Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Superloop Full Year 2023 Results Conference. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press Star followed by the number One on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press the Star One again. For operator assistance throughout the call, please press Star Zero. And finally, I would like to advise all participants that this call is being recorded. Thank you. I'd now like to welcome Paul Tyler, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, to begin the conference. Paul, over to you.
Thank you, Paulie. Okay, I'd like to welcome everyone. Thanks for making the time to join us for Superloop's full year results for financial year 2023. I'm Paul Tyler, and I'm joined here by Luke Oxenham, our Group CFO. So I'm going to reflect a little on the year's highlights and some of the progress we've made in our operating segments. Then Luke will dive a bit deeper into the financial performance of the company, and then we'll throw to Q&A. I'm very proud to present these results. It's fair to say that FY 2023 has been a watershed year for the company. In addition to delivering strong progress in all financial metrics, 2023 was a year in which we successfully completed our three-year turnaround. As we leave FY 2023, we are a company with strong foundations, significant market momentum, and a bright future.
If we start on slide four, looking at the financial highlights for FY 2023 itself. As you can see from this slide, we've enjoyed across-the-board progress in all metrics. If we start with revenue, we delivered a very credible 29% growth against the prior year at the group level. Excluding the impact of M&A, the growth was still approximately 18%. It's particularly encouraging that that growth wasn't just attributable to one segment, but rather we saw a double-digit organic growth in all of our three operating segments. Gross margins expanded faster than revenue, highlighting the strong cost control and operating leverage that we are seeing in our business. Underlying EBITDA improved even faster.
I'm happy to report that the final EBITDA number of AUD 37.4 million sits comfortably above the top end of our guidance, that being AUD 33 million-AUD 36 million for the year, and impressively up over 80% against the PCP. While it's still negative for the full year, NPATA improved significantly, and we're very happy to confirm that as we forecast, NPATA was positive for the second half of the year and will remain so going forward. Cash flow was also very strong, with a 124% EBITDA to operating cash flow conversion. We did get a benefit in the cash flow from some timing changes of NBN payments. But excluding that, we were still well above our long-term 80%-90% conversion ambition with a 116% cash flow conversion.
Another key milestone for the company was turning true free cash positive in the second half, which has helped improve our leverage ratio down to 0.5, signifying ample room for further investment in growth. A key highlight of the year has been in the success of our customer acquisition and retention, with our base increasing over 50% against the prior comparable period to nearly 370,000 connections. And then the final area I'd like to call out has been in the maturation of our pipeline in our On-net, fibre to the premises, managed Wi-Fi, and Build to Rent businesses, which are now closing in on a footprint of nearly 70,000 lots.
Go to the next slide, slide 5, looking at the customer growth, which I think is perhaps the clearest demonstration of the success, and the power of our customer proposition. The growth in market share here is clear. 52% growth in the customer base is obviously profound. But particularly gratifying, though, is this growth has been again enjoyed across the board in each of our segments. As the fastest growing RSP in the market for two out of the past four quarters in NBN, fastest growing RSP in the NBN market in two out of the past four quarters, we were able to grow our NBN share to 3.1%, well on our way to our 5% market share ambition.
Obviously, we're very happy with the share gains in this in these resale businesses such as NBN and mobile. However, particularly pleasing is the traction we are seeing in the much better margin on-net businesses such as fibre to the premise, managed Wi-Fi, and Build to Rent. The common thread of all of these offerings is they all utilize our single investment in networks and systems. As we gain share, we further increase the utilization of our network, a key contributor to the significant improvement in margins over the course of the year. Slide six. In FY23, we turned our minds to formalizing the many initiatives across the company around ESG. During the year, we made significant progress in building and implementing a comprehensive ESG framework. This framework is a very broad, multi-year program of activity, spanning a comprehensive range of environmental, social, and governance topics.
