Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the TomTom's fourth quarter 2023 results conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. We will be facilitating a question and answer session towards the end of today's prepared remarks, at which time, if you would like to ask a question, you may do so by pressing star one one on your telephone keypad. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to our host for today's conference, Freek Borst, Investor Relations. You may begin.
Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our conference call. Today, we will be discussing key highlights from the Q4 and full year 2023, together with Harold Goddijn, our CEO, and Taco Titulaer, our CFO. Harold will kick off the call, providing an overview of our operational highlights and strategic priorities for the year ahead. Following Harold, Taco will provide detailed insight into the financial results and outlook. After that, we will take your questions. As usual, I would like to point out that Safe Harbor applies. And with that, Harold, I'd like to hand it over to you.
Yeah, thank you very much, Freek. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, and thank you for joining us today. I will provide an overview of our 2023 progress and strategic objectives for this year, after which Taco will delve into the financial details. 2023 marked a significant milestone for TomTom as we advance towards our strategic goals. We've achieved revenue growth in location technology, we've bolstered profitability, and we've successfully launched a new maps platform. During the Q4 , we commenced the commercial rollout of our TomTom Orbis Maps, initially targeting our primary markets in Europe and North America. We're now expanding geographic coverage and introducing new features to enhance the map further. Our new maps now encompass an industry-leading 86 million kilometers of transportation networks, many new data types, and are also powering our new SDKs and state-of-the-art map display solutions.
We are encouraged by the interest from customers and prospects in our maps platform. They value the open nature, the standardized format, and the enhanced coverage, richness, and freshness of our maps. An indicator of the rising interest was our notable presence at CES in Las Vegas in January, where we experienced a substantial increase in visits and engagement. We've developed a substantial sales funnel with our new maps, and we aim to expedite the conversion of prospects into customers in the quarters and years ahead. Product innovation remains the cornerstone of what we do, exemplified by our collaboration with Microsoft to develop an AI-based conversational assistant. We are investing in the potential of generative AI and are redefining the interaction model between drivers and their vehicles.
Generative AI will offer a more intuitive, safer, and productive driving experience, and we are building this technology as standard in our Digital Cockpit, our open modular in-vehicle infotainment platform. We will continue to harness the new technologies and capabilities to drive innovation and enhance efficiency. I'm delighted by the progress we've achieved in 2023. The priorities for 2024 entail capitalizing on the robust new activity with both the automotive and enterprise sector, and I'm confident that these efforts position us well for sustained revenue growth and enhanced cash generation for years to come. Thank you very much. I'm handing over to Taco now.
Thank you, Harold. Now I would like to provide some insights into our financials. First, I'll talk about financial results for the quarter and our full year performance. Then I'll cover our automotive backlog and outlook. After that, we will take your questions. For the fourth quarter, we reported group revenue of EUR 143 million, 3% higher than the same quarter last year. Location technology revenue grew by 7%, from EUR 180 million to EUR 125 million. Let me go through the revenue business by business. For the fourth quarter, automotive IFRS revenues totaled EUR 88 million, having increased year-on-year by 14%. Automotive operational revenue for the quarter settled at EUR 83 million, 1% higher than in the same quarter last year.
Further, our enterprise business recorded revenues of EUR 37 million, improving marginally from the previous quarter. Lastly, consumer revenue was EUR 18 million, representing a 15% decrease year-on-year. Our gross margin was 88% in the fourth quarter, a 1 percentage point increase from the same quarter last year. This improvement partially resulted from a higher proportion of high-margin location technology revenue in our total revenue mix. Operating expenses were EUR 137 million in the fourth quarter, an increase of EUR 12 million compared with the same quarter last year. This increase mainly reflects a one-off restructuring charge of EUR 10 million related to the further optimization of our R&D activities. Correcting for this impact of this restructuring, operating expenses increased by EUR 2 million year-on-year....
Having covered our fourth quarter performance, let me touch on the full year results before moving on to the automotive backlog and the outlook. In 2023, we recorded group revenue of EUR 585 million, 9% higher than in 2022. Location technology revenue grew significantly year on year, rising 12% to EUR 491 million. Let me discuss underlying movements business by business. Automotive IFRS revenue in 2023 saw a sharp 32% increase to 342 million euro. This increase was driven by higher car production, higher take rates, and market share gains. In addition, automotive revenues were positively impacted by a change in the way we identify performance obligations for new maps, subscription contracts, resulting from the evolution of our automotive products.
