The year 2024 is important for Montreal-based streaming solutions provider Haivision, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. And not just because it’s an election year in the United States and an Olympic year with the summer games in Paris.
The main objective of the company is to demonstrate its true potential without the contribution of a new acquisition. The focus is on adjusted earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization (adjusted EBITDA), and cash generation.
“We want to show that with the synergies of previous acquisitions, we can generate more than 20% adjusted EBITDA,” says founder and big boss Mirko Wicha.
“This would result in 300% growth in our adjusted EBITDA in two years, which is significant and would answer questions we have had over the last 18 months about the valuation of the company. »
Haivision’s stock is up more than 30% so far this year, but remains down sharply from what it was worth shortly after it went public four years ago.
Last year, the board rejected a takeover offer that valued Haivision at a higher level than that seen today.
The Olympics or any other major event – such as the FIFA World Cup – is always a good opportunity for Haivision, as many broadcasters and professionals use Haivision equipment for live video transmission and remote production, underlines Mirko Wicha.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Mirko Wicha, founder and CEO of Haivision
“So we tend to see an increase in purchases during these periods. But this does not have a significant impact on our revenues, because this market represents around 30% of our total turnover,” he explains.
Haivision’s business is primarily divided into three segments: government and defense, enterprise and public safety, and live event broadcasting.
“The Paris Olympic Games bring us additional income,” says Mirko Wicha. But having three business segments allows us to balance our income and activities throughout the year, regardless of these events,” adds the tech entrepreneur.
For the US elections, and during an election cycle, he specifies that activity tends to be positive, because no administration wants to have a bad economic image before the month of November (time to elect a president).
Therefore, public spending continues and is robust. So we expect our fourth quarter to be strong, which still corresponds to the end of the US government’s fiscal year which is September 30th.
Mirko Wicha, founder and CEO of Haivision
Control rooms and special operations centers, including cybersecurity centers, offer the greatest growth opportunities, according to Mirko Wicha.
“Half of our control room business comes from banks. Big banks need centers dedicated to cybersecurity to monitor their assets, people, emails, intrusions, networks, etc., he says. This is our reason for being. We are on the front line. »
Banks use Haivision’s visualization systems as a way to capture and display all information in one place.
Canada’s largest bank, RBC, is a Haivision client, while large companies, such as Meta (Facebook), also use the company’s solutions, says the CEO.
“Meta has 50 operational centers around the world. It is enormous. Security has become a big concern. This translates into multi-year contracts for us. »
20 years of existence
Mirko Wicha founded Haivision in 2004 after purchasing assets owned by Miranda Technologies. Haivision now has 360 employees and the CEO points out that in 20 years, the company has recorded 17 years of positive adjusted EBITDA.
Haivision has made eight acquisitions in 20 years (four in the United States, two in Spain, one in Germany and one in France). Annual turnover amounts to 140 million, of which 70% comes from the United States. Management projects revenue to be between $145 million and $150 million this year.
In the medium term, Mirko Wicha wants to grow faster than the industry. “Growth between 10 and 15% is expected in the industry. We can build a company of 250 to 500 million turnover in the next three to five years using acquisitions. But it can also be mergers of equals. We want to expand geographically, conquer new markets, find new clients and broaden our expertise. »
In addition to RBC and Meta, Haivision says it counts with clients such as Microsoft, Salesforce, NYSE, the NHL, Fox Sports, NASCAR, the US Department of Defense, SpaceX and NASA.
Haivision also claims to have invented the SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) protocol which is today the most used protocol in the world on the Internet for streaming, according to Mirko Wicha.
reference: www.lapresse.ca