TX Group AG (TXGN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome to our Annual Analyst Conference. We are very pleased to welcome you here at our headquarters in Zurich and also we welcome the ones in the Zoom call. My name is Ursula Notzli, and I'm amongst others, responsible for the Investor Relations. 2023 was another very busy year for the TX Group, and we are looking forward to presenting to you the annual result and also to discussing with you the personal and organizational adaptations announced this morning. To begin with, our Chairman will comment on the result and the adaptations. Afterwards, our COO and our CFO will explain the results in details. And thereafter, each CEO will shortly comment on the most important developments in their businesses. To conclude, we will also obviously have the possibility to ask questions either here directly in the room or in the zoom call, you can actually put your questions into the chat function, and then we will try to answer them here at the end of the presentation. So with this, I'd like to hand over to Pietro.

Okay, Ursula. Good morning again to you here in the room and to those who follow by video. We are very pleased that we can inform you about the results of our last business year. As you have seen, the year was significantly better than the year before. From that perspective, we are happy. But as you will also have noticed, we are still far away from our own ambition. We have set the targets in the last autumn, and we are working hard to get there eventually. So it is a good year that we are reporting on, but it does not meet our mid- and long-term ambitions, but I hope that the trend will be our friend. I don't want to go too much into details, maybe just a few words. As you have seen and as you know, those who follow us, JobCloud has again been the largest contributor to our net result. It is a fantastic company. It's a fantastic business. However, it is a cyclical business, and it is affected by economic circumstances, which have not been favorable last year. And therefore, there is a slight decline in profitability. But long-term and fundamentally, we remain very positive on that business, and that is also the reason why we continue to invest in this business. SMG has had a good year. The result has doubled with the taking over of Flatfox, an important strategic step could be achieved. It is only the beginning from my point of view of what will be a wonderful story. So we are very pleased, and we are very positive about the future of SMG. To be noted that SMG has not yet contributed to the cash flow of the group because SMG hasn't paid any dividends last year. So that is an additional potential for the mid- and long term, which will help us to achieve our own ambitions. Goldbach, Tamedia and 20 Minutes have made progress, all 3 of the companies, all 3 in very, very demanding circumstances. Goldbach through the acquisition of Clear Channel has made a major step forward. The out-of-home business is now in really good shape. There has been through the acquisition already a contribution to the income, not yet so much the profitability, but we are now well set to also capitalize on the profitability side already this year and more so than from next year on once the full effects of the integrations will be realized. With this, Goldbach is also very well positioned strategically. It stands on 3 pillars. Basically, 3 business models, 3 strong business models. On the one hand, the out-of-home business, then Goldbach Media, which has been historically the cash cow and revenue generator of Goldbach and will continue to be. So in a market that is shrinking, but where we are very well positioned also to transform linear earnings into digital earnings, and Michi might go more into detail about that. And thirdly, it is in Goldbach about the brokerage of online advertising, where we also invest in our own platforms, namely for serving small and mid-cap clients. Together with Goldbach, Tamedia and 20 Minutes collaborate very well in the advertising market. And we follow in the group, the strategy that 20 Minutes and Tamedia should also enhance their own marketing capabilities in the advertising market as brand sales and premium offers will gain importance and all together, we are sure that we will be able to move in that direction and to capitalize on these opportunities, which in ever more complex environment will be, I am convinced unique selling propositions of the Tamedia and of 20 Minutes. Besides these few highlights, looking at last year, I want to mention that artificial intelligence is a topic that we spend a lot of time thinking about. It is almost an obsession of course. Everybody talks about it. But in fact, I am convinced it will also be a real game changer, and I think to our advantage, mid- and long term, it is nothing completely new. We have been thinking about these possibilities for a long time. We have also applied some of the opportunities and potential use cases already in the last years. But now, these technologies become much more accessible and therefore, I think will be a game changer going forward. First of all, now in the background, for production of media content. Originally, it was thought to be more on the side of efficiency gains and productivity gains, but it is quite clear or very clear that these possibilities also contribute to the creative process. We will make the creative process also more effective and richer and leads to better results. So these are enormous opportunities that we have. Also one can imagine that the usage of media will change over time, that it will become more interactive. One can think about chat functions where media content is not consumed in ascending models, but rather in an interactive conversation. Of course, there are also risks mainly that the investment in content production cannot be capitalized as others can automatically use it to reproduce content without having the same investment and therefore, it is important to protect our investment. And we are carefully observing the various possibilities to do so from legal actions as in the case of the New York Times to licensing agreements as in the case of Axel Springer, we have not