Link Mobility Group Holding ASA

OSE:LINK

Earnings Call Analysis

Strong Q4 Growth and Strategic M&A Focus

LINK, a leading European CPaaS player, reported impressive Q4 results with revenue at NOK 1.8 billion, up 14% year-over-year in fixed currency. The company showed strong organic growth across both its Enterprise segment and Global Messaging service, resulting in NOK 181 million adjusted EBITDA, a 24% organic growth. With a successful divestiture of Message Broadcast for $260 million, LINK has NOK 3.4 billion in cash reserves and a low leverage of 1.1x adjusted EBITDA, allowing for strategic mergers and acquisitions (M&A) without exceeding a leverage ratio of 2.0x to 2.5x. The company's M&A targets are profitable and accretive, with valuations ranging from 6x to 9x cash EBITDA before synergies. LINK's unique local approach and diverse product offerings across multiple sectors have contributed to its competitive advantage and financial stability.

End-of-Year Triumph with Accelerated Growth and Solid Financials

Investors looking at LINK Mobility would find comfort in the company's end-of-year financial report for Q4 2023, which shone with impressive growth and strong financials. With Thomas Berge at the helm as CEO and the financial stewardship of Morten Edvardsen, CFO, LINK Mobility showcased robust organic growth and profitability. Revenue climbed to NOK 6.3 billion, boasting a compounded annual growth rate of 21%. Particularly notable was the company's adjusted EBITDA reaching NOK 613 million, a remarkable jump from NOK 486 million at the year's start.

A Remodelled Blueprint for Sustained Prosperity

LINK's resilient business model, coupled with a myriad of local touchpoints across Europe, underpinned its scalability and diversified growth. Its revenue churn lingered below 2% while the net retention rate hovered around 110. A testament to the company's strength is the 14% organic growth in fixed currency reported for Q4, further accentuated by thriving sectors and the promising uptick in OTT channels like RCS.

Strategic Mastery of Acquisitions and Operational Efficiency

A shrewd approach to both organic and inorganic growth, bolstered by cost-cutting measures, has fueled a 15% year-to-date growth in adjusted EBITDA in fixed currency terms. The successful divestiture of Message Broadcast infused the company with NOK 3.4 billion in cash reserves and a manageable leverage of around 1.1x adjusted EBITDA. Furthermore, the company has set a cap on net debt, ensuring that it does not surpass a leverage ratio of 2.0 to 2.5 while also executing bond buybacks and eyeing share repurchases to preempt future dilution.

Cultivating a Winning Streak with Disciplined M&A Tactics

LINK's M&A strategy has been fruitful, with over 30 successful acquisitions since 2015. This strategic move hinges on targeting companies that are profitable, diversified, and in sync with LINK's technical and operational philosophies. By adhering to their strict acquisition playbook, LINK solidifies its position to continuously explore promising M&A targets and fortify its presence both within Europe and internationally.

Quarterly Highlights Signaling Robust Momentum

The company's comprehensive financial synopsis revealed no impairments for the quarter, a favorable net financial item report with a positive NOK 25 million, and an 11% yearly growth in total volume. Despite non-recurring costs peaking at NOK 46 million in the quarter, LINK's cash conversion remained strong, leveraging a refined commercial focus and agile cost initiatives. Liquidity remains ample following the Message Broadcast deal, setting the stage for M&A endeavors within a prudent leverage target between 2.0x to 2.5x adjusted EBITDA.

Concluding with a Solid Financial Footing and Clear Growth Trajectory

As the year drew to a close, LINK Mobility's financials stood solid with a cash reserve of NOK 3.4 billion, improved cash flow from European operations, and sound management of working capital. The company is well-equipped for strategic moves, including further bond buybacks, share buybacks, and M&A transactions. Management remains committed to maintaining a conservative leverage approach, readying for the future in a position of strength.

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q4

[Tom Rogn, executive]

Good morning and welcome to the Fourth Quarter 2023 Results Presentation for LINK Mobility. I'm Tom Rogn, Investor Relations and joined by Thomas Berge, CEO and Morten Edvardsen, CFO, who will present the results. Following the presentation, there will be a Q&A session. Please post questions online during the presentation and Q&A.

Thomas?