We're going to give a lot more detail on the progress to date and where our ambition lies, for the future of that ESG framework, in our annual report. Go to slide seven, please. So with the financial year 2023 numbers now in the can, the success of that three-year turnaround I mentioned, our 3-in-3 strategy, is clearly evident. So as a reminder, the 3-in-3 plan was put in place in early calendar year 2021, with the aspiration of growing the business threefold over a period of three years. As you can see in this slide, the plan has delivered in spades. The business hasn't just grown its top line, with over 10-fold increase in customers and triple the revenue, it has simultaneously improved its profitability and cash generation capability. Our balance sheet has strengthened, and we are well on our way to true bottom-line profitability.
But this is a foundation and our current trading momentum, we are very confident about where we go from here. Next slide. So to sum up the highlights and where we find ourselves with the completion of our FY 2023 performance and our 3-in-3 turnaround strategy, we see ourselves as a vastly simplified company with a clear growth strategy. Our historically complicated portfolio, various stages of M&A integration, and go-to-market, have all been simplified. Our financials are strong, with solid earnings growth and an underleveraged balance sheet. The second half, we just passed the major milestones of turning free cash flow and NPATA positive. We have a compelling portfolio, great market coverage, and strong customer momentum. So with those remarks, I'm going to move to reflecting on each of our 3 operating segments. And if we start with consumer on Slide 10.
Obviously, the momentum is there with our consumer customers up over 50% year-on-year. Of course, approximately half of that growth can be attributed to the acquisition of MyRepublic's customer base, but the other half, strictly organic. The seamless manner in which the MyRepublic customer base could be integrated into our business shows the power of our platform and the elegance of its automation. Another data point I'll highlight is our position as the fastest-growing NBN RSP in two out of the past four quarters. Margins also expanded during the year, reflecting higher ARPU from higher speed plans, as well as continued reduction in network costs. At 29% gross margin for the year, the consumer segment is currently operating above our midterm aspirations of 25% for the segment.
And momentum has continued to accelerate in Q1 2024, and we continue to be confident about reaching our mid-term ambition of 5% market share for the segment. If I move to the business segment on Slide 11. With 24% year-on-year revenue growth, the business segment has also had a very strong year. And that growth was evident in each of the sub-segments, being large, mid-market, and SMB. Perhaps the standout, though, was the large sub-segment, with some great wins in data, voice, and security. Amongst this sub-segment, we also have our On-net fibre and Wi-Fi businesses, where we saw strong progress in the pipeline during the year. We closed the year with some 69,000 contracted lots and a qualified pipeline that's very encouraging. And we're also starting to see some traction with our recently launched portfolio of business fibre products, branded SuperBiz and TotalBiz.
We're bullish about this newly developed product suite and where it will take us. Margins in the business segment also continued to rebound, getting closer and closer back towards the 40% midterm gross margin aspiration we have for the business segment. Moving on to the wholesale segment, which is perhaps the most mature of all three of our operating segments. And as such, we were very happy to deliver an approximately 15% growth in the top line for this segment. Also encouraging, after a slightly weaker gross margin outcome in the first half of the year, a stronger second half enabled us to deliver the full year at our midterm target of 60% gross margin for the wholesale segment. We had a number of key re-signs in the period, such as with our largest customer, Symbio.
While perhaps moving a little bit slower than we would like, our white label pipeline continues to mature, with a number of advanced opportunities in the pipe. If you go to Slide 13, I just wanted to give you a sense of the momentum in our business and wholesale segments. Here you can see a sample collection of the companies that we've contracted with during the year, either as brand new logos to Superloop or as re-signs on multi-year contracts. We're very proud of the quality of the book, truly a tier one customer base, and a clear affirmation of the quality and competitiveness of our customer proposition. With those remarks, I'll hand to Luke to dive into some of the financials.