If we exclude these effects, the year-on-year increase in automotive IFRS revenue is estimated at 16%. Automotive operational revenue showed a 16% year-on-year increase, outperforming the 11% growth of car production in the core markets of Europe and North America. Fueled by market share gains and take rate increases, we outperformed car production trends in our core markets in all but the last quarter of the year. Our enterprise revenue decreased by 16% to EUR 148 million as a result of some contract renewals, reflecting lower usage. With TomTom Orbis Maps now launched and market interest on the rise, we expect to gradually convert our extensive sales funnel over the coming period, as already mentioned by Harold. Lastly, consumer revenue decreased by 16% year-on-year, settling at EUR 95 million.
For full year 2023, our gross margin was 85%, representing a one percentage point year-on-year increase that mainly resulted from the previously mentioned change in our revenue mix. Operating expenses decreased by EUR 32 million in 2023 to EUR 560 million. Normalized for restructuring charges, the year-on-year decrease in operating expenses was EUR 40 million. This decrease mainly results from reduced depreciation and amortization charges, as well as the realization of efficiency gains being offset by inflationary pressures. free cash flow for the year, excluding the charges related to the maps realignment announced in June 2022, was EUR 32 million. This marks a sharp improvement of EUR 63 million compared to last year. This is driven by operating leverage resulting from marked revenue growth and a stable cost base. Having covered our results, let's move on to the automotive backlog.
Our automotive backlog rose to a record 2.5 billion, up from 2.4 billion euro at the end of 2022. Our automotive backlog is the sum of the expected IFRS revenues from all deals that have been awarded. Accordingly, the backlog decreases when revenue is recognized and increases when we win new deals. Its value also changes when customers revise their forecasts of car production volumes. The increase in our backlog we saw in 2023 resulted from our robust order intake, partially offset by downward revisions of expected near-term car production volumes of some customers. To provide added clarity on our automotive revenue expectations, we give an indication of how the backlog will materialize in revenues over time. Most of the reported automotive revenue for 2024 will be the outcome of the current backlog.
Reported revenue for later years will be based on the combination of new deals and our backlog. We will provide an update of our backlog annually with our full year results. Our record automotive backlog and the significant market interest in TomTom Orbis Maps supports our outlook and our ambition as presented on the next slide. We delivered a solid set of results in 2023, meeting our upgraded guidance and making good progress towards our strategic goals. For next year, we are cautiously optimistic. We have a strong automotive backlog and a substantial sales funnel for TomTom Orbis Maps. Considering the typical sales cycle in the enterprise segment, we anticipate a gradual increase in conversions to signed contracts throughout the year. Therefore, we expect location technology revenue to continue to grow to between EUR 490 million and EUR 520 million.
Group revenue is expected to be between EUR 570 million and EUR 610 million. Importantly, we also expect a further improvement in our Free Cash Flow to more than 5% of group revenue. Good to note is that the EUR 10 million cash out related to the reorganization we announced in the Q4 of 2023 will be absorbed and will not be separately adjusted for. For 2025, we reiterating the ambition we communicated at our 2022 Capital Markets Day. We aim to generate location technology revenues of EUR 600 million and Free cash flow of 10% of group revenue. Operator, we are now ready to address any questions from our listeners, and thank you.
Thank you, dear participants. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by, we'll compile the Q&A roster. This will take a few moments. Dear participants, just a quick reminder, if you wish to ask a question or make any comment, please press star one one on your telephone keypad. Dear speakers, there are no questions for today.
All right. As it appears, there are no questions. I'd like to. Oh! I think there's a question now.
Yes, we just came through. Just give me a moment. Thank you.
Thank you.
The question comes from the line of Andrew Hayman from Independent Minds. Your line is open. Please ask the question.
Yep, just a few questions for you. The gross margin was very strong in the quarter, and that was mixed, but I mean, the mix should be quite healthy going forward also. So I was wondering how you expect the gross margin to progress in 2024. The second question, just on the pricing environment for the Orbis Maps. You're offering much more detail with these maps. Are you able to reflect that in the prices that you're getting? Then a third question, do you expect to be profitable in each and every quarter in 2024? Yeah, I'll leave it at that.
Okay. Yeah, thanks, Andrew. Let me cover the gross margin and the net results question. And then I leave the second question to Harold. Gross margin was indeed better, so 85% in 2023, and 84% in 2022. I think it will gradually improve further, and eventually reach 90-ish. When that will happen is not completely clear, but let's say roughly 1 basis point a year for the coming years. On our net results, unfortunately, I don't think that we will be reporting black numbers on IFRS point of view.
We do think that free cash flow will be strong this year, although also there will be seasonal patterns like the effects of the reorg that we announced in the fourth quarter of 2023, which will be visible in the first half of the year, but as a year as a whole, we will be comfortably free cash flow positive. Harold, your... The question on the prices.