yet decided which strategy to follow, but it is very clear that, that is topic of first importance for us and that for the entire industry, there is the need for the solution for that topic. Otherwise, the whole system will collapse if the investment in content production cannot be capitalized by those who do the investment. Maybe another thought about AI is that it offers fantastic opportunities. There are these challenges of protection of investment, and it will affect all of us in our daily work. All of us who are sitting here, but also all of our colleagues who are sitting further up in this building and elsewhere. And the pressure, I think, on all of us, on the whole working population will increase and we have to face that reality and what we can do for our own benefit and for the benefit of our employees is to invest in their capabilities to make the best use of these new opportunities, and that is something we are thinking about at the group level how we can really help ourselves and help our colleagues to build up knowledge to understand these possibilities and to make use of them. So something along the idea of a TX AI Academy where we really generously invest in these capabilities is on top of our mind. Then I wanted to shortly mention that we have thought in the last month about how to simplify the group structure. As you know, in the year 2000, so that is 4 years ago, we have implemented decentralized group structure, and we have tried to build up the 3 companies, Tamedia, 20 Minutes and Goldbach as how to say, as companies on their own with their own culture driven out of their market and serving their market with the idea that this is the best way to capitalize on what we are able to do. And this is the best way to reduce complexity. And I'm pleased to say, and the results show it that this has worked quite well, we think, and we want to continue in that philosophy, but it has also been a lot of work to get there, and there is a lot of energy absorbed by this relatively complex organization as we have a Board for the group, and then we have a Board for each company and then, of course, we have management boards for each of the companies, and that's where the real value is created. And we feel that we have reached the point or flying altitude where the management boards of these companies can really take more responsibility and drive their businesses. And therefore, we want to slim down above that level and to eliminate one layer, which is the layer of the Board of Directors of each single company, which will significantly reduce the process work in the group. Imagine the budgeting process that has to go kind of down and up through these 2 layers. And this is what I feel will make us really more effective and more efficient, going forward without losing any of the benefits that we have achieved by building up this organization. In that context, I will myself step down as [indiscernible] and concentrate on my job as Executive Chairman and as editor of our media. Then we have important changes at the top management level that has been already explained in the communication this morning. Both of the key players who have decided to change their life have been with us for a quarter of a century, which is a really very, very long time. And it has been, I think, a very, very good time, both in the case of Sandro and Michi. And I'm very grateful to them that this doesn't come as a surprise, but that we have had time to discuss it and to develop solutions. In the case of Sandro, the solution is also mirrored in what I have just explained, the further development and slim down of the group, which has been really a collaborative work from the beginning already in the year 2000 and now again. And I have always very, very much appreciated and will continue to appreciate our collaboration, namely that we are so far looking diligent and also sharp at times, which I think has always given us new impulses and helped to adapt the structures to the realities in which we move. So it has been a great journey with you and I'm also very thankful that you are not leaving from one day to the other, but that you are helping us to really make also the organizational changes and then we'll really be in good shape to hand over into new responsibilities. Thank you, Sandro. And with Michi, it is a different story because he's not leaving, but he wants to change his life, and that has been a discussion that we have had for a long time and I think you have picked really the perfect moment because Goldbach, I am convinced is in great shape now, has gone through very difficult times. We have to admit in the last 4 years, also given the circumstances around us. But now I think with the 3 pillars that I have mentioned, we have a clear concept, a clear strategy and are really well set for the future. You are the father of Goldbach as we know it today and gladly, you are not leaving the family, but you are staying in Goldbach media and will help there to further develop that business and I'm really also in your case, very, very happy for the collaboration for all I have been able to learn from you in terms of the advertising market and looking forward to the future with you and then the fact that we have had time to think about and really very successful acquisition and integration of Clear Channel Switzerland has given us the opportunity to present the perfect succession solution for Michi. I think that with Christoph Marty, we have really the best of all imaginable successor. He has a very broad background in advertising sales. He said, I only know advertising sales, but I can tell you he really knows it, and that is what it is all about. And I'm really happy about that possibility to have a harmonious change and to also review incorporate the out-of-home knowledge now at the top level of Goldbach Group because out-of-home is the most valuable part of Goldbach looking forward. You will see it next year and the following year that has been a really successful acquisition, and we can -- I'm convinced to look forward to the results that will come out of it. With this, I would want to close my opening remarks. We'll be here for questions afterwards, and I'll hand over to Wolf.

