M&A machine running smoothly

Translation: Original published in Finnish on 1/8/2026 at 7:45 am EET.

Relais was active on the M&A front in late 2025, when the company announced three acquisitions. Reflecting the small size of the acquisitions, the estimate changes for the coming years remained minor. We believe these arrangements and the overall activity level in 2025 indicate that Relais has succeeded in diversifying its M&A expertise within the Group. This is critical for the company's strategy execution and value creation in the long run. With the stock's valuation being moderate, we reiterate our Accumulate recommendation and a target price of EUR 19.0.

M&A machine running smoothly

Relais announced three acquisitions in December 2025, bringing the total number of acquisitions for 2025 to seven. As the Group's size grows, the impact of individual arrangements on Relais' figures continuously decreases, making the organization's ability to execute an ever-increasing number of M&A plays critical. Thus, the decentralization of capital reallocation and M&A expertise within the organization is very important, as the ability of individuals to execute transactions is not scalable, and increasing the size of acquisition targets is not sensible, in our view. Relais' activity last year and our understanding of the development of its M&A process suggest that the company has succeeded in decentralizing its M&A expertise within the Group. The continuation of this development is crucial for the effective implementation of the strategy and for Relais' value creation in the long term.

The acquisitions complement maintenance and repair services as well as product businesses

Of the add-on acquisitions in Q4, both TJ Fordonsservice and LBP acquisitions strengthen Relais’ maintenance and repair services in Sweden, while Qpax strengthens Relais’  product offering. In our view, the latest arrangement, in particular, provides a channel for capital reallocation to organic growth as well, as Qpax, with the platform provided by Relais, has the prerequisites for geographical expansion. Similarly, in maintenance and repair service arrangements, value creation emphasizes the valuation of the arrangement and the development of service points, as their growth opportunities are typically more limited.

Acquisitions factored into forecasts

We included the acquisitions in our forecasts, but due to the size and timing of the targets, they had little impact on the Q4'25 figures. Against this backdrop, forecast changes for the coming years also remained moderate, as our revenue forecasts for 2026-2027 increased by 1% and our corresponding earnings forecasts increased by 1-3%.

Valuation is reasonable

Relais' 2026e P/E and EV/EBITA multiples, which fully account for already completed acquisitions and are thus more relevant, are 11x and just over 10x. We believe these are reasonable and offer upside potential, considering Relais' operational businesses and historical track record in capital allocation. Based on current year estimates, Relais is valued roughly in line with companies operating similar businesses, while the valuation is at a significant discount compared to serial consolidators. In our opinion, Relais' justified valuation is found in the middle ground of these two peer groups. Thus, from a peer valuation perspective, weel feel like the current valuation level does not assign value to the value creation through capital allocation. Thus, we believe the share price allows investors to join Relais' growth story at an attractive valuation.