Infomedia Ltd (BGLOBAL.BO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining the Infomedia First Half 2024 Results Briefing. We'll begin with a presentation by the Infomedia management team followed by Q&A. [Operator Instructions] We'll just take a brief call as our attendees join the call, and then we'll begin. I'd like to hand over to the Infomedia CEO, Jens Monsees. Jens, over to you.

Thank you, Kiara. Good morning, everyone. I would like to thank you for attending our results webcast for the Infomedia's half year results for 2024. I'm Jens Monsees, the CEO and Managing Director of Infomedia. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, the Gadigal people on the Eora Nation. We pay our respect to the eldest past and present and extend this acknowledgment and respect to the first peoples in all countries in which we operate. Joining me on the call today is Chantell Revie, our CFO. She will take you through the detailed financials. You can follow along on the slides for the presentation, which was released earlier on the ASX. I will refer to the slide numbers as we move through the presentation. From our investor, we hear that the best way to present results is by providing consistent disclosure and delivering on our strategy. I'm happy to share that our results for this half continue to demonstrate both. Please note the legal disclaimer on Slide #3. On the agenda for today on Slide #4, I will share the highlights and the business update before handing over to Chantell. For those who are not familiar with our company, the glossary provides definitions of many of the terms used in this presentation and the appendix contains a good overview and further details on our company. We welcome your questions after the presentation. Let's get started with the highlights and update moving to Slide #6. We are now in the strengthening phase of our strategy and focusing on revenue growth, operational excellence and global expansion. As outlined in our FY '23 results, we have successfully completed Phase 1, the change phase of our transformation strategy. This chapter is about building now memory muscle, getting familiar with the new ways of working we established. Let me give you an example. Many of you might remember having your first driving lesson. Everything is new and unfamiliar but with practice, you master it. Now in the strengthening phase, we get used to these new habits, and we get comfortable and familiar with our new ways of working. Our long-term transformation strategy is to accelerate growth, driving annual recurring revenue, ARR, with a moderate and controlled increase in cost, ARC. So let's see what we did in this half so far on Slide #7. We achieved a 36% increase in our underlying cash EBITDA. Delivering on our goal, we increased our underlying cash EBITDA margin by 5 percentage points on first half 2023 and 1 percentage point from our full year '23 results now to 23%. Our exit ARR in constant currency was up 8% and on first half '23, while our annual recurring cost increased by only 6%. This gap between the cost increase and the revenue growth is demonstrating the work we did to establish a sustainable cost structure. We are pleased by our double-digit growth in total revenue of 11%. This was driven by our strong team in APAC and initial benefits from the turnaround that we are driving in the Americas. In summary, the company is in a very good shape and the strategy is delivering results. So let's look at the progress we have made on Slide #8. We are tracking well in the beginning of this strengthening phase. Our key focus areas are: first, revenue growth; second, operational excellence; and third, global expansion. Firstly, on revenue. We are growing across all products and regions as we have continued to focus on our customer relationship across the globe. In the past 6 months, our revenue has increased in our core products, for Microcat by 6% and for Superservice by 12%. Additionally, we are investing in our innovative data-driven products to enhance global scalability. We are starting to establish a new solution group with analytics. That will further diversify our offerings and increase customer stickiness. This will enable continued double-digit growth for Infodrive. Secondly, on operations. The above improvements, combined with the shortened delivery times prioritizing and resource allocation, having operational excellence. An example for these improvements -- improved commercial outcomes is doubling our capability to deploy Superservice Triage in APAC, driving double-digit growth in the product. We are pleased with the early turnaround in the Americas. First, the new leadership team is gaining traction. Secondly, the agreement with SimplePart for a final earn-out payment is allowing us a faster integration and a joint go-to-market approach. Third, the successful pilot of the 2 DMS bidirectional integrations in the U.S. is showing early benefits. Third, on global expansion. We are gaining traction in Latin America and in Canada as well as in Middle East and Southeast Asia by rolling out our product portfolio. This is an ongoing opportunity for a truly global business with a balanced revenue split across the 3 major regions. We're expanding our solutions into new brands, Chery and MG, 2 well-known and fast-growing Chinese OEMs. Finally, we are expanding our global e-commerce footprint, both in EMEA and in APAC. I will now hand over to Chantell. Over to you.