[Thomas Berge, executive]

Thank you, Tom. We are happy to present strong numbers with high organic growth for Q4. LINK is the leading and largest CPaaS player in Europe. We started out more than 20 years ago in the Nordics and has been part of building the messaging market in the Nordics to one of the most advanced messaging markets in the world. LINK is using this experience to fuel their development in the less penetrated markets in Europe. Our strategy is dedicated to providing digital communication products to the enterprise market for them to interact with their end customers. We approach the enterprise market through a strategy of local touch points with our clients. We have numerous sales reps, customer service and customer success employees on the ground, winning new contracts and supporting existing clients in local language and culture.

This set-up is creating a larger reach than many of our competitors, who have a more regional or centralized approach to the market. LINK's 50,000 clients serviced by our 29 offices in 17 countries are a result of the successful implementation of this strategy over many years. Group revenue during the last 12 months was recorded at NOK 6.3 million. LINK has grown significantly over the last years, with a revenue CAGR of 21%. Profitability has always been a key priority. LINK is growing the business, while generating profitability and net positive operating cash flow.

In the current quarter, adjusted EBITDA is reported at NOK 613 million on an LTM basis, up from NOK 486 million reported end of last year or a growth of NOK 127 million. The reported numbers are impacted by currency movements due to the depreciation of the NOK. The growth momentum on a fixed currency basis is also strong as we will see later on.

LINK's business model is sticky, scalable, diversified and growing with a local commercial approach, focusing on customized communication needs for enterprises to interact with their end users. The business model is, in our view, exceptional in the industry and very difficult to copy or replicate. LINK has spent more than a decade building up a strong local presence, winning and operating thousands of enterprise clients with bespoke solutions, enabling unique communication preferences for our clients.

LINK has a sticky customer relations documented by revenue churn below 2% and a recurring business model with an underlying historical net retention rate of approximately 110 as shown in the top left graph. The uniqueness in the customer relationships is a direct result of LINK's local representatives, always being available to provide personalized support in local language and building meaningful relations.

LINK is operating in a growing industry, as seen by the differences in the penetration rates in mature and less mature markets on top of additional demand for more advanced CPaaS products. The company has significantly increased sales on new contracts for more advanced products over the last quarters. The growth translates into improved profitability as a scalable business model, enable large new volumes and revenues to be onboarded with unlimited OpEx increases. LINK's local business model provides versatile and diversified revenue streams from the many products, customers, industries and markets where we operate, giving a solid foundation for future growth.

The fourth quarter was a great quarter with organic growth momentum in the high end of expectations and compared to industry peers. All numbers in this presentation are excluding Message Broadcast, which was divested in the beginning of November and is reported as a discontinued business. Revenue is reported at NOK 1.8 billion or an organic growth of 14% in fixed currency, a strong market push related to Black Week and Christmas resulted in a stronger growth momentum versus previous quarters.

Activity levels were high in several sectors. Gross profit is reported at NOK 385 million or an organic growth of 13% in fixed currency. Profitability was positively impacted by a high growth on the more profitable OTT channels like RCS versus SMS and e-mail. The OTT channels and especially RCS experienced high market demand in Q4.

Adjusted EBITDA is reported at NOK 181 million or an organic growth of 24% in fixed currency. Year-to-date, adjusted EBITDA growth in fixed currency is reported at 15%. Adjusted EBITDA growth in 2023 has been supported by cost reduction initiatives implemented end of last year.

Message Broadcast was divested for $260 million. The transaction closed January 3rd, resulting in cash reserves of NOK 3.4 billion and the leverage of approximately 1.1x adjusted EBITDA. Cash reserves reignite inorganic growth opportunities through M&A. LINK has a solid portfolio of M&A opportunities, consisting of profitable and accretive targets, both within Europe and outside Europe.

Both the Enterprise segment and Global Messaging had a strong quarter with a NOK 32 million and NOK 8 million gross profit growth, respectively year-over-year. The Enterprise segment reports an organic growth rate of 11% in fixed currency, driven by high activity level across several sectors and increasing volumes driving from high-margin OTT traffic like RCS. This trend was more significant in Western Europe compared to other regions and explains partly the high gross profit growth in Western Europe.

Global Messaging is delivering an impressive quarter where margins are returning to historic levels. Global Messaging reports in fixed currency, a 33% organic growth rate on revenue and a 37% growth rate on gross profit. The graph at the bottom of the Slide displays the margin impact from the segments. Margins are stable year-over-year. The Enterprise segment in Europe is reporting an increase in margins, lifting total gross profit margin with 0.3 percentage points.

