc: Held IRL and on Strawman.
@Vandelay agree PWH looks expensive at the moment, especially compared to other opportunities in the market right now.
Also agree that looking at expected future returns from here is the lens through which to assess opportunities competing for your capital.
Sticking with the 5 year time horizon and the methodology you outline, I ran some numbers and got the following.
Observations:
$SP = $11.97 @ 13-Jan-22 * SOI = 100.6m (fully diluted) = Mkt Cap of AU$1,203.8m.
Assumptions:
NPAT Margin in 5 years = 20% (95% of last 5 year average, which has been stable between 20-23%).
PE Exit Multiple in 5 years = 28.5% (90% of last 5 year average @ 30-Jun). Trailing PE is currently double this at 57.8x.
10% Required Rate of Return (RRR).
This requires a 5 year Revenue CAGR of 27%.
That is, with the above NPAT Margin and Exit PE Multiple in 5 years, you would need a 27% Revenue CAGR to earn a 10% Compound Return from current prices.
Questions:
So can they do 27% CAGR? I think they definitely can but not sure of the probability. Probably not the best base case.
What if 5yr Revenue CAGR is 18% as @Vandelay expects? All else being equal, that would halve your expected Compound Return (RRR) to 5% from current prices.
Are my assumptions too conservative? I think they're a little on the conservative side, but not so much as to offer a large margin of safety.
Other considerations:
They could also be a takeover target, but Kees has a blocking stake > 20%, although his son is now out of the business, so he may sell if the terms are right? Not enough certainty to put a premium on for this in my view.
At the AGM, mgmt said motorsports revenue growth to be moderate, but that the smaller Auto OEM & Aero/Defence segments to be stronger.
Capex in FY23 projected to be back to FY21 levels (double FY22), so they are looking to keep growing through innovation which they look to be adequately funded to do. With their prospects and track record of execution, this is a business I would like to own (more of) for the long term.
However, given the expected moderate Revenue growth from motorsports being the biggest segment and smaller segments set to grow strongly from here, the high $SP could be under threat if top line growth underwhelms.
Disc: Held
PWR Holdings (PWH) released their FY22 Results ahead of their conference call tomorrow morning. From their release:

A bumper H2FY22 saw a record result for the company as they ticked over $100m in revenue for the first time. NPAT was also a record. Cash flow was a little lower due to increase in spending due to supply chain constraints although management have said that this will ease as supply chains revert back to normal.
I have updated my chart from the previous straw to reflect the full year results.


If you ignore FY20 which was covid impacted, NPAT has compounded at 15% for the last 5 years and shows the quality of this company to execute their goals.
I will update my valuation accordingly.
Full presentation here
Disc: Held IRL and on Strawman.
PWR Holdings (ASX:PWH) released their results for H1 FY22 after hours yesterday. From their release:

Overall a decent result given current covid headwinds driven mostly by a return in motorsports to a more normalised race program. I have graphed out their revenue growth and NPAT growth for the last few years below.


H2 is seasonally the stronger half so it will be interesting to see if they can maintain the growth. I still see a very long run way for this company as their cooling systems can be used in a multitude of applications and we are only just starting to see this playing out (emerging technologies grew by 36% but is only 14% of overall revenue).
I will maintain my valuation (see my valuation straw) as I still think currently shares are a bit overvalued but am a happy holder at current levels.
Disc: Held IRL and on Strawman
PWR Holdings (ASX:PWH)
PWR produces advanced cooling systems to the motorsports, aerospace/defence sector. Also derives part of its revenue from OEM and automotive aftermarket segments. Basically - super niche, high tech/IP company run by founder/MD Kees Wheel.

Financials
Insider Holdings
Summary
Long standing holder of PWR with impressive results from a disciplined organisation whom have good prospects in niche automotive / air space. Growth in US strong and launching online as we speak .
Culture a clear strength reflective in financial results
Shares on issue has remained steady at 100m
Debt has always remained minimal 1.7mill. Cash $19.857mill
Rev 2016 = 46.6mill - 79.2 2021
EBIT 2016 = 13mil - 21mil 2021
Operating Margin 2016 = 30% grown to 36% in 2021
Div 2016 4c - 9c 2021
EPS 2016 9c - 2021 15c
PWR had a large "Staff Wanted" sign up at the front of their Ormeau office as I drove by. I thought I'd do a search of Seek as this is a company on my watchlist. The following jobs came up:
TIG Welder
CNC Machinist
Graduate Accountant
CNC Programmer
School Leaver Program
Manufacturing Production Assistant
Chef
The company states the need for new staff is due to "Exponential growth at PWR has opened up an exciting career opportunity for..."
The company offers "Fully catered meals from our onsite diner, morning tea & lunch provided". This was highlighted in a podcast featuring Emma Fisher of Airlie Funds where she mentioned the company having a strong culture and management wanting employees to have access to healthy, nutritious food. It also explains why they're hiring a chef.
Management see a bright future for the company stating they offer a "Long Term career path within a growing global business" and "we are searching for candidates who are looking for a long stable career"
"Fully Funded Apprenticeships" are available as well; however, I'm unsure if this is the norm in Australia?
With over 300 staff, this number of new jobs listing may not be significant but it was interesting to take a look at their hiring process, the benefits they offer and their outlook for the company.
H1 FY21 performance places us in a strong position for full year FY21 • Revenue $37.2m up 25% on pcp. Growth across all primary categories with 51% of revenue growth coming from emerging technologies and OEM categories
Increased dividend
• Fully franked interim dividend of 2.80 cents per share – an increase of 47% on pcp.
Cash flows
Presentation
https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20210219/pdf/44stkpvhqf4mml.pdf