Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Enero Group Limited FY23 half year results. All participants are in a listen only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Brent Scrimshaw, Enero Group CEO. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining myself and CFO Carla Webb here for the Enero Group half year FY23 results conference call. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we work, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay our respects to their elders past, present, and emerging. The agenda for today's call is outlined on slide two. I'll first provide an overview of Enero's business highlights, key drivers and metrics, and then Carla will take you through the group financials. I'll then come back and provide some deeper insight on how the execution of our strategy will deliver on our growth ambitions. Of course, as always, we look forward to taking your questions at the conclusion of today's presentation.
Starting with business performance and turning to slide four for those of you following along. The strong financial performance we've delivered in the first half of FY23 is driven by the execution of our group operating strategy. The strategic investments we've made in OBMedia over the past few years are delivering accelerated returns. Diversified revenue mix and geographic portfolio are key pillars of our strategy, and despite the increasingly challenging macroeconomic environment globally, all our businesses continue to contribute to the group's profitability in the first half. Towards the end of the first half, we continued to refine our existing capabilities to deliver long-term growth, which in turn led to a number of cost reduction initiatives. This will deliver benefits in the second half of the financial year.
The suite of streamlined capabilities will sharpen our business focus for future customer requirements, whilst providing additional cost flexibility to address continued economic headwinds. Our integration of ROI DNA and GetIT as part of the Hotwire Group is on track and is already delivering results. This, combined with our ongoing focus on cross-selling services, has led to 28% of our revenues now being derived from clients with relationships across more than one Enero Group brand. Over the first half, revenue grew by 39% to AUD 129.5 million, continuing our track record of sustainable growth over each of the last five years. Within this, our Creative Technology and Data segment was up 57% to AUD 61.8 million, and our Brand Transformation segment grew 26% to AUD 67.7 million.
Overall, EBITDA increased 39% to AUD 44.3 million, while group EBITDA margin continued to be a highlight for the group at 34%. On slide five, which shows Enero's financial highlights for the first half, we continue to set the pace for the broader marketing services industry. I've already touched on group revenue and EBITDA results. Net profit growth of 8% to AUD 14.8 million reflected the accelerated growth in 51% owned OBMedia. We have added some additional slides in OB in this morning's presentation, given its impressive performance and contribution to the group's results. Reflecting the group's first half financial performance and balance sheet strength, Enero's board of directors have declared an interim dividend of AUD 0.065 per share, fully franked, representing a payout ratio of 40%. Turning to slide six.
Enero continues to demonstrate continued resiliency with revenue and EBITDA growth for the half, despite the global macroeconomic challenges and general uncertainty in the marketplace, of course, off the back of COVID-19 over the past three years as well. Enero has delivered an EBITDA CAGR of 30% over the past three years, driven by growth in higher margin businesses and a relentless focus on efficiency across the group, outpacing an impressive net revenue CAGR of 17%, noting that this slide is presented on an economic interest basis. Turning to slide seven, which shows our segment performance. The group continues to outperform expectations with accelerated growth in the Creative Technology and Data segment. Growth in the Brand Transformation segment was impacted by the challenging macro conditions, particularly in Q two.
Creative Technology and Data revenue was up 57% to AUD 61.8 million, which is a 46% increase in constant currency terms. EBITDA grew 74% to AUD 38.8 million, or a 60% increase in constant currency terms. This strong result was driven by OBMedia's performance as it diversified its traffic sources and search partners and benefits from increasing scale.
Brand Transformation achieved 26% growth in revenue to AUD 67.7 million, a 25% increase in constant currency terms, and a decline in EBITDA of 21% to AUD 11.5 million, 22% decline in constant currency terms, having been impacted by macroeconomic challenges across all geographies and a reduction in government spending on health versus FY22. Given the economic environment, we took steps to realign our cost base in late Q2 in order to deliver improved segment margins in the second half. The refinement of our capabilities also ensures that we're well-positioned to address changing customer needs over the long term, while providing the Group flexibility to address short term economic challenges. Our corporate costs increased 21% to AUD 6 million, reflecting investment that supports the global growth and complexity of our business.
Our corporate costs now, however, represent 4.6% of our revenue, down from 5.3% last year as we remain focused on managing our cost base. On slide eight, we highlight how our diversified portfolio is providing resilience in a challenging macroeconomic environment. For the first time, our Creative Technology and Data EBITDA was higher than Brand Transformation, showcasing the ongoing growth of OBMedia's high margin business. The three-year CAGR delivered by Creative Technology and Data is an impressive 61% on EBITDA and 33% on revenue. Brand Transformation segment delivered EBITDA CAGR of 3% and a revenue CAGR of 11% for the same period. Slide nine provides some high level insight to the key market dynamics that are currently impacting Enero Group around the world.
