Junior mobile group Amaysim is moving into the energy market with the surprise acquisition of Click Energy for $120 million, aimed at extracting more money from cost-conscious households.
Chief executive Julian Ogrin says the acquisition of an online pure-play energy retailer is a "highly strategic opportunity" for the company, which is set to enter the crowded fixed broadband market next month.
"Consistent with our goal of increasing relevance to the Australian household, we see energy as the most logical vertical to perfectly complement our existing suite of mobile and broadband products," Mr Ogrin said in a statement on Monday.
Melbourne-based Click offers electricity services in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, and gas in Victoria and NSW, with about 155,000 customer accounts, representing 136,000 households.
That compares to energy giant AGL, which has more than 3.7 million customers across Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
Amaysim says Click's 136,000 households will add to its existing customer base of around 600,000 households.
The group hopes Click will help it achieve about 300,000 homes subscribing to a triple-play offering of broadband, mobile and energy products with a potential household average revenue of $200 a month.
The company's broadband offering will piggyback on the national broadband network following its purchase of Australian Broadband Services last year.
Shaw and Partners senior analyst David Spotswood said the deal, which came as a surprise to the market, looked satisfactory but had concerns about exposure to rising energy prices.
"It's a big deal for them, their market capitalisation is $340 million and they're paying $120 million," said Mr Spotswood, who plans to increase his earnings per share forecasts by about 25 per cent for the next two financial years, and price target by 11 per cent to $2.11
Amaysim expects the acquisition to boost earnings per share by more than 20 per cent for the year ending June 30, 2018, on an underlying profit after tax basis.
The deal is expected to deliver annual pre-tax cost synergies of about $5 million by the end of 2017/18 from efficiencies around customer service, IT systems and processes, excluding one-off integration costs.
The deal drove Amaysim's share price up as much as 7.1 per cent to an intra day high $1.97 at the start of morning trade, with the stock up eight cents, or 4.3 per cent, to $1.92 at 1441 AEST.
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