← Deep analysesHome
mttssn research · Nordic Deep Dive
Saga Furs (SAGCV.HE)
Consumer Discretionary · Fur auction house (Saga Furs) · LTM H1 FY2026 (Apr 2026)
Analysis date: 2026-07-08
Price at analysis: €14.50
Method: mttssn_streamlined_v1
Conviction: LOW
HOLD
Conviction: LOW
The last major global fur auction house, riding a record March 2026 auction (mink pelt prices +76%) that carries essentially all of LTM EBIT €6.2M. Net cash ~€41M covers ~80% of the €51M market cap and EV/NOPAT is ~2x, but fur is in secular decline and earnings hinge on Chinese garment demand holding the new price level. Cash-backed deep value in a shrinking pond; HOLD, low conviction.
Adj. ROIC
10.0%
WACC 8% → spread +2.0pp
Economic Profit
+€1M
+€1.0M; carried by one record auction
FCF Yield
n/a
€19.5M LTM — auction settlement timing, not run-rate
Price / Target
€14 → €16
+7% base; HOLD
Revenue (LTM)
€50M
LTM; one full auction cycle, record March 2026
EBIT Margin
12.4%
12.4% EBIT — spike; FY2025 anchor 3.3%
EV / IC
n/a
Enterprise value / invested capital
Net Debt
n/a
Net cash €41M (~80% of mcap); partly auction float
Thesis

Saga Furs is the dominant surviving global fur auction house: it sorts, grades and brokers mink, fox and Finnraccoon pelts through three auctions a year, earning commissions plus quasi-operating interest on producer advances and buyer receivables (LTM ~+€2.6M below EBIT). LTM revenue €49.8M and EBIT €6.2M (12.4% margin) produce adjusted ROIC of 10.0% and economic profit of +€1.0M against an 8% WACC.

The LTM window is carried almost entirely by one exceptional event: the record March 2026 auction (brokerage sales value €227M, +126% yoy; mink prices +76%, fox +40%, all pelts sold to >500 buyers). The FY2025 anchor produced EBIT of just €1.4M on a 3.3% margin — the through-cycle earnings power is materially below the LTM print, and management itself flags that buyers will be more price-selective in coming auctions.

What makes the name investable at all is the balance sheet: €54.6M cash against €14.1M interest-bearing 'debt' that is mostly producer settlement deposits at 0–1.5%, zero goodwill, no defined-benefit pensions, and a 74% equity ratio. Net cash of ~€41M backs ~80% of the €51M market cap, leaving an enterprise value of ~€10M — roughly 2x spike-level NOPAT and ~5x a conservative through-cycle estimate.

Valuation · reverse-DCF & scenarios

At €14.50 the market pays ~€10M of enterprise value for the operating business. Capitalising LTM NOPAT of €5.0M would flag large upside, but that capitalises one record auction; on a conservative through-cycle NOPAT of ~€2–3M (between the weak FY2025 anchor and the LTM spike), EV/NOPAT of ~4–5x plus the cash pile brackets the price. The cash itself needs a haircut in the mind: part of it is auction settlement float mirrored by producer deposits, and it swings hard around the auction calendar.

Base €15.50 (+7%): the June/September 2026 auctions confirm partial persistence of the new price level, through-cycle EBIT settles around €3M, dividend (€0.72, ~5% yield) held. Bull €21: Chinese garment demand adapts fully, mink pricing proves structural on contracted global supply, €5–6M NOPAT recurs and the market re-rates the cash. Bear €10: buyers balk at the new price level, economics revert toward the loss-adjacent FY2025 anchor and the cash floor erodes with float swings and operating losses.

Market-implied growth
≥-50.0%
model ceiling — EV implies more than constant-ROIC sustains
No-growth value / share
€31
211% of price; rest = priced-in growth
ROIC − WACC
+2.0 pp
ROIC 10.0% vs WACC 8.0% — positive = value creation
CAP (priced-in)
0.0 yrs
years of excess returns the price implies (fades to WACC)

At today’s enterprise value the constant-ROIC reverse-DCF maxes out: even at its sustainable-growth ceiling (~-50.0%, limited by ROIC 10% ≈ WACC 8%) it cannot reach the current EV. No-growth value is €31/share (211% of price); the market prices in growth and/or a higher ROIC than booked — richly valued on this lens. Read the sensitivity grid.

Scenario24m targetImpl. gUpsideProb.Driver
Bull€21-41%+45%25%New pelt price level proves structural; €5–6M NOPAT recurs
Base€16≥-50%+7%45%Partial persistence; through-cycle EBIT ~€3M + cash backing
Bear€10-31%30%Buyers balk at new prices; reversion toward weak FY2025 economics
Prob-weighted€15+5%100%Scenario-weighted expected value

Sensitivity — fair value / share at WACC × growth

WACC \ g0%3%5%8%10%15%
6.50%373940424447
7.25%343536373840
8.00% (base)313232333334
8.75%292929303030
9.50%272727282827

Green = fair value above the current price of €14.50. The reverse-DCF conclusion is dominated by WACC and growth — see the whole surface, not a single fair value.