Thank you, Pietro. My name is Wolf Benkendorff. I'm the CFO of the TX Group. I will give you a brief overview about TX Group's financial performance before Sandro Macciacchini takes a closer look at the segments. The overview shows that sales, earnings and cash flow increased, in some cases significantly. While the equity ratio remains almost unchanged, net liquidity has fallen considerably. I will explain this in more detail later. Revenue increased by 6%. This is mainly due to the acquisition of Clear Channel Switzerland in organic terms. However, there was a slight decline in revenue. EBITDA increased substantially. This is due to strict cost management, lower paper prices and the clearly higher earnings contribution from SMG. As a result, EBIT adjusted also improved clearly. At 14.6%, the EBIT adjusted margin is also above pre-COVID level of 2019. The acquisition of Clear Channel Switzerland has increased the share of advertising revenue and total revenue. The composition of revenue is now comparable to 2019, although in contrast to 2019, over 1/3 of advertising revenue is generated in the out-of-home business today. The share of revenue from digital business has not changed, which is surprising at first glance. The explanation is the digital share of out-of-home advertising revenue, see the stacked column on the bottom right side, which has fallen from 61% to 51%. This is due to the lower digital share of Clear Channel Switzerland's existing out-of-home portfolio. I would like to highlight the following points in the income statement. Cost of material and services is below the previous year despite sales growth. This is due to lower print volumes, lower paper price and the successful reduction of transport and delivery costs. Personnel cost has increased, but in organic terms, they were reduced by CHF 12 million. Share of net result increased clearly, which I will explain in the adjusted income statement on the next slide. Finally, the increase in D and A is mainly due to the amortization of newly capitalized lease contracts from Clear Channel Switzerland. In the adjusted income statement, we have 2 major effects. One is D and A from business combinations as well as impairments at associated companies. You see this in the line share of net results from associates. The other one is D and A from business combinations at fully consolidated companies. This is reported in the line amortization PPA. For associates, CHF 15 million of the adjustment of the reported CHF 19.6 million can be attributed to D and A from business combinations at SMG. The remainder of the adjustment comprises impairments at associates in the 20 Minutes and Tamedia Segment. In the last 2 columns, you can see the strong increase in adjusted share of net result from associates from CHF 25.3 million to CHF 41.7 million. That is attributable to the strong performance of SMG. Sandro Macciacchini will provide more details in the segment view. The operating cash flow has clearly improved. This is due to the better result and an improvement in net working capital, which was achieved by stricter receivables management. In the cash flow from investing activities, investments in PP&E and intangible assets were at CHF 36 million, slightly higher than last year. Most of the PP&E investments are related to restructuring at our office building here in Zurich and investments in the printing centers. The investments in intangible assets are mainly capitalized IT software. At CHF 162 million, the free cash flow before M&A, which is a key component to determine the dividend is much higher than in the previous year. In the cash flow from financing activities, it should be emphasized that payments for dividends to TX Group shareholders and to minority shareholders were in some on previous year's level. So the main change here was caused by higher repayment of lease liabilities in the amount of CHF 55 million due to the acquisition of Clear Channel Switzerland. With an equity ratio of 75%, the balance sheet is very solid. The sharp decline in net liquidity of CHF 160 million down to CHF 24 million is mainly caused by higher lease liabilities triggered by the Clear Channel Switzerland acquisition. Furthermore, JobCloud distributed an interim dividend in 2023, which led to an additional cash outflow of CHF 20 million to minority shareholders. The TX Group's dividend distribution policy is based on free cash flow. Starting from the free cash flow before M&A of CHF 161 million, the repayment of lease liabilities which are, in fact, part of the operating business are deducted. At CHF 69 million, the dividend payments to minority shareholders are much higher than the previous year's payments of CHF 41 million. This is due to the already mentioned CHF 20 million interim dividend distributed by JobCloud. This extraordinary CHF 20 million cash out is adjusted. You can see that in the last 2 columns, so the basis for the 2023 dividend is CHF 57 million, which is significantly higher than the CHF 8 million from last year. As Pietro already mentioned, it should be noted that TX Group did not receive a dividend payment from SMG in 2023. So the very good performance of SMG is currently not impacted the dividend calculation. With this being said, I hand over to Sandro.