LINK has NOK 3.4 billion in cash reserves and a bond of EUR 352 million, including executed bond buybacks, which needs to be refinanced before the due date in December 2025. The cash position will be further strengthened by time as the company historically generates approximately NOK 400 million plus in free cash flow on a yearly basis. The high cash reserves will be used for acquisitions and a significant repayment of the existing bond.

Acquisitions will not increase net debt beyond the leverage ratio of between 2.0 to 2.5 to facilitate a low-risk execution of the refinancing of the bond in 2025. The current leverage is reported at 1.1x adjusted EBITDA. Additionally, LINK considers bond buyback pending implied annualized yield to maturity compared to other risk reinvestments. It does not make sense for the company to buy back bonds with a return below the interest rates the company can achieve from deposits in banks as the interest rate is higher than the 3.37% interest rate on the current bond.

In December and January, the company bought back owned shares for EUR 18 million. LINK is also considering share buyback to cover the 17 million shares, constituting the share option program, removing the future share dilution effect. LINK has a M&A pipeline with profitable and high-quality targets, bolt-on in Europe have priority, but we are also looking outside Europe.

Valuations on private companies in our space have been reduced since 2021 and 2022 and we see a target valuation of between 6x to 9x cash EBITDA before synergies. The quality of the customer base, growth momentum of the targets and synergy potentials are the main criteria, placing the valuation in the mentioned range of 6x to 9x cash EBITDA. We see optionality on the financing structure using cash or cash combined with sellers credit and/or earn outs. Part of the purchase price can also be settled in LINK shares when appropriate.

To summarize then, the company has a lot of excess cash for disciplined accretive M&A, without increasing leverage beyond the range of 2.0x to 2.5x adjusted EBITDA. In addition to organic growth opportunities, the company is well positioned for inorganic growth through M&A. LINK has the competence, the historical track record for value creation through M&A and a solid pipeline with potential M&A targets.

Since 2015, LINK has closed over 30 acquisitions, of which the majority have been a great success, generating significant value creation and growth. The historical acquisitions are included in the map on the right. Historically, most acquired companies have been transacted on a cash EBITDA multiple of between 6x to 8x, with some exceptions up to 10x cash EBITDA.

We are working back to our historical successful M&A recipe by acquiring profitable companies, similar to LINK with a diversified customer portfolio and a low-risk approach. We divide M&A targets into 2 category; add-ons or bolt-ons, which are smaller targets located in existing markets to further strengthen local presence and realizing synergies.

The second category level ups are bigger acquisitions in existing markets or in new markets. Level ups in existing markets normally has a high synergy potential, while level ups in new markets have lower synergies. LINK's playbook on M&A secures a low-risk approach towards acquisitions. The playbook dictates exact quality and content that needs to be present within a target in order for LINK to be interested.

We will only acquire profitable companies with solid customer base, low churn, strong local market position with good mobile operator relations. Targets have a strong technical and commercial overlap with LINK, so it's easier for us to understand and operate the business after closing.

The technical solution needs to be of high quality to avoid the risk of future churn and targets must have long-lasting and sticky customer relationships. Innovation and additional sales capacity and competency can be ejected by LINK after closing, creating additional future growth momentum. LINK's MA pipeline is large, consisting of many smaller bolt-on targets, but also a fairly wide selection of level of targets.

Isolating the M&A pipeline, at least NOK 200 million in EBITDA potential in Europe alone is easy, identifiable and actionable within a couple of years. The summarized EBITDA contribution from the whole pipeline is, of course, much bigger than this amount.

LINK has significant improvements in new business wins over the last 2 years based on the renewed focus and changes in commercial execution initiated in 2022. The graph on the right shows the estimated annualized gross profit on new contract wins signed since 2022. The numbers are extracted from our CRM system and the estimations are based on contractual arrangements and specific dialogue with clients.

As the graph shows, gross profit from signed contracts has increased significantly since Q4 2022 and stabilized at a higher level in the mid NOK 30 million range. Internally at LINK, we have a target of achieving NOK 40 million plus in gross profit from new contracts per quarter, except for Q3, which will be lower due to summer vacation. In the current quarter, gross profit from new contracts is estimated at NOK 42 million, which is lower than same period last year.