The impact remains mixed across each of our core verticals, technology, healthcare, and growth consumer, with each having their own unique challenges and opportunities. In technology, as I'm sure you already know, there's been a global slowdown in the broader industry. Cost reduction initiatives are impacting marketing budgets. Of course, we're not immune to general client conservatism. We're also experiencing some delays in project work as the tech world looks for more positive economic indicators. However, it's important to note that there have been minimal client losses or cancellations. On the positive side, we expect that in calendar 2023 digital ad spend will continue to grow. History suggests a potential increased need for outsourced support following some industry wide layoffs and redundancies that you've all read about. Healthcare has been mostly resilient despite macroeconomic conditions because marketing budgets are typically well committed in advance.
We've again experienced slower decision-making in the U.S. and Australia, combined with a reduction in corporate-level marketing spend. In Enero's consumer segment, the dynamics are also mixed across sub-segments. Strong consumer demand is returning to low-cost grocery. The government sector is returning to a more normalized level of activity, and the auto segment remains constrained, with demand continuing to outpace supply, whilst tourism spend has accelerated in a post-COVID-19 world, which we think provides some opportunity. On slide ten, our revenue mix continues to reflect our strategic focus and is well diversified by industry, the largest categories being technology and digital media. If we double-click into this technology-based revenue, we're largely operating in the B2B segment, as many of you know, which has grown significantly due to the ROI DNA and GetIT acquisitions.
Geographically, we're also well diversified, with nearly 70% of revenue now delivered outside of Australia. We've added the variable retainers category to our agency model due to the ROI DNA acquisition, where there is generally a minimum revenue threshold to serve. We've also made strong progress in delivering relevant services across our agency brands, as I mentioned earlier, now resulting in 28% of our revenue being derived from clients who have multiple commercial partnerships with more than one Enero Group brand. We think this provides further opportunity to cross-sell into a greater proportion of accounts over time. Slide 11, 12, and 13 provide a deeper dive into OBMedia, which has been the strongest contributor to this half year results. OBMedia sits at the intersection of global e-commerce and digital advertising and has two very large addressable markets, each growing at a rapid rate.
Simply put, OB Media delivers valuable high intent customers to advertisers. I thought it'd be helpful to provide an outline of the customer journey for OB Media. Step one is all about customer acquisition. Now, OB Media's buying and publishing partners acquire potential customers for advertisers through an omni-channel approach. They do this by placing relevant ads on websites, emails, or social channels. Our partners leverage OB Media's creative inventory and data science to help develop and optimize their advertising campaigns. Step two is about qualifying those customers. When a customer clicks on an advertisement, OB Media qualifies their intent through their interaction with OB Media's landing pages of hosted search results. Investment in artificial intelligence has allowed us to better optimize these landing pages to improve the conversion rate for advertisers.
As we always talk about, OB Media remains vigilant in supplying quality clicks and investing in technology that reduces fraudulent traffic. Step three, monetizing those consumers. Traffic is monetized when high intent customers click through to advertisers' websites. Search advertising is typically the most expensive, but the highest conversion advertising you can buy. Non-search advertising can be less expensive but also less effective. OB Media uses its proprietary technology to effectively deliver high intent search like customers to advertisers. But from a lower cost omni-channel source or sources. Moving to slide 12, and now we understand the customer journey, let us look at the consumer journey. Let us look at the OB Media business model, which of course is powered by smart technology and the key business partnerships.
Focusing on the bottom half of the page from the right to the left to talk through the revenue flow. As OBMedia drives traffic to its search partners, we record gross revenue. This is generated as a pre-agreed share of search engine revenue paid by the end advertiser. Traffic acquisition costs are recorded as cost of sales. OBMedia generates traffic through a large suite of partners who acquire their audiences in a variety of ways. Some generate organic traffic from their own portfolio of websites, while others purchase traffic from advertising platforms such as Outbrain and Taboola, or from social channels such as Facebook and TikTok. OBMedia's ability to continue to expand these traffic sources has fueled strong growth and net revenue. Diversification also enables dynamic optimization of traffic costs to deliver strong net revenue margins. Now to slide 13.
Acquiring customers is all about our expansion of traffic sources that has included native, social, and more recently, an investment in our own websites, which has allowed OB Media to grow both its volume of traffic and to deliver better performance metrics. In terms of qualifying those customers, the role of AI and automation has also continued to drive the relevance and potency of the OB Media offering. AI is now involved in every step of the optimization layer. OB Media's artificial intelligence and continued rapid testing of campaigns from incentives to creatives, ad copy and placement, keyword selection, and landing page layout, drives return on investment for advertisers and partners. Investments in OB Media's cybersecurity and platform infrastructure supports our ability to grow, and also gives confidence to our partners on the reliability of our platform. Lastly, monetizing those customers.