Yeah, Andrew, as a result of the new maps, interesting, we have not changed our pricing strategy. We do believe that we are, we have a stronger proposition, but that is not reflected in a change in our pricing strategy itself.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Dear participants, as a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from line of Marc Hesselink from ING. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Thank you. I have a couple of questions, and I think they are a bit related, so I'll ask them at the same time. You're positive on the traction in the enterprise, also linked to the meetings that you had at CES. Can you maybe explain a bit how that sales funnel looks like, and what kind of discussions are you currently at? And how long would you expect it from the current funnel discussions to see signs, orders, and then, after that, see it coming into the revenues? The second one is linked to the market share expectation that you have in automotive.
I think over the last couple of years, including 2023, nicely won market share. For the coming periods, maybe it's a bit mixed. I think you're still winning some market share, especially going into 2025, but also maybe the Renault contract losing some share. How do you see those two moving together? And then the third one is, I think, linked to the first two, the midterm ambition to get to the location technology outlook. How do you see that building up? Because you need a quite significant step up in 2025. Where do you see the risk and opportunities in those step ups? Thanks.
Do you want to comment on the sales funnels in the-
Yeah. So, Marc, yeah, let me comment on the, on the sales funnel. So, we have with our new. Our new maps are richer, more coverage, more attributes, and are capable of altering to more business problems and business opportunities and use cases. So the potential market for Orbis Maps is larger than the potential market for our legacy product. In the beginning of our Orbis development, towards the end of our Orbis development, we've of course reached out to existing customers with a view to prepare them for switching from the legacy product to the new product.
And simultaneously, we have or a little bit later, actually, I should say, towards the end of the year in Q4, we started to reach out to customers that are not existing customers because we didn't have the right product. We have in 2023 significantly expanded our sales force and our sales capabilities in the enterprise market, and started to reach out to customers that were not on our existing customer panel. Now, and that last activity, also there you can make splits in the type of customers we're addressing, but net-net, we got in contact with a large number of new logos, new companies, that we have not been working with before, who showed interest in the application of our new product.
And that, accumulated in a very significant sales channel of, you know, valuable, valuable sales, funnel, I should say. Now it's time for us in 2024 to start converting that. We know, of course, from experience that the sales cycles are long, but nevertheless, we see some very encouraging signs. Also coming back from CES in Vegas, I thought the feedback we received was very positive. It was very busy. We had double the amount of visits this year as compared to last year. You know, positive feedback in terms of the strategy. So the open source component and standardization is what people like and customers like, as well as the actual product and how it's been put together.
So, yeah, I think there is a significant opportunity ahead of us. I think we will start to see that materializing in wins throughout the year. It will take a bit longer before you see that in the P&L. But in the second half of this year, we should start to see some green shoots into the revenue. And we need to lay the foundation for continued and accelerated growth needs in this segment for 2025. So that's the way we look at it. Then, market share, automotive. Yeah, market share, automotive, I think, you know, we've done well the last couple of years. I think we're doing well in China. We've added a number, quite a big number of new logos for China export.
They don't currently amount to a large sum of money in the order backlog, but still, there is potential for significant growth from that segment in the years to come. And furthermore, market share wins will be also linked to new logo wins also in 2024. So we need to see what that will yield. But again, given the response we had in at CES and the various key customers I've been talking to, I see further opportunities to increase our position, our strength in the automotive segment.
Yeah, maybe I can comment to that as well. So if you look at the industry analyst their projections for the market development in this year and the year to come then for both years and they expect yeah so-called flat growth so minimal growth of only a low single-digit %. If you compare that with our operational revenue development that we plan then that will also be kind of the case for 2024 for us but we expect a much higher increase operational revenue in 2025 indicating a market share win. So those are deals that we already signed but will come to market in 2025.
Okay, thanks. And maybe, the, I think you give a good indication on, on the, the third question and the building blocks to get to that 2025 guidance. Maybe if I look to the, the backlog, split over the, over the coming years, and it sort of suggests that 2025 automotive is going to be high single-digit growth. So, like, really, it's very significant, is the correct one, and two, so a very significant, step up in enterprise then in, in 2025 to get to that, ambition.
Yeah, rounded numbers, and what you could get from our guidance for 2024 and 2025, is that we expect roughly a step up of, again, rounded numbers, EUR 100 million, from 2024 to 2025 for both automotive and enterprise combined. Half of that is expected to come from automotive. It is, for large part, fueled by the backlog. That's also shown on the slide that we have provided, where you saw a breakdown of the development of the backlog for the coming years. For enterprise, that increase needs to come from bringing in those new logos.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Dear participants, as a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone keypad.
As it appears, there are no further questions. I'd like to thank you all for joining us this afternoon. Operator, you may now close the call.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now all disconnect. Have a nice day.