Hello, everybody. A warm welcome also from my side. I'm happy that in my last year as Chief Operating Officer of TX Group, I'm able to present you a clear improvement in profitability of our 4 segments. I'm starting with the TX Markets on the left. As you can see, turnover was slightly below previous period. However, profitability rose on an EBIT adjusted level by 16%. JobCloud is the only participation in this segment, which is fully consolidated. Therefore, the decrease in turnover can be fully attributed to JobCloud. The EBIT adjusted was also below last year with minus 6%. Karriere.at in Austria which is presented here on a 100% basis, faced an even more challenging environment and turnover decreased by 13% and EBIT adjusted even by 26%. This participation is consolidated as an associated company. Their share of net result contributed CHF 18.3 million to the EBIT adjusted. In contrast, SMG developed very well, has already been mentioned in both revenues and profitability. Here also shown on a 100% basis. The EBIT adjusted stood at around CHF 86 million at the end of the year and because this participation is consolidated as an associated company, the share of net result in the EBITDA adjusted contributed to CHF 23.3 million. The next chart shows the development of Goldbach, thanks to the acquisition of Clear Channel, which is consolidated since April of last year. Revenue rose by around 43%. EBIT adjusted increased by 17%. The EBIT adjusted of Goldbach without out-of-home decreased slightly by minus 4% and amounted to CHF 25.2 million at the end of the year. The out-of-home business itself, that's the last column on the right side contributed minus CHF 0.4 million to the EBIT compared to minus CHF 5.1 million in 2020. The positive contribution of Clear Channel was offset by the negative result of Neo and the integration costs for the merger of Neo and Clear Channel. For next year, we expect a clearly positive result of -- in the out-of-home business and medium term, a 2-digit EBIT contribution. The next chart shows the development of 20 Minutes and Tamedia. 20 Minutes could slightly improve revenue with 3%, whereas the EBIT adjusted decreased by 17%. In contrast, Tamedia was able to prove a substantial profitability despite lower revenue with an EBIT of CHF 14.7 million. The next and last chart of myself shows the development of the segment group in Ventures. Turnover of Ventures decreased by 4% due to lower cost. Overall investment was substantially lower than in the previous period with minus CHF 4.5 million compared to CHF 9.2 million in the last year. The turnover of Group decreased by 16% due to fewer group service provided to SMG. This was overcompensated by a lower cost base, thanks to further cost improvements within central services. We will continue to optimize processes and systems and expect further improvement in the following years. With that, I hand over to my colleagues.

Thank you Sandro. Thank you very much and very welcome from my side. I'm Olivier Rihs, adviser at TX and responsible for the participation in JobCloud and SMG. And I'm delighted today to share with you the remarkable results of our platform. And let's start with our job platform, JobCloud in Switzerland and Karriere.at in Austria. JobCloud in Switzerland despite a slight decline in revenue attributed to the economic slowdown has managed to achieve excellent results. This achievement is particularly commendable given the circumstances. JobCloud experienced significant growth in its customer base, above all in small and medium enterprises. That was the focus on the sales experience of JobCloud this year and on the registered job seekers too. This expansion underscores JobCloud resilience and adaptability in a challenging economic environment. And despite the temporary lack of market deposits for higher growth, JobCloud remained steadfast in its commitment to innovation. Ongoing investments in digitalizing services in -- and intelligence -- and in artificial intelligence, sorry, into products and business tools has enabled JobCloud to enhance its offering to the customer and stay ahead far away from the competitor ahead of the curve. To Karriere.at in Austria, we see a similar story of resilience and growth. Despite facing rising personnel costs due to inflation was at about 9% in Austria last year. Let's say, Karriere.at continued to thrive. The success is exemplified by the complete takeover of Hokify and of the applicant tracking system eRecruiters, which demonstrates Karriere.at strategic vision and commitment to expansion and to consolidate the market for itself. I would say in conclusion, the achievement of JobCloud and Karriere.at serve as a testament to the resilient innovation and dedication of both organizations. We have 2 fantastic companies as Pietro said before and they have demonstrated remarkable ability -- agility, sorry, and adaptability positioning themselves as the partner for employers and job seekers. Now let's have a look on SMG. SMG as both said and showed before and Sandro too had a fantastic year. In the past year, SMG has consistently driven integration across its various divisions. We have 4 divisions. We have automotive, we have real estate, we have general classified and we have finance and insurance. And this leading to see significant growth and improvement in the results. In terms of revenue, SMG has seen a commendable increase from '22 to '23 a double-digit one reflecting the effectiveness of its strategic initiatives. Similarly, the EBITDA figures for '23 compared to '22 paint a picture of steady progress and profitability. One of the key drivers behind SMG success lies in continuous growth across all the 4 divisions. And this growth of trajectory is a testament to SMG, commitment to innovation, to customer satisfaction and to operational excellence. Also SMG has remained vigilant in its cost management, ensuring efficient operation and sustainable profitability. The integration of the technical platform following the merger has been the key priority of SMG in the past year and paving the way for seamless operations and enhance synergies across all the 4 divisions. But it goes also beyond financial metrics. The launch of new product services and security functions such as MoneyGuard on Ricardo and [indiscernible] [ MieterPlus ] on real estate platform underscores SMG's dedication to meeting evolving customer needs and enhancing user experience. And furthermore, of course, like JobCloud and Karriere.at, SMG has embraced the power of artificial intelligence to safeguard its data and that of its customers. By implementing AI-based tools, SMG has fortified its security and capabilities in data protection. And this is crucial aspect in today's digital landscape. And, yes, I would say, in closing, SMG is on the right track. SMG has a lot of potential ahead, and we are looking forward for more success in the future. Thank you very much. And I hand over now to Michi. Thank you.