Method & data. NOPAT €5, invested capital and ROIC 10.0% are observed (adjustments.json); WACC 8.0% and terminal g 2.5% are assumptions. EV→equity uses net debt €-41. The model holds ROIC constant (no fade) over the explicit horizon; the CAP figure instead fades excess returns to WACC.

⤓ Download the full model (.xlsx) — formula-driven sheets; flex the blue input cells and the model cascades in Excel.

Key drivers

1. Record March 2026 auction

Brokerage sales €227M (+126% yoy), mink +76%, fox +40%, all offered pelts sold to >500 buyers.

2. Upgraded guidance

1 April 2026 upgrade repeated in H1: full-year brokerage sales, turnover and profit 'substantially higher' than FY2025.

3. Supply contraction

Global fur production is shrinking and concentrating — the price spike is partly a structural supply story that favours the surviving auction platform.

4. Net-cash backing

~€41M net cash vs €51M market cap; €0.72/share dividend on a fortress 74% equity ratio.

5. Float economics

Quasi-operating net financial income (~€2.6M LTM) on producer/buyer balances sits below EBIT — reported EBIT understates auction-house earnings power.

Key risks
Conclusion

Saga Furs screens as deep value — EV ~2x LTM NOPAT with net cash covering ~80% of the market cap — but the earnings leg of the thesis rests on one record auction in a secularly declining industry, and the cash leg is partly auction float. Rated through-cycle, the ROIC−WACC spread is thin to negative outside spike periods. HOLD, low conviction; base €15.50 (+7%) on partial price-level persistence.

The June and September 2026 auctions are the catalysts: confirmed pelt pricing near March levels with buyers still clearing the offering would move the through-cycle earnings estimate — and the recommendation — up; a demand air-pocket at the new price level would send the name back toward its cash floor.

Footnote evidence & sources

Every adjustment traces to the cited note/page in the source filing — click to open it there. Source reports archived locally.

Adjustment / figureValueSourceWhy mttssn treats it this way
H1 FY2026 revenue 21.097 / EBIT 1.368 (comparatives H1 FY2025: 13.554 / -3.449)21.097Konsernin laaja tuloslaskelma, p.10LTM flow items = FY2025 anchor + H1 FY2026 - H1 FY2025; comparatives taken from the same statement.
FY2025 revenue 42.286 / EBIT 1.383 (anchor)42.286Konsernin laaja tuloslaskelma, annual report p.32FY anchor for LTM construction; broken fiscal year Nov 2024 - Oct 2025.
Total equity 89.165 at 30.4.202689.165Konsernitase, p.9IC uses the latest balance-sheet snapshot (30.4.2026), not the FY anchor. No NCI; translation reserve 0.183 immaterial (<1% of equity).
Interest-bearing debt 14.109 (ST korolliset velat 13.325 + LT velat 0.784)14.109Konsernitase, p.9; composition per FY Note 10Included in IC. Dominated by producer settlement deposits (12.319 at FY-end, 0-1.5% interest) — auction float, not bank leverage; IFRS 16 lease liabilities (~1.0) are embedded here, so leases are in IC without double counting.
Cash and equivalents 54.564; excess cash 53.567 stripped from IC54.564Konsernitase, p.9operational_cash capped at 2% of LTM revenue (0.997); the rest is not deployed operating capital. Cash is partly auction settlement float mirrored by producer deposits on the debt side.
Intangibles 7.672 at FY-end — zero goodwill7.672Note 2 Aineettomat hyödykkeet, annual report pp.41-42Saga trademarks/domains 1.512 + software 5.955 (new ERP, 6.231 reclassified from prepayments in FY2025) + prepayments 0.204. No goodwill, no capitalized R&D — no reversal needed.
D&A only, zero impairments (FY2025: -4.385)-4.385Note 19 Poistot ja arvonalentumisetConfirms no impairment add-backs; ROU depreciation 2.277 within D&A (IFRS 16 leases modest).
Company APM = plain operating profit6.2Toimintasegmentit note'Yhtiö käyttää liikevoittoa arvioidessaan liiketoimintojen kannattavuutta' — no adjusted-EBIT APM exists; bridge is an identity at LTM EBIT 6.200.
Quality · Buffett tenets9 / 15
Understandable business
Simple brokerage model — sort pelts, run auctions, take commission plus float interest; history back to 1938, but one auction per half-year makes earnings structurally lumpy.
Durable moat
Effectively the last major global fur auction house (network density of buyers and producers) — but the moat guards a shrinking pond: global fur production is in secular decline.
Management & capital allocation
No adjusted-APM games (plain liikevoitto is the stated measure), €0.72/share dividend, minimal capex (€0.45M LTM), 74% equity ratio; producer-cooperative governance and dual share classes cap the mark.
Financial strength & returns
Adjusted ROIC 10.0% vs 8% WACC at LTM spike levels but FY2025 anchor was ~3% EBIT margin — through-cycle spread is thin; fortress balance sheet (net cash €41M, no bank debt, no goodwill, DC pensions).
Valuation margin of safety
EV €10M vs LTM NOPAT €5.0M (~2x) and net cash ≈80% of market cap gives real asset backing; discount is earned only if through-cycle NOPAT stays positive — earnings margin of safety is far thinner than the cash one.