Same quarter last year, we signed 1 big contract making the comparable number high. Isolating the new contracts for advanced conversational products named CPaaS in the graph, the current quarter is all-time high with NOK 11 million on estimated gross profit. We observe more traction and market demand for advanced mobile marketing solutions combined with bots and WhatsApp, RCS.

LINK signed 745 new contracts in the current quarter. Historically, about 75% of gross profit is recorded in the P&L after 12 months. We expect the higher contract backlog to benefit gross profit growth gradually during 2024. LINK has a healthy sales pipeline in addition to the new agreements won.

Revenue churn is low for this quarter reported at 1.3% of revenue. Somewhat higher churn in the previous 2 quarters was caused by a churn aggregate decline within the Global Messaging segment, constituting around 0.8 percentage points of revenue churn. The Enterprise segment has reported consistently low churn since 2022. Net retention in stable currency is reported at 110, positively impacted by higher revenue growth on Global Messaging, but also strong growth numbers for enterprise clients.

The company is not publishing a detailed forward-looking statement, but rather pointing to LINK's stable historical performance and high cash generation. We expect LINK's European business to continue to display a high single-digit gross profit growth rate. Additionally, we expect adjusted EBITDA growth rate to be higher than gross profit. Net debt will not exceed the range of 2.0x to 2.5x adjusted EBITDA, so the refinancing of the existing bond in 2025 will be executed with low risk.

That was my part of the presentation, handing the word over to Morten and the financial section.

[Morten Edvardsen, executive]

Thank you, Thomas, and good morning to everyone listening in this morning. I will now run through the fourth quarter financials for the group. As previously communicated, the divestment of Message Broadcast was concluded on the 3rd of January and hence it has some implications for the presentation of the U.S. business in the fourth quarter financials. The U.S. business is, as in the third quarter, reported a discontinued business in the P&L, while now separated in the balance sheet as assets available for sale.

In the cash flow statement, it is still reported as an integrated part of the group, while cash flow related to U.S. is specified separately. Then to the reported financials for continued operations. LINK reports all-time high quarterly revenue of NOK 1.8 billion, a 26% reported growth year-on-year. Revenue growth in fixed currency was 14% or NOK 193 million, equally divided between Enterprise segment and the Global Messaging segment.

Organic growth in the Enterprise segments and in the Global Messaging segment was 9% and 33% respectively. LINK observed a strong push in the seasonally peak season with high Black Friday and Christmas sales activity. We still observe a high focus on cost across enterprises as they seek to offset inflationary pressure. This supports a focus on effectiveness in customer communication in terms of improving conversion rates in, for example, mobile marketing campaigns, but also how to reduce costs related to customer interaction dialogues. This is reflected in the higher interest for more advanced CPaaS solutions and we see more traction on such solution, although from a lower base.

Total volume reported for the quarter was NOK 4.8 billion or a year-on-year growth of 11%. Increased average price per message year-on-year was supported by increased demand from new OTT channels like WhatsApp and RCS and these channels more than offset decline in volumes related to legacy e-mail solutions.

Moving over to the next Slide on gross profit. Gross profit is reported at an all-time high level of NOK 385 million or a reported growth of 24% with a 11 percentage points positive impact from currency effects, resulting in a gross profit growth in fixed currency of 13%. We are very pleased to report a strong gross profit growth momentum in Enterprise segments at 11%. The quarter is supported by strong commercial results in terms of closed [ one ] contracts and increased adoption of new channels.

I would like to highlight that Western Europe region have delivered growth in the high end of expectations, supported by strong volume growth and increased adoption of new channels. Gross profit growth contribution from the Global Messaging segment was NOK 8 million or a growth of 37% in stable currency, slightly above revenue growth as the margin, as expected, normalized quarter-over-quarter back to historical levels.

The full year gross profit growth for the group was 7% in stable currency. The lower graph illustrates the stability in margin level in Enterprise segment and the year-on-year improvement supported by positive mix effects, including growth on higher margin channels.

Then to the next Slide on adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA is also reported at an all-time high at NOK 181 million, a reported growth of 37% or 24% in fixed currency. Growth is driven by NOK 39 million gross profit growth year-on-year and only partly offset by NOK 8 million or a 5% growth in OpEx, as cost reduction initiatives partly offset underlying inflation and other cost increases.