Over the past three years, OBMedia has delivered a revenue CAGR of 107% through the continued investment and focus on optimization I've just spoken about. Our search engine partners value the high quality growth provided by OBMedia to their maturing businesses. This has been acknowledged by Microsoft, with OBMedia receiving the Bing Advertising Award for Excellence in Quality twice, and a recently renewed commitment from Google. Going to slide 14, which provides an additional high level summary of the key achievements of our Creative Technology and Data businesses during the half. We've already just spoken about OBMedia in detail on the past few slides, which continued to experience substantial revenue and EBITDA growth for H1.
Digital experiential agency Orchard was impacted by some challenging marketplace dynamics, particularly in the U.S.A., delivered us a high single-digit EBITDA margin and a single digit revenue decline. They were impacted by health client delays and timing of client conferences, partially offset by some growth in consumer clients. In late Q2, we reviewed our capabilities in the U.S. health business and increased our flexibility in resourcing through an offshore team. New client wins from a strong pitch conversion rates in H1 are expected to deliver benefits in the 2nd half of this financial year. Slide 15 provides a high-level summary of the achievements of our Brand Transformation businesses during the half. Starting with Hotwire, who recorded a single-digit decline in revenue excluding acquisitions.
ROI DNA revenue was impacted by reduced client media spend in Q two, although still showed double-digit revenue growth versus the prior year. Hotwire achieved a double-digit EBITDA margin despite the macroeconomic environment, and we expect second half margins will benefit from cost saving initiatives already implemented in late Q two. Pleasingly, Hotwire and GetIT jointly won two new cybersecurity clients as an integrated global network as the reputation, relationship, and revenue go-to-market offering evolves. Hotwire also recently launched a new suite of data and analytics IQ Solutions. Lastly, Hotwire also recently announced a new CEO of its UK business, Jeremy Lucas, as well as a number of leadership promotions in the USA to support its global growth ambition. Now turning to BMF, our creative agency, who maintained its EBITDA margin as it cycles through a decline in government health spending from FY22 record highs.
During the half, we increased our focus on maintaining workforce flexibility and agility, and most importantly, BMF also successfully renewed its ALDI Australia 21 year contract. Both Hotwire and BMF won a series of awards during the first half of FY23. On slide 16, and with that, I'll now hand it over to Carla, who's gonna walk us through the group financials.
Thanks, Brent, and thank you everyone for joining our results call today. I'll begin with the profit and loss summary on slide 17. It's worth noting that OBMedia, for which Enero Group holds a 51% interest, is consolidated in the accounts at 100%. Enero Group reported net revenue of AUD 129.5 million, which reflected year-on-year growth of 39%. Driven by recent acquisitions and strong momentum in OBMedia. Staff costs of AUD 74.7 million were up 37% year-on-year. This represents a stable ratio of 58% of revenue, despite investment in OBMedia and the acquisition of new businesses. The group continues to actively manage staff costs and look for opportunities to increase productivity. As Brent said, in late Q2, we implemented a restructuring, the benefits of which we expect to flow in the second half.
Operating cost ratio to revenue was 8% compared to 7% in the prior half year, with ongoing cost discipline across all businesses. EBITDA of AUD 44.3 million increased 39% year-on-year. Net finance costs grew during the half, reflecting interest costs following the debt drawdown of AUD 36.3 million at 30 June 2022, and subsequent repayment of AUD 10.3 million in late December 2022. Our effective tax rate of 24% was in line with the previous first half. Significant items are related to the restructuring costs in Hotwire Group and Orchard, as mentioned earlier by Brent, and are one-off in nature. Net profit after tax before significant items to equity owners was AUD 14.8 million, an increase of 8% year-on-year.
The weaker Australian dollar had a positive impact of AUD 4.7 million on net revenue and AUD 3.4 million on EBITDA. You will see this in the results we've introduced with constant currency variances in the segment slide, which is slide seven. To address currency movements and provide investors with a better view of the underlying business performance, given Enero's global footprint now. The balance sheet on slide 18 highlights the strong capital position of the group. Our cash position of AUD 38 million is after the purchase of ROI DNA and GetIT, and repayment of debt in December 2022. Intangible assets and contingent consideration increased due to ROI DNA and GetIT acquisitions. With a strong capital position, we retain flexibility to pursue our growth plans as we capture opportunities in high-growth verticals while navigating the challenging macroeconomic conditions.