Everybody, Michi Frank, and thanks for the words Pietro before. And Pietro said, now because it's my last time that I stand here, he give me 30 minutes for 1 my chart. And please, no longer not just, I'm joking, just joking. You heard information from Pietro about Goldbach and later you have heard information about Goldbach, Neo from Christoph Marty. I have one chart here for you, and I want to say, where are we? And we are totally sure that we are in the right way with Goldbach. We have a difficult market. It was challenging, absolutely in '23, but I think we have to do the right things for '24, special, and that's the right way where we go. On the right side, you see the media focus key figures from '22 to '23. What I'll show you is where the money goes. And that's really a structure. What we see in the last year, special in the [ GAFAs ]. It means the Googles and Amazons and all the others pick up a lot of the money from this market, but we have answers. And I think that's really the right way. First, in '23, we have won new mandates in the TV business, special TF1, TMC and TFX. It means our share market goes now in a totally different situation. And you see that also in the first 3 months in '24. Replay ads, I had here some presentation, I think, 1 year ago, we are still working on them. That's really important for us because it's a new way to go to the customers and go to the clients. We have a strategic focus, really a focus that means also that what Pietro said to you, the SME business, it means that's the [ KMU ] in German business because these clients are really, really important for us. And these clients normally now goes to the [ GAFAs ] and that's our way to go in the right way in for Goldbach. We also had a focus process in '23. We sell our digital agency dreifive. It was really important because we go now, rely on the focus, we look for that, and we are in this way. The business development information for '24 and '23 really, we heard that about print and TV. It's a challenging market, but because we have answers, and I'm sure from that. And one of the real point was in '23 and still now in '24 as we had a strict cost management. It was really important. You see that, we work on them. That's really important for us. And we are optimistic and Pietro said, it's really right moment to say. I'm really sure that Goldbach is in a good shape. And I give you not just a hand over now to you for the presentation, I give you also the Goldbach, be careful it's really a familiar Goldbach and you said a father. And now a new father is coming, and I'm still in a way, and I will still work here for Goldbach Media and that's pleasure for me. Thank you so much, and you have questions later, and now hand over.

Thanks, Pietro and Michi for the warm welcome. So it feels like the pressure is on. I'm happy to present to you the out-of-home business in '23. So definitely, the merge in '23 between Clear Channel and Goldbach with respect of Neo out-of-home to Goldbach Neo was successful. I'd say we are in the status of 90% of the merge that is completed, especially with the technical environment, which helped us a lot to be ready with a nearly blank sheet to start into '24. So the market remains growing and predictions are steady growth for the next 3 years. If you look at, for example, the marked up predictions, they definitely say that out-of-home is going to grow for another 2, 3 years at least. Driver for the growth is digital, which is clearly not just compensating, but really growing the market and meanwhile which is very good to see is analog business remains more or less stable or with a small growth rate, but we don't see any cannibalization of digital so far in the analog business. One-off costs, I'd say, 90% digested in 2023. In '24, we will -- we've already heard that we will the impact of business in out-of-home as a combined business without one-off costs. So most of the one-off costs were spent in case that would be in -- an interest was spent with, of course, with restructuring on the labor cost side, but also investments in tech and in the brand as well as reducing locations of branch offices over Switzerland from the 2 companies. Focus in the next '24 and '25 is growing a combined culture of Clear Channel and Neo to Goldbach Neo out-home culture as well as participating and overparticipating the market growth in '24 and onwards. Thanks a lot. I hand over to Bernhard.