The cost reduction initiatives delivered a positive year-on-year P&L effect on OpEx of approximately NOK 12 million in the quarter. The full year adjusted EBITDA growth was 15% in stable currency. The adjusted EBITDA margin expanded year-on-year in stable currency by 0.8 percentage points to 10.1%. The Enterprise margin improved 0.9 percentage points year-on-year to 15.8% from the improved gross margin development and lower OpEx to sales ratio, while the high activity in Global Messaging had a slight negative impact on the total group margin of 0.4 percentage points.

Then to the P&L. In the previous Slides, I've covered the development down to the adjusted EBITDA. In the quarter, we reported a higher level of non-recurring cost of NOK 46 million, consisting mainly of share option cost of NOK 26 million, while restructuring and M&A costs were NOK 18 million and NOK 3 million respectively. The stock option costs for the quarter consist of quarterly costs related to current programs of NOK 14 million and increase in social security cost accrual impacted by increase in the share price.

The restructuring cost was up quarter-over-quarter and was linked to organizational changes in certain regional and local country management to improve commercial capabilities and to obtain a leaner operational model. The restructuring costs in the quarter partly offset future stock option costs.

Cost of depreciation and amortization is reported at NOK 122 million, up from NOK 106 million last year, mainly from currency effects of NOK 9 million and finalization of development projects. Our review of timing of closing of development projects during 2023 led to a one-time effect of NOK 5 million higher D&A costs for the quarter.

No impairment cost was recognized in the quarter, while same period last year included a write-down of goodwill in Spain of NOK 180 million. I would like to note that D&A related to excess values of Message Broadcast held at group level are still recorded in D&A related to acquisitions and represents NOK 31 million for the quarter and NOK 120 million on a full year basis.

Net financial items are reported at positive NOK 25 million, net currency gain of NOK 51 million, mainly reflected variance in EUR to NOK related to the bond and intercompany loans. The positive currency gain was partly offset by net interest cost of NOK 28 million related to the outstanding bond, including amortized transaction cost, partly offset by interest income on cash balances. In addition, a positive correction on outstanding earn out was recognized with NOK 6 million under other financial items.

Then to the balance sheet. As mentioned, the U.S. entity Message Broadcast is presented under assets held for sale following the closing of the transaction on 3rd of January this year. Total goodwill represent NOK 6.1 billion, of which NOK 1.9 billion is related to the U.S. business. Cash reserves were reported at NOK 1.1 billion. However, after divestment of Message Broadcast, the cash position was NOK 3.4 billion. Reported cash is in line with the previous quarter as underlying cash position improved with contribution from operations that was offset by NOK 118 million outflow related to buyback of own bonds below par at an attractive yield in December.

Reported receivables increased by NOK 136 million year-on-year and payables increased by NOK 163 million and was reduced -- impacted by a separation of the U.S. by NOK 98 million and NOK 101 million respectively for receivables and payables in the quarter. Currency effects impacted receivables and payables by plus NOK 52 million and plus NOK 79 million respectively.

The underlying increase was driven by organic growth, as well as timing effects related to collection and payments. Working capital release during the quarter was reported at NOK 92 million as per normal seasonality and led to a neutral working capital development last 12 months for the European footprint. Net interest-bearing debt before divestment of the U.S. is reported at close to NOK 3.1 billion, calculated in accordance with our bond agreement and related mainly to the one outstanding bond, fully maturing in December 2025. Leverage post closing of the U.S. is slightly above 1x adjusted EBITDA.

Further to my final Slide, we present the pro forma or view of the development in cash flow from the European business last 5 quarters. The figures exclude U.S. related cash flow items such as working capital, CapEx, tax, lease payments and interest paid on bond tap issue of NOK 170 million made in June 2021, related to the acquisition of Message Broadcast.

Our European business generated a high -- a cash -- high cash conversion from adjusted EBITDA through an underlying scalable business model, stable working capital over time, limited CapEx, coupled with a very attractive current financing structure. Since Q4 2022, the cash flow after CapEx, bond interest and lease payments have more than doubled on an LTM basis to more than NOK 350 million in Q4 2023.

Last 12 months improvement in free cash flow is positively impacted by the commercial refocus and the implemented cost initiatives, while working capital normalized on a LTM basis in the fourth quarter. Following the completion of the U.S. divestment, the cash position was approximately NOK 3.4 billion, giving ample capacity for M&A. And as mentioned, we may consider further bond buybacks and share buyback within the terms of the bond agreement.