Great. Good morning, everyone, and thanks, Paul. I'd just like to extend my welcome to everyone on the call today, and we're very appreciative of your interest in Superloop. Paul has gone through some of the highlights from a financial perspective of the FY 2023 results, so I don't intend to be too repetitive. Rather, I'll go into a few of the details that sort of sit behind those results during this section. If you have a look at the first slide on the income statement, which is slide 15, here we've laid out the income statement for each of FY 2022 and FY 2023, and we've broken it down to include the gross margin by each of our customer segments.
If you'll recall, in FY 2022, the full year results did contain some contribution from the assets in Singapore and Hong Kong that were divested, and these are reflected in the discontinued column in FY 2022. So the like-for-like comparison to focus on for this year's financial performance is the comparatives relative to the continuing operations in FY 2022. When you look across the income statement and comparing 2023 to the prior corresponding period, the key features that I think are worth calling out are as follows: So revenue was up 29.5%, AUD 323.5 million. Gross margin increased 43.3% to AUD 116.8 million, and underlying EBITDA was up 82.2% to AUD 37.4 million.
That was also complemented by the fact that the statutory EBITDA increased by just over 100%. And I'm going to provide a little bit more detail on the lines below statutory EBITDA in terms of our reconciliation of NPATA in a few slides' time. So onto Slide 16, and from a revenue perspective, on a group basis, the increase was 29.5% in FY 2023 from the continuing operations. As Paul mentioned earlier, the organic growth component of this increase was just under 18%. The consumer segment benefited from significant organic growth and was complemented by the MyRepublic acquisition. Of the 37.4% growth in the consumer revenue, the organic contribution, 24.3%, and the remainder being from the MyRepublic acquisition.
As I said, that's a key driver of the growth that we have seen, and Paul touched on it earlier, though, we have seen a significant improvement in the ARPU coming through this segment as a consequence of a continuing shift to higher speed plans. And there has also been some small price adjustments made on the back book throughout the course of the year. In the business segment, the split between organic growth and growth from acquisition was relatively even of the 24% growth that it experienced over the course of FY 2023. As Paul spoken about, the strong finish to the year in the large business front, including the VostroNet and other new businesses that have been signed, have helped offset some price erosion impacts in the medium business segment.
But just on that front, FY 2023 for the medium business segment was a significant year of re-signs. And we now believe that the vast majority of those customers have been rebased to align to current market pricing. The 14.6% growth in the wholesale segment, it, has been underpinned by good revenue growth in both Indigo and broadband aggregation products. We have spoken in the past about some of the price pressures in the more traditional commoditized markets in wholesale, and obviously, our shift, twelve to eighteen months ago to some more advanced products in that space has certainly stood us in good stead in terms of the performance in FY 2023. If we move then on to gross margin on Slide 17, as we've said, the company delivered gross margin of AUD 116.8 million.
That represents an increase of AUD 35.3 million or 43.3% when you compare it to the continuing operations in FY 2022. Growth in gross margin has outstripped growth in revenue and reflects our continuing focus on cost, cost optimization at a cost of goods sold level. The other pleasing thing is that the company still continues to enjoy a well-diversified split of gross margin from each of the three customer segments. Although you will note that the growth in consumer has outstripped the other two segments in the course of FY 2023. We also saw expansion in the gross margin across all three segments. Consumer and wholesale segments are now in excess of their target gross margin levels.
The overall business gross margin expanded from a business, sorry, segment gross margin, expanded from a post Exetel acquisition low of 31.4% to 38.4% this year. And as Paul's touched on, we are expecting this result in the business segment to be above 40% in FY 2024. So we move on to slide 18, and just touch on EBITDA very quickly. If you look at the two charts on the left-hand side, there's been strong progression of our underlying EBITDA over the course of the last three years. During this time, we have been fortunate enough to be able to materially increase the spend on marketing, to support ongoing growth and long-term value creation. The marketing spend has increased tenfold since financial year 2021, and we're very pleased with the growth and profitability outcomes being delivered by this investment.