Thank you, Christoph. A warm welcome from my side, too. At 20 Minutes, we really put journalism at the center of our strategy in 2023, and we saw a pleasant development on the user market. As you can see on the right, we could stabilize usage after a significant drop that we had seen after Q1 2022 due to that post-COVID news fatigue. And in the German part of Switzerland, we could improve our relative position in the market. Back in October 2022, we had a 3.5% lead over the #2 in the market, which is Blick and [ crude ] is continuously along 2023 to a 15% lead in December 2023. This positive development can be attributed to a refined content mix in our offerings of news, inspiration and entertainment. This is the original mix that made 20 Minutes successful from the beginning. And we also did a reorganization of the newsroom to strengthen journalistic core departments and enter a fully cross-functional content production mode, which means in our departments, we now have all the essential capabilities to produce content for various relevant distribution points. And there are more and more of these distribution points, such as -- of course, our own digital channels or social media or recently, we introduced WhatsApp channels, so there is a growing number of distribution point and for each distribution point, you have to optimize your content. This requires organization that I just mentioned, the cross-functional organization. Talking about social media. We count more than 3.5 million followers across our accounts and social media, which is important for the presence and the standing of our brand among the young target groups. As we've heard from Michi, the advertising market remains challenging due to the shift of ad spent to big tech, but we are convinced that we can further differentiate ourselves from social media with innovative, impactful and creative cross-media offerings for the advertising market, we managed in 2023 already to slightly grow revenue. To adapt ourselves to the new reality in the media and advertising market, we announced a cut of 35 jobs last year. And this cost measure first had a significant negative impact on the results of 2023 due to the provisions for the social plan, but will have a positive impact this year. Furthermore, depreciation of our share at Heute print in Austria of 3.6 million had a negative impact. That's it from my side. I hand over to Jessica.

So first of all last but not least, I want to give you a warm welcome from Tamedia on my side and as some of you already know, I have been the CEO of Tamedia since October last year, and I'm still enjoying this responsibility day by day. And as seen, I have a good message, so Tamedia was able to improve numbers in comparison to the previous year. So we go or we went a step ahead. But for sure, this is not enough because the opposite is true due to the change of media usage behavior of all of us and our customers and our readers, Tamedia has to change dramatically as well and consistently and quickly. That means that Tamedia needs a completely new strategy, and we are working currently in full speed on that strategy. The results out of this strategy work will be the response after Tamedia for the digital world, including artificial intelligence and the heart of the new strategy will be 2 different initiatives parts. First of all, initiatives to accelerate the growth in the existing business due to efficiency and on the other hand, accelerate growth due to performance initiatives also in the existing business. And the starting point for all the strategy work and for our further work are the following things, which are written here. First of all, our dependency on print or reducing our dependency on print is very challenging for us at the moment and digital subscription and also digital advertising, we are below expectation last year. And so cost savings and adjustments to market conditions is very, very keen for us also for the next years. So this is why I'm very looking forward next time to show you the first result out of the new strategy of Tamedia into a bright future. And definitely, I'm going to wear green socks as well.