Thank you, Jens, and good morning, everyone. Starting at Slide 10, a picture is worth a thousand words. We have consistently presented this graph over the last year, which shows the trend in annual recurring revenue and annual recurring costs over 3.5 years. Until June 2022, annual recurring costs increased more than the increase in annual recurring revenue, causing the doors to narrow. In Phase 1 of this strategy, we have generated positive operating leverage and decreased the growth in the annual recurring costs, expanding our margin. In the first half of FY '24, at the start of the strengthen phase of our strategy, we have continued to execute on it. having grown revenue and maintain control of costs, delivering 8% growth in ARR from the first half of FY '23 and 6% increase in the ARC. We continue to generate positive operating leverage. Moving on to Slide 11. The key metrics for the business that we use to measure progress on our transformation are shown first year. All variances are shown compared to the previous corresponding period. Underlying cash EBITDA grew 36% to $15.7 million. In constant currency, annual recurring revenue increased 8% to an exit rate of $137.5 million. and annual recurring costs increased 6% to an exit rate of $100.2 million. Total revenue increased 11% to $70 million, of which 99% is recurring revenue. reflecting the focus on growing recurring revenue. The company continues to remain profitable with net profit after tax up 6% to $5.1 million after accounting for one-off costs related to the SimplePart earn-out, the integration of SimplePart and the offshoring project. Underlying net profit after tax is up 35% at $9.6 million, reflecting the operating performance of the company. Moving now to Slide 12. This highlights Infomedia's revenue diversity and the strong contribution from each region across the globe. Revenue is split approximately 1/3 between each of our 3 regions. This diversity is a key strength of the business, showing Infomedia's global reach and limited regional concentration risk. In the first half of FY '24, APAC growth was driven by accelerated delivery of Triage installations and the continued cross-sell of SimplePart to customers. EMEA revenue growth was driven by increased usage of Infodrive and the roll-out of SimplePart to new customers in the region. The Americas continued to grow with new customers in new geographies. such as Latin America and Canada as well as synergies from the integration of SimplePart. Turning to Slide 13. the underlying cash EBITDA increase of 36% to $15.7 million was achieved by growing all products and regions. We actively managed our costs. Overall, underlying cash EBITDA margin increased to 23%. This is up 5 percentage points from the previous corresponding period. Moving now to Slide 14. Here, you can see the reduction of labor capitalized as a percentage of revenue. In 2019, during the Next Gen project, we upgraded our user interface across Microcat and Superservice and the rate of capitalization as a percentage of revenue grew to a high of 26% in 2021. Since then, it has decreased and is currently tracking at 14% in 2024. We expect labor capitalization as a percentage of revenue to be between 13% and 14% for FY '24. Turning now to Slide 15. Infomedia has approximately $65 million in cash at the half year-end and 0 debt, providing flexibility for continued growth and investment in a scalable future. The decrease in noncurrent assets from June 2023 to December 2023 is mostly as a result of $9.5 million in intangible assets development being capitalized whilst a total of $13.7 million was amortized. Moving on to Slide 16. Underlying free cash flow of $10.6 million was generated in the half which included a $3.4 million increase of tax paid for the half due to the lower R&D tax offset. Other non-underlying expense payments totaled $1.8 million which related to the cash outflows for the offshoring project and the integration of SimplePart. To summarize, we continued our strong operating cash flow, which funds our CapEx spend and our dividends. I'll now hand back to Jens. Thank you.

Thank you, Chantell. In our next session, we will share our strategic priorities and outlook. Let's move to Slide #18. One of the first milestones we established as part of our transformation strategy was to shift from a project led to a true product-led organization. As a part of the strengthening phase, we are executing on our strategic priorities and continue to focus on the 4 Ps: people, product, performance and processes. These guide everything we do and provide measurable progress and accountability at all levels. Let me highlight a few of these priorities. We are shortening our time to conversion on our sales pipeline continuing to grow in Americas with our SimplePart integration and joint go-to-market strategy. Further enhancing our product portfolio to address customer needs and market trends and enrich our data driven ecosystem with new integrations, partnerships and scalable APIs. On operational excellence, we are improving automation in our product portfolio, upgrading and streamlining our enterprise processes and systems, prioritizing R&D investments based on commercial outcomes, improving offshoring capabilities to gain flexibility and continue our focus on cost discipline and accountability on KPIs. On global expansions, we are continuing to expand on our DMS integration globally, expanding our existing footprint and product suite in the EV space with new Chinese OEMs, continuing to globalize SimplePart and Infodrive and finally, pursue potential bolt-on acquisitions and invest in rich data assets. Let's zoom out on Slide #19 on our investor highlights. We are uniquely positioned with our strong positive cash flow and profitable growth. We are operating in an expanding global market. To put it simply, we have 99% recurring revenue. We are highly diversified with a sticky customer base. We have a very balanced global client portfolio that is diversified across product and region. And finally, we have a strong balance sheet. These attributes alongside our track record of consistently executing on our strategy is setting us up for success. More broadly, we benefit from macroeconomic trends and the tailwind that comes with a further digitization of the automotive industry. As innovative thought leaders and partners to our customers, we are leading the way. Let me now turn to our outlook on Slide #20. We confirm our guidance. We expect our total revenue for financial year 2024 to be between $130 million and $142 million. The Board has also declared a dividend of $0.022 per share, which is fully franked. I want to personally thank the entire Infomedia team across the globe. Together, we can be proud of what we have achieved over the last 6 months and be confident that we are focused on the right drivers for the future. I want to thank our shareholders here on the call and the Board for your trust and your support. Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to our valued customers for their continuing support and business. I'm looking forward to an exciting journey ahead. Thank you. I now hand back to Kiara to open the lines for any questions. Thanks a lot.