We currently observe that yield on cash deposits are above our fixed coupon on the bond loan and hence, we target to minimize net payable interest before closing any M&A transactions. I will also reiterate that management target a stable lower leverage level of between 2.0x to 2.5x adjusted EBITDA ahead of refinancing of the bond.

That completes the financial section. Now back to Tom and Q&A.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

Thank you, Morten. We are then ready to start the Q&A. Please post questions online.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

First question is regarding the performance in Central Europe and if the flat performance is related to lower volumes or price competition?

[Thomas Berge, executive]

Morten, maybe you can start answering that one?

[Morten Edvardsen, executive]

Yes. Just to give some clarity on the -- if you look at the gross profit growth, just a technicality, we had a shift in COGS, basically between Nordics and Central in Q4 last year. So if you look at the underlying growth, we see that both Northern and Central are basically performing on our gross profit growth in line with the previous quarter.

[Thomas Berge, executive]

Yes. Just a comment from me too. We have done changes on management in Central Europe as we weren't satisfied with the performance historically also. So we are doing initiatives to improve the growth momentum in Central Europe. There are a few countries delivering very good numbers and then we have issues with the growth momentum in especially Austria, which we're working on improving.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

Then a follow-up question regarding higher average prices driven from the new OTT channels if that is sustainable?

[Thomas Berge, executive]

Yes. We don't -- we see stable prices there and unless the channel owners do COGS changes, we expect the prices to be quite stable, yes.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

Then a question regarding the strong performance in the Global Messaging segment and the drivers behind it and the margins expectations for 2024.

[Thomas Berge, executive]

Global Messaging is growing as we have chosen a strategy where we want to offer cleaner out in the market and there is a trend from certain bigger global companies who use a lot of messaging services that they want to divert away from gray routing more into cleaner routes, which we have benefited from. I would expect the margins to be in the vicinity of what we are seeing today for 2024. Comments on volumes and growth in 2024 for this segment is more difficult to anticipate, it's more volatile.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

Then there's a specific question on the restructuring charges in the fourth quarter and expectations for non-recurring costs for the full year of 2024.

[Morten Edvardsen, executive]

Yes. I can probably take that one. As Thomas mentioned, we did some changes to regional management in Central Europe and some other changes to local management in selected countries. This has impacted the restructuring cost, which is elevated compared to the previous quarters. And so we expect this to come down going forward. We, of course, are evaluating whether they have the optimal setup on an ongoing basis. So -- but right now, we expect this to come down. When it comes to sort of the total nonrecurring costs going forward, we expect share option costs to come down as we -- the first tranche of the LTIPs are vested now in Q4 as we expect this to come probably down below NOK 10 million. And then M&A costs will, of course, be impacted by the activity that we are -- will have on M&A.

Yes, I think that's to cover it.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

Then we have a very specific question on the very low churn of 1.3% in the fourth quarter, if that's an annualized figure or if it's a quarterly data point?

[Morten Edvardsen, executive]

We calculate basically the churn based on the same quarter last year. So that is low, where we see it's coming down from the previous 2 quarters related to the one client that we discontinued in Global Messaging due to credit risk evaluations.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

I have a follow-up on general loan pricing and in high inflationary environment, how the pricing of LINK's products should follow there?

[Thomas Berge, executive]

We have 2 main price elements in our business model, it's a license fee and of course, usage pricing and license fee are normally regulated each year in accordance with the Consumer Price Index in each country. So that is being compensated on the revenue side. Our strategy on the usage pricing, it's to keep the price per channel stable. And then as we said, we have done this quarter, work to change the mix towards more feature-rich channels where we see a higher profitability.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

Then there's a question on the strong performance in the Western European segment and what drove that and what's the new business and what is the net retention rate for -- from previous customers?

[Thomas Berge, executive]

We don't do net retention rates per region. We publicize that on the company level or between Enterprise and Global Messaging. But the growth momentum in Western Europe, it's partly driven by a good inflow of new customers, as we've seen in the presentation, we have won more new contracts than what we've been able to do historically. And this is also the case in Western Europe. On top of that, we see a good growth momentum from existing customers, not just retail or e-commerce, it's in several sectors actually. And then as I said, we also see in Western Europe that RCS is increasing quite rapidly and the profitability there is higher than SMS and e-mail. So that is also, of course, improving the profitability growth.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

Then we have a follow-up on Central Europe and the Nordics. Obviously, we already responded to the Europe. So more on the Nordics comments on the performance in the Nordics.