A noticeable feature of the progression of underlying EBITDA over the last three years has been the skew between first and second half. This is primarily as a result of acquisitions that have been made. If there were to be no further M&A activity, we would expect that skew would not continue in FY 2024, and we'd see a more even distribution between the halves in terms of underlying EBITDA for FY 2024. The bridge that we've provided on the right-hand side of this slide highlights the component parts of the improvement in underlying EBITDA from FY 2022 to FY 2023. We tried to break out the organic growth versus the growth from acquisitions to provide people with an understanding of the momentum that exists in the business organically, in addition to the strong growth from acquisitions.
The improvement in the organic business, which increased approximately 45% from AUD 20.5 million to AUD 29.9 million, has been driven largely by consumer and business segments. Offset by the marketing increase that I spoke about, and the increase in operating expenses required to support the expanding business. Notwithstanding the absolute quantum of increase in operating expenses in FY 2023, operating expenses, excluding marketing, as a percentage of revenue, has actually fallen from 21.1% last year to 20.1% this year. We're definitely seeing the benefits from our digital transformation investment program, designed to improve the efficiency of our operations and to improve the customer experience.
We continue to expect that OpEx, as a percentage of revenue, will decline in the medium term, and that demonstrates the operating leverage that we have established in this business over the course of the last three years. The acquisitions obviously have also made a strong contribution in the overall growth and profitability. In particular, VostroNet and MyRepublic transactions are continuing to deliver better than expected gross margin outcomes since we have owned those businesses. Just turn now to NPAT-A on slide 19. Now, we introduced the notion of NPAT-A as a metric back at the Investor Day in May. And I just wanted to take some time to walk through this metric, how it's been derived, and how it has progressed over the course of the last two years.
For reasons of Superloop's life cycle and maturity, NPAT-A is a sensible way to evaluate the bottom line profitability of the business, after adjusting for a number of non-cash items. Given Superloop's acquisition history in recent times, the most notable adjustment to NPAT, in order to derive NPAT-A, is the non-cash amortization of acquired intangibles. At the top of this table on slide 19, we've split out the depreciation and amortization line in the income statement into three component parts, being depreciation, amortization, and lastly, the amortization of acquired intangible assets. Depreciation and amortization relate specifically to the capital expenditure of the business in the past and on an ongoing basis. The acquired intangibles that are subject of the major adjustment include brands, customer bases, and other intangible assets brought onto the balance sheet through transactions such as Exetel, Acurus, VostroNet and more recently, MyRepublic.
Again, in the absence of any further acquisition, we forecast that FY 2023 and FY 2024 are the peak years in terms of the value of the amortization of acquired intangibles. In FY 2023, that amortization of acquired intangibles accounted for a little over 40% of the D&A line. The other key item to note in deriving NPAT-A for FY 2023 has been an accounting impact of the VostroNet acquisition. Under AASB 3, where contractual arrangements stipulate that consideration and earn-out payments are tied to service periods of the vendors, some components of the overall consideration should therefore be treated as employment expenses in the income statement. In the case of VostroNet, this has had two impacts. Firstly, the equity component of the initial consideration has to be treated as a share-based payment and expensed over the earn-out period...
In FY 2023, this resembled, represented AUD 3.5 million of share-based payment expense. The second impact relates to the earn-out payments themselves. Under AASB 3, this is required to be expensed as remuneration over the earn-out period, and for FY 2023, the impact of that was AUD 3.9 million. Both items are non-cash in nature, and therefore are added back under our NPATA calculation methodology. Overall, if you look at NPATA, there are a few key call-outs. As expected, the company was NPATA positive in the second half of this year, posting a result of AUD 4.7 million. When combined with the first half outcome, this represents a small NPATA negative of AUD 3.7 million for the full year. This is, though, a significant improvement on the NPATA negative outcome of AUD 19.7 million in FY 2022.
