Amara - comment

Q2 had slightly better revenues than we expected, but at slightly worse margins. One-offs were, however, more significant than modelled, and so Leveraged Free Cash Flow was €10m lower than expected, which Amara funded with a corresponding drawing of its RCF. We take some comfort from Simon Oakland, the new CEO, who comes with extensive turnaround experience and assign more importance to the top line than the bottom line for the moment. As a point of caution, management were less bullish on cost cutting ability than we had expected. From here onwards, staff seems to be mostly organised in full time employment. Management stuck to its turnaround plan for this year, and we remain long the bonds.