[Thomas Berge, executive]

In the Nordics, we see an uplift in performance over the last 2, 3 quarters. Denmark is improving in Q4 compared to previous quarters. Sweden and Finland are delivering nice growth. In Norway, we have had some softness historically, mainly due to price increases from the mobile operators, which we, of course, pass on to the clients. But as a consequence, clients have adapted and optimized their usage to the price increases. So we have seen a downturn in volumes or in volumes increase. We do see now that Norway is starting to become positive and growing again. So hopefully, the Nordics will have a better performance in 2024 than what we've seen in 2023.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

Then there's a question related to M&A, in general, the approach to M&A and the time line for accretive EBITDA to come into the accounts.

[Thomas Berge, executive]

Yes, LINK's M&A strategy, we try to position our self to be in an exclusive process, so we start dialogues with different players in the industry. In exclusivity, we agree on the term sheet in exclusivity and then we do due diligence also in exclusivity and then sort of, yes, if we agree on all the parameters, then we end up with a purchase agreement. The time line, it varies quite a lot. These companies are mostly owned by private individuals, not professional investors. And we take our time to make sure that we have the optimal purchase price. If we want to be quicker, it's, of course, possible by -- by paying a somewhat higher price, but we prefer not to do that. We prefer to take our time to make sure that we have a good understanding of the company and a good balance between the content of the company and the purchase price.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

Then we have a question regarding share buybacks, which the company mentioned potentially looking into and what will be the deciding factors for that?

[Thomas Berge, executive]

I think we need to revert back on that point. We said in the Q4 presentation that we are considering doing it, but we haven't taken a conclusion on it. So if and when that conclusion is taken, that more and more information will be given then.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

There's a question regarding more technical nature and the drivers of organic growth -- the road map for products.

[Thomas Berge, executive]

The road map for products, it's similar to what we have communicated historically. We're focusing on software solutions that can drive 2-way dialogues. So we have both. We have mobile marketing software solutions and customer service solutions. On top of that, we are doing a go-to-market now on marketing automation software solution and the CDP, which we are launching now in the U.K. We launched it in 2023 in the Nordics and now we're bringing it out into Mainland Europe.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

Then I have a question regarding MessageBird's announcement to lower SMS prices by 90%.

[Thomas Berge, executive]

Yes, it's -- first of all, MessageBird, we don't see them in Europe. We don't know them that well because we have very little contact with them. But in our view, they are mostly concentrated in Asia, in the U.S., being an aggregator business or focusing on very large global companies. A cost reduction of 90% in Europe, it's completely unrealistic because when you look at who gets what, when we invoice the customers, the mobile operators, they take 80% of the revenue that we invoice to the customers and we get 20%, so then sort of cutting prices with 90% then is completely unrealistic. And in Europe, it's impossible to bypass the mobile operators. They have a high integrity in their mobile networks. So finding routes to avoid their COGS, it's more or less impossible when you look at the amount of volumes that we are having.

And also, the mobile operators are quite heavily regulated in the use, so they cannot discriminate price offerings to different players. They have to have a follow a framework where volumes are the main sort of main way of giving discounts and MessageBird are quite small in Europe compared to LINK and SINCH and a few other players. So the little discounts that the mobile operator are offering in Europe, it's basically going to the bigger players. So for me, this is more like punch line or I'm not sure what to call it when you look at executing on it, it's impossible to do that in Europe. In the U.S. and in Asia, you have some more willing room because the COGS there in many countries are 1/10 of what we see in Europe. So of course, in percentages, the ATP vendor has a larger portion of what is invoiced to the customer, but still 90% there is impossible.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

Then we have a question regarding artificial intelligence and LINK's approach to that?

[Thomas Berge, executive]

As of now, we have artificial intelligence. It's integrated into our bot solution. When you look at externally, that is as of now, sort of what we have done, we have integrated towards ChatGPT and another bold solution there. Internally, we are, of course, using bots to improve our developing activity. So we are checking code and so on. And we're also starting to utilizing within routing, but at a fairly modest level.

[Tom Rogn, executive]

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