CM.com continued to grow its gross profit in 2023, following our strategic focus on creating value over revenue. We have realized positive EBITDA in H2 2023 by increasing our sales in higher margins products, while controlling our costs. Going forward, CM.com will continue to develop new customer solutions, improve margins, and keep a tight grip on costs. The newly introduced business unit structure will support our strategy. CM.com reiterates its goal to become free cash flow positive by H2 2024.
BREDA, 29 FEBRUARY 2024
Q4 2023 financial highlights
- Gross profit1 increased by 17% YoY to a record level of €20.4 million. Gross profit improved in all segments, with CPaaS being the largest contributor, with an increase of 22% YoY.
- Gross margin increased to 31.1% (Q4 2022: 22.3%), supported by product mix improvements in CPaaS, SaaS, and Ticketing.
- Implementation of a new business unit structure: as of 1 January 2024, CM.com is organized into four business units: Connect (former CPaaS), Engage (former SaaS), Pay (former Payments), and Live (former Ticketing).
- Record payments volumes processed in Payments.
- Strong order intake at year-end in SaaS.
- CM.com signed a standby Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) of €15 million with an accordion option of €10 million with HSBC to increase financial flexibility.
FY 2023 financial highlights
- Gross profit increased by 9% YoY to €78.5 million, supported by growth in all segments, especially Ticketing with a growth of 29%.
- Gross margin improved to 29.5% in 2023 (2022: 25.4%), with CPaaS showing the strongest margin improvement YoY.
- Normalized EBITDA for the full year was -€0.9 million, before €1.8 million restructuring costs, compared to -€ 22.3 million in FY 2022, before €4.2 million one-off bad debt hit.
- Normalized EBITDA H2 2023 was €2.8 million positive, before €1.0 million restructuring cost, meeting guidance.
- Revenue developed to €266.2 million (-6% YoY), as revenue from higher margins products remained strong, and CPaaS focused on improving profitability.
- Normalized OPEX decreased 16% YoY to €79.5 million, in accordance with our guidance.
- The FTE count declined by 23% to 720 FTE per year-end 2023.
Outlook
- CM.com will continue to grow its gross profit, while controlling costs, leading to increasing EBITDA.
- OPEX is expected to decline further in 2024, mostly as the cost base is now structurally lower than in 2023.
- CM.com reiterates its target to be free cash flow positive by H2 2024.
Message from our CEO
"In 2023, performance and alignment were central topics within CM.com. As a next step in the execution of our sustainable growth strategy, we implemented a new business unit structure. Cash generation and cash management became more important in order to grow our business independently. Our gross profit increased, and gross margins improved as we enhanced our product suite, while we lowered our cost base. This all led to the return to positive EBITDA over H2 2023.
Innovations based on Gen AI: In 2023, CM.com launched its own GenAI tooling for contact center as a service (CCaaS) in sectors such as travel and e-commerce. These services and products resulted in sensational improvements for our customers, such as an over 80% reduction in onboarding time on our Conversational AI platform, up to 40% time saving on human interactions, and 40% improvement in customer satisfaction. In 2024 we will expand our services and products by offering GenAI applications in the Marketing environment – and much more.
Organizational change into business units: CM.com has always invested heavily in its products and its employees. To further deploy the talents within our firm, CM.com is taking the next step in its growth process, namely the launch of business units. Ever since listing, we have expanded our platform and developed more innovative products. The business unit structure will empower our employees to further grow the connection between our products and our customers across the globe. Per January 2024, our organization consists of four business units, being Connect (former CPaaS), Engage (former SaaS), Pay (former Payments), and Live (former Ticketing). Each business unit has their own management team and financial targets.
Outlook: In 2024, we continue to focus on developing our business further to provide more value for our customers. By offering innovative products, improving, and integrating our services and connections with our customers, we expect a further increase in our gross profit, together with strict cost management. We have already noticed the first positive results from the business unit structure in client engagements, successful proposals, and product development initiatives. That is why we reiterate our goal to be free cash flow positive by the second half of 2024.
I would like to thank all employees of CM.com for their contribution to this result in 2023. As management, we are proud of our employees and their accomplishments and look forward to continuing our journey in 2024."
Jeroen van Glabbeek
CEO CM.com