A cigar butt in 2025? BigBen Interactive EPA: BIG
Hello,
Cigar butts all but seem to have disappeared in the modern world, but is this one to be bought?
Market Cap is €21M and the Company has €30M in cash based on recent figures - So, company is selling for 66% of the amount of cash it has.
Metrics
-- Current stock price is €1.08 (down 90% in the last 5 years)
-- PE 1.3
-- PB 0.1 (although this may be influenced by how accounting is done in games publishers, so do look into that). However, average PB ratio for successful Games Publishers are many, many multiples of this amount.
-- Dividends: €0.30 in 2021, and €0.30 in 2022
About
BigBen Interactive is a company founded in 1981 and headquartered in Lesquin, France. It designs, manufactures and distributes video game console, smartphone and tablet accessories, as well as audio products in France and Internationally. It also publishes and distributes video games, it is the parent Company of Nacon.
Accounting Year
Apr to Apr
Last 5 years
-- Revenue range: €260M and €300M, so quite stable
-- Net Income range: €8M to €16M, so is profitable and quite high relative to current market cap.
-- Low ROI business: 2% to 3%
Current Accounting Year (Apr 2024 to Sep 2024):
https://bigben-group.com/investor-center/financial-releases/
- Revenue: €136M
Games in the company's catalogue:
https://www.nacongaming.com/
-- Previous releases: Robocop: Rogue City , Taxi Life, Welcome to Paradize among others
-- Recent releases: Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown (this game was poorly received IMO), Ravenswatch (PC and Console)
-- Up and coming releases between Oct 2024 and March 2025: Sport: Rugby25, Racing: MXGP: The Official Motocross Videogame and Endurance, Adventure: Ravenswatch on console, Terminator: Survivors and Dragonkin. Simulation: Ambulance Life.
Game Reception:
Of these at the very least, Ravenswatch and Terminator series seem to be well liked by gamers and there is excitement around new releases.
Margin of Safety:
-- IMO the earnings will likely be at least maintained, but there's always a possibility of the company having even better year.
-- Cash on the books provides some downside protection at least for a little while so long as it is maintained at €20M (even if the PB of 0.1 is to be ignored).
-- If I was the owner of the business in full, I'd likely get my money back within 5 years. Furthermore, even if in just one of the next 3 years, the business pays out a dividend of €0.30, that would be a 27% return on the initial €1.08 investment. This would be in addition to any potential expansion in the earnings of the company and/or its PE ratio.
Edit: This is a speculative play for me and I have put a very small amount in this stock, nothing of significance.