Thank you, Ursula. Good morning also from my side. I'm delighted to give you a short update on TX Ventures. First, looking at our fintech activities, we could now finally officially launch the TX Ventures Fintage Fund 1 and transfer our assets to this new vehicle. We're even more happy that we could sign and close 7 new deals last year. Following our strategy, those deals were made in Germany, in U.K. and for sure, also in Switzerland. By the end of last year, we reached almost 50% of the desired target size. We have now 16 companies in our portfolio. And as you may remember from the last time, the investment period contains '24 and '25. So end of '25, we are looking forward to reach the desired fund size of the CHF 100 million that we communicated 2 years ago. Going further to Doodle, we're still continuing the shift in the business model from advertising finance business model to B2B Software-as-a-Service company. This shift in the business model is challenging, but is progressing nicely. We could grow our subscription business year-over-year by roughly 20%. We could also see that the premium KPIs are going into the right direction. And this is also a positive sign for the product development that we initiated a couple of years ago. On the other hand, this is quite a challenging environment we're in, especially on the ad side. So we always looking to reduce the cash burn and to adopt our cost structure to the changes in environment we're seeing. At Zattoo, the B2C side was growing nicely, especially in Switzerland and Austria, Germany is lagging behind a bit. We see a great opportunity coming up in Germany to grow in '24. There's a change in regulation to the utility cost billing. I'm not going into detail now, but this is a chance to also keep up the growth in Germany. And hopefully, next year, I can give you better numbers on the B2C in Germany. In the B2B area, we improved on various dimensions. We improved product, we improved processes, we improved the organization and we now can see the first results coming out of these improvements. We now see a good development also in the B2B area. Nevertheless, what is true for Doodle and all tech companies is also true for Zattoo. We need to work on the increase of the cost efficiency for Zattoo. This is mainly focused at the moment on a reorganization of the tech department. We're heavily working on getting more efficient in the fields of tech. And it has, as Oli said, 2 dimensions, it's increasing efficiency and it's increasing agility, and that's what we're heavily working on Zattoo as well. That's all from my side. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Daniel. So before we actually start the Q&A session, I would also like to point out that the TX Group has also published today it's report on nonfinancial matters as required by the Swiss regulations. It is in form of a sustainability report and available on our homepage. Let me highlight 3 important aspects. Firstly, we understand sustainability as an integral part of our business strategy. Our crucial responsibility is to inform the people and enable them to form their own opinion. 2023, we actually reached 64% of all people here in Switzerland with our media products several times a week. Secondly, we are committed to the advancement and well-being of our employees. A part of this commitment has been our focus to the gender diversity. And by the end of 2023, we had on the top management level, including actually the group you see here, the Group Executive Board and the CEOs, we had a ratio of 33%. And in the Board of Directors, we had a ratio of 43%. This means the numbers have significantly improved in recent year, and we are proud of the fact that they also compare very positively in Switzerland and actually adhere to all the guidelines and the recommendations here in Switzerland before -- well before time that was recommended. Finally, our responsibility toward the environment is also very important to us. We are aware of the impact our operations have on the planet. Last year, we managed to reduce our carbon footprint to about 72,000 tonnes CO2 equivalents, marking a 5% reduction from the previous year. A significant portion of this footprint almost 80% is due to our printing activities, mainly in form of material paper. And as you all know, we are not printing our own media products, but also a lot actually for third parties, which is also included in our footprint. To address this, we adhere to strict guidelines with regarding, for example, the paper logistics and we are all also fully committed to circular economy using, for example, as much recycled paper as possible, and this is actually up to 90%. As we move forward, obviously, we also want to further reduce the footprint. So with this, I would like to conclude, and I would actually like to open the Q&A session. Yes, Pascal.

Pascal Boll from Stifel. So I would say it's time also to congratulate you for the first time for some significant improvements. Last year, I think we said here and it was kind of a negative surprise. I think today, you showed that you're on the right direction, even though it's still far to the 2026 targets. But I think it's fair to say that. Few questions from my side. Now the first on TX Markets. In SMG, we saw recently some negative news on aggressive pricing. And can you maybe elaborate a little bit what is your strategy to counter these arguments? And do you feel comfortable that this will not negatively affect your growth going forward? If I also heard or read that the price watchdog is actually in an investigation. So what is your stance here? And then maybe another question on JobCloud. Do you see any change in the dynamic right now? What do we expect for 2024?

First, on Swiss Marketplace Group. This is not the first time it happens. So we have a lot of experience when we improved our product and our general politic is to -- when we improve products, when we prove above all performance, then we also adapt the prices, but it's always in form of more reach, for example, more leads and better experience for the customers and more efficiency. So we communicated. First of all, the reaction, of course, was on the one we saw in the papers, but it's, I'd say, also a very small amount of customers that reacted. We have a churn, yes, but the churn is less than what we planned. So in general, again, it's not a pure price raise, absolutely not. It's never one. It's always in form of better packages, better services, more efficient. And that's why then the customer, let say, most of the customer are reacted very well and adopting the new packages. So this is on SMG. About the watchdog, it's -- let's say, we have discussion with the watchdog since, I would say, 2015, always asking what we are doing, and we are explaining and at the moment, we have no open issues with the watchdog. So -- of course, you ask us about on several datas. We'll deliver the datas, and that's it at the moment. And on JobCloud, I would say, the start is like the second part of 2023 in Switzerland. So it's pretty flat, I would say. But we have the first signal that maybe in the second part of '24, it will be recovering of the situation -- of the economic situation. Companies are, at the moment, pretty cautious because there's still some situation that is not clear for them. But on the other side, our colleagues in Austria had a pretty tough year last year, but they began pretty well also. So I would say, yes, we are confident that as soon as the economic environment will be clearer and with less uncertainty, we will recover. The most important thing in the job is to invest in technology to keep investing in new product and strengthen your position in your country. And because the main competitors are the big one like Linkedin and indeed, and this is what we did with JobCloud, for example, that our network is still 2.5x to 3x more efficient and more performance than those 2.