The company's strong financial position, cash flows, and attractive growth opportunities has enabled directors to declare a fully franked interim dividend at AUD 0.065 per share, payable in March 2023, consistent with a payout ratio of 40%. The franking credit balance as at 31 December 2022 was AUD 7.5 million. Turning to contingent consideration on slide 19. The balance of AUD 62.9 million represents or relates to, sorry, ROI DNA and GetIT, acquired in July 2022, and MBA acquired in April 2021. Adjusting for contingent consideration, net debt was AUD 51.3 million at 31 December 2022, reflecting the acquisitions made in July 2022. The first contingent consideration payment to MBA of AUD 2.4 million was made during the half, with no further payments due for FY23.
The remaining maturity profile over FY24 to FY26 is outlined on this slide. Turning to Enero's cash flow on slide 20. Cash conversion of EBITDA was 36% due to two large customer payments in OBMedia and BMF being received just after December close. Adjusting for these payments, cash conversion was 74% for the half as compared to 98% in half one FY22. Operating cash flow of AUD 55 million was down from AUD 25.3 million, reflecting the lower cash conversion and higher tax paid. Tax payments were made in all jurisdictions, with the increase predominantly relating to the U.S. and Australia. After cash-funded CapEx and lease payments, free cash flow was AUD 2.1 million. I'll now hand back to Brent to provide an update on the company's growth strategy.
Yes. Thanks, Carla. Just to clarify, operating cash flow of AUD 5.5 million as opposed to AUD 55 million. Just want to make sure that that's clear. Okay. Now let's turn to slide 22. Enero will continue to serve the creative and technology needs for clients globally across our priority verticals of technology, healthcare, and growth consumer. Notwithstanding current market conditions, we continue to believe these industries represent significant long-term opportunities for Enero with our unique and differentiated offering in each of those industries. Our brands have built deep industry experience and are well-positioned within each of those segments. Will continue to refine our offering with modern capabilities to lead in a rapidly changing marketplace around the world. On slide 23, we provide an update on ROI DNA and GetIT integration plans.
The Hotwire Group has been co-pitching on opportunities, and pleasingly, Hotwire and GetIT have now jointly won two new cybersecurity clients. Commercial integration of the acquisitions is on track with the external go to market strategy nearing completion. In Asia, Hotwire will continue its planned expansion of communications capabilities over time, leveraging GetIT's presence and deep relationships in the marketplace. Operational integration is also progressing as detailed on the slide. Slide 24 shows the progress we've made on our five key FY23 strategic priorities. Firstly, a primary focus on our core. We continue to drive initiatives that strengthen and accelerate our existing business, as evidenced by our new business wins, and successfully extending contracts with a number of long standing clients, including ALDI, as I mentioned earlier this morning. Secondly, capability enhancement.
We continue to develop and invest in new capabilities with an active pipeline of opportunities to ensure an ongoing relevance of our services in a dynamic and changing global marketplace. We continue to focus on the commercialization of our recent investments across our portfolio. We continue to drive efficiency and have discussed our approach to managing costs for the long-term growth on this call today. Lastly, we strive always to be a magnet for world-class talent. We've accelerated the investment in our people, delivering a 58% increase in worldwide training hours, with a specific focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and mental well being for our teams. Turning now to slide 26, where we provide you with a trading update today.
While still early in calendar 2023, the first six weeks of H2 have delivered a continuation of the macroeconomic headwinds experienced in FY23 H1. The Creative Technology and Data segment has continued to achieve a strong financial performance, albeit with lower growth rates as it cycles year-on-year comparatives. Whilst Enero continues to invest in the OBMedia business. The Brand Transformation segment has experienced a soft start to the calendar year as the segment continues to see the impact of slower client decision making and general conservatism across all geographies, and in some cases constrained client budgets. Enero remains focused on managing near-term margins and will continue to take appropriate steps to address current macroeconomic headwinds whilst positioning the business to capture and meet client demands.
Lastly, on slide 27, before I hand over to the Q&A, I'll just briefly summarize and highlight our achievements in H1 as we continue our momentum building a long-term growth platform. I just want to highlight, we've delivered another set of strong financial results in FY23 in the first half, with 39% growth in revenue and EBITDA and with an EBITDA margin of 34%, a standout. OBMedia continues to deliver substantial growth with further opportunities through traffic diversification, technology investment, and its scalable business model, which we've talked about this morning. Enero has strong fundamentals. We've also discussed that we've taken the opportunity in the current environment to accelerate towards a leaner, differentiated offering in key markets of growth around the world.
lastly, our culture remains a unique competitive advantage for the group with a flexible talent model, strong leadership, and we believe that this will continue to attract the right talent in a more buoyant talent marketplace. I'd like to thank you all for your attention this morning on the call. of course, now, Carla and I would be delighted to answer any questions you may have. I'll hand it back to the operator for some Q&A.
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