[Operator Instructions] First up, we have a question from Jules from Shaw and Partners. So it's a 2-parter. I'll ask the first question first. Could you elaborate on the DMS integrations and the benefits you're seeing and plans for further DMS integrations in the near term.

Yes. Thank you, Kiara. And thank you, Jules, for raising that question. We are now very stable with our first pilot. That means we have integrated 2 DMS providers in the U.S. which is a fantastic result. We also learned how to scale better and implement faster, which is good. And most important for me is that our partners are very happy with the integration and the DMS providers that are serving a lot of big dealership groups are actually seeing for them a benefit as well of being more sticky and offering more insights into the business of the dealerships. So we are in a very good way. in terms of implementing and in terms of strengthening our partnerships and being sticky. What's the second question?

So the second question is, at the AGM you flagged that you would guide to an exit ARR at the half year. Could you elaborate on why you feel that is no longer necessary?

Yes. Chantell and me and the whole team worked hard on focusing on recurring revenue. And now the recurring revenue is 99% of our total revenue, and therefore, we felt it's not necessary any longer to just focus on this 1%. I'm very happy with the focus on recurring. This is how a SaaS and true SaaS business is actually driving forward. So I don't think we will need to focus on ARR at that moment. Basically, everything is recurring.

Next up, we have a question from Tim Plumb from UBS. Can you please talk about the sales pipeline momentum and how the shortening of revenue cycle can shift from this WIP to revenue faster.

Yes, Tim, that's a good question. In the past, I outlined already that sometimes signing a new deal depending on the size and the complexity is a lead time between 3 and 12 months. And so we always have a good backlog of revenue that is signed and agreed and ordered but not yet delivered. With making our products more scalable and easy to implement, it is possible for us to shorten our delivery time and therefore, also accelerating on the revenue side, not only today but long term.

[Operator Instructions] We have an additional question come through from Tim. Can you please talk a little bit more about the pricing increases how far through the portfolio are we? And how much of the 8% ARR growth relates to pricing.

Yes. We are operating on long-term contracts, which are normally around 3 to 5 years. Whenever in any region, in any product, there is something coming up where we can renew our agreement. We obviously look at the price increase. The price increase is then between the 5% and the 12% depending on what kind of contract we are driving. And it also depends on the healthiness of our client and the value that they see in our products. So currently, we are negotiating a few very big contracts, which are also seeing a price increase and the first experience that we had so far with the renewals are very positive.

However, they're not in revenue yet. So there is not a lot of that 8% that has price renewals in it.

And that's the nature of our business.

Next up, we've got another question from Mason. Could you please provide some further insight into the double-digit growth in Superservice? And how sustainable that level of growth is?

Yes. So we accelerated Superservice, especially our product, Triage. Triage is a product that is -- that needs installation and training in the dealerships. During COVID and after COVID, that obviously slowed down because we could not visit all the dealerships and in store. And therefore, we see now the very nice upside. We also there implemented some scalable effects in our products that we can install faster. And we also invested in our training and implementation capabilities in APAC. And probably there is more to install and more to train on we have a full sales pipeline there.

Also the Superservice growth historically linked to the DMS bidirectional integration in the U.S. So we feel it is sustainable at the moment.

We do have a follow-up question from Mason. SimplePart growth has slowed in the first half, is lower -- and it's lower than the second half of 2023. Can you please provide additional insight here?

Yes. We have lost 1 client in the U.S., which has a substantial revenue. But the great thing is that we see that the in-housing product is not really working. So the client is already coming back, talking to us and setting up their first dealerships because the in-house solution is not delivering what the PowerPoints presented and promised. So we are very confident that SimplePart will accelerate in the second half again on the growth path. And by the way, by losing something and still growing, it shows also the strength of that business and that product.

Next up, we have a question from [ Kay Blunden ]. The Americas has 3 major DMS providers, are the 2 DMS mentioned within the bidirectional integration, one of these major DMS providers.

Yes, they are. So we started with CDK. The 2 others, which are big and that we are currently in discussion of is Reynolds and Reynolds. And we have implemented already with Dealertrack as a first pilot. But now the other big ones are about to come. It depends not only on Infomedia, it also depends on the DMS providers how much resources they dedicate to these kind of integration projects.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Chris Savage. Do you think you can maintain the cash EBITDA margin in H2 or even increase it?

Well, we are working on a long-term acceleration plan and a long-term strategy. So I think we are in a good trajection and momentum to continue on that path, Chris.

[Operator Instructions] Jens, it doesn't look like we have any questions for the moment. I'll hand it back to you for any additional remarks.

It's good. It's good to see our analysts and investors. I'm happy not having any further question. We focus on the next 6 months on delivering on our strategy. I'm very grateful for the team and the effort that the team put into the results. And therefore, yes, back to executing and back to the strengthening phase and talk to you in 6 months.

Thank you, everyone, for joining today's call. That brings our call to a close. You may now leave.