Okay. So cost cutting is no option. It's rather keep on investing in order to be ahead of the rivals?

As I presented before, cost management is always very important. As Daniel said before, we are also looking for more efficient and more lean organization always. But this is a constant process. It's not a one-off. It's a constant process.

Okay. I have one additional question to Ventures and your strategy there. I mean, obviously, over the last year, you invested in additional companies. Now your net debt position or net cash position further weakened. Interest rates are increasing, I guess, multiples paid or also declining, which is good when you invest. But -- so in this kind of trade-off, what is your view on that strategy? Is it still the right way to go to keep on investing? Or do you take further considerations here?

Maybe first was to the definition of net cash and net liquidity.

I think he explained it quite well how the effect arises. I think it didn't change our strategy going forward with the expenses. As you said, the environment is quite good to invest at the moment. And I think what we were always doing and we're continuing to do that is really be diligent on what companies to invest. But we communicated the CHF 100 million fund end of last year, and we're still following that path because we are convinced that it helps the healthiness of the group and helps to diversify the revenue streams, and we're still optimistic that we can contribute to a positive cash flow also in the future for TX Group.

You set up now the -- we see like fund structure? And can we expect to see an NAV for that fund in the future and how to track the development of the investments?

To see what? I didn't...

Net asset value.

We can truly talk about that. At the moment, it's not that interesting yet as the portfolio still young. So it only changes when we're doing new investments. So the changes in the existing portfolio are rather really small, but I'm looking at our CFO now, but this is something we can talk about.

Daniel Bürki from Zürcher Kantonalbank. I have 2 questions. Coming back to the Job business Karriere.at. Do you see an improvement there. It's still tough. And the second one, the obvious regarding a possible timetable for the IPO. What is stopping you from this -- doing this already in '25 because the business is developing very nicely, seems to be right in my opinion.

Okay. First on Karriere.at. The inflation comes down pretty quickly. Now it was at an average of 8.5% last year. Now it's going down to 4%, 4.5%. So this is one good sign. And the second one is that order intake. So the production and the sales at the beginning of the year is above the budget. And that means that there's not a big, let's say, a big, big signal, but this one to -- for recovering. I think we are confident that above all in the second part of '24, the market and the economic environment will be better for them and for us too. And I think on the IPO, no news on that. And same answer than last year. I think, yes, we are on track. We are really, as I said before, we are very confident if it's '25, '26. This is something that is open, but the company is organizing itself and of course, preparing what has to be prepared for the future.

Other questions, probably in the zoom call. No, we don't have -- we don't have any questions there. In the room, okay, once again, Pascal.

I have an additional question. So yesterday, your peer in Switzerland reported pretty good subscription, actually record-high subscription numbers. I'm not sure if it's totally comparable, directly comparable Tamedia, but you saw a decline in total subscriptions what we saw in the presentation. So what is your take on that comparison? Do you have the wrong positioning of your format and will be that part of your strategy going forward?

Yes, for sure. So the subscription business is one of our pillars for the future growth of Tamedia. And so we really have to concentrate on that to deliver better product. So we have to develop a really brand strategy also of our strong brands, but they have to have a clear target for their target groups where we are working on. Then we are working on -- really on our sales strategy to become more efficient to gain digital subscription because as you said or as you saw, we were able to increase our digital subscription by 13%. So there is an increase, but we are below our expectation due to the fact that we have -- we need to have clearer brands for our target groups where we are working on. And then we are working on a more efficient customer service to deliver better sales towards our target groups. On the other hand, we are really working on our digital reach where we have to speed up immediately. So another dimension of the reach because reach means more digital subscribers in the future. And so we really have to speed up and to develop a digital strategy. And this is our heart of the new strategy really to improve and to strengthen our digital business performance.

Good, and I would say it's time for lunch, and thank you very much for joining. And if you obviously have additional questions, please contact me. Thank you. Goodbye.