Again, if you were to ignore the impact of any potential further M&A activity, we're currently projecting an NPATA positive outcome for the full year, FY 2024. Before I hand back to Paul, I just wanted to summarize. I'll just finish by taking a brief look at the cash flow and capital position of the company. On cash flow, FY 2023 has been a very strong year with a clean result. Overall, operating cash flow was AUD 43.2 million, a strong outcome and much higher than both statutory and underlying EBITDA. As Paul alluded to, that result did include a small benefit from a change in billing timing from the NBN. But even after adjusting to that, there was still a strong operating cash conversion greater than 100%. As we projected, the second half of FY 2023 was cash flow positive.
Recognizing that approximately AUD 60 million was spent on transactions in the year, and AUD 8 million was spent on an on-market buyback, ex those impacts, the overall position for the year was a strong cash generative business. From a capital and funding perspective, the company is in sound financial shape. Net debt at the thirtieth of June 2023 was AUD 13.3 million, and a leverage ratio of net debt to the last 12 months EBITDA was about 0.5 x. With AUD 32 million in cash and undrawn facilities of AUD 49 million, the company remains extremely well-placed to invest in both organic and potentially inorganic growth. Post the end of the financial year, the company also refinanced its debt arrangements and extended the maturity of that debt facility to September 2026.
I'll hand back to Paul now to summarize, and provide some comments on the outlook.
Thanks, Luke. And just before I sum up, though, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge, you know, a pretty significant initiative underway, being the non-binding indicative offer that we've made to acquire Symbio. Exclusive due diligence continues, and we've just announced today that that diligence will be extended by an additional two weeks as parties work towards a transaction. So just on slide 22, just a couple of comments on the transaction itself. So the industrial logic of the transaction is very simple and compelling. Superloop, being a diversified telco, mainly focused on data, is coming together with a leading next-generation voice platform, being Symbio, and creating a more complete and powerful combined portfolio selling through like channels. We believe the offer represents a compelling proposition for both sets of shareholders.
On an FY 2023 pro forma basis, the combination of our businesses would create a company of scale with over AUD 500 million in revenue and AUD 60 million in EBITDA, and significant growth momentum. In addition to a highly diversified revenue base across consumer, business, and wholesale, significant synergies would be unlocked as we put the two companies together. That newly created business would also be positioned strongly for potential index inclusion and potential rerating. So with that said, I'll finish up on the summary slide here and then hand to Q&A. I want to reinforce that FY 2023 was truly a watershed year for Superloop, in that we successfully delivered our ambitious three-year transformation plan. With strong financial and operational performance in the year, we've delivered our third successive year exceeding guidance.
Our compelling organic growth is complemented, has been complemented by two significant acquisitions in the year, that being VostroNet and MyRepublic. The integration of those acquisitions is essentially complete, and both are contributing strongly to the group result. Superloop has great momentum and expects strong profitable growth into FY 2024 and beyond. So following the completion of that three-in-three strategy, we kicked off the next phase of our journey with the launch of our new three-year strategy, which we've named our Double Down strategy. It's a strategy that's oriented around three key pillars: The first being cost leadership, the second, market penetration, and the third, acceleration through M&A. When we fulfill this ambition, we intend to have doubled our FY 2023 revenues and see EBITDA quality rise, rise to the mid to high teens.
Of course, at that point, the business will have a lot of flexibility to consider a range of capital management options. Already in the first quarter of FY 2024, we see strong progress with this strategy. Consumer acquisitions continue to accelerate, adding some 10,000 net subscribers in the first two months of the year. We've developed and launched a suite of new products in the business and wholesale segments, and they're experiencing early traction. And of course, the very exciting opportunity with Symbio continues to keep us very focused. So as I said in our Investor Day a couple of months ago, we've come a long way as a business, but our best years are ahead of us. With that, thank you all, and we'll hand to Q&A.
Thank you, Paul, and thank you to yourself and Luke for the presentation. At this time, I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, press star and then the number one on your telephone keypad. Again, to ask a question, press star one on your keypad. Your first question comes from the line of Nick Harris from Morgans. Your line is open.
Thank you, and congratulations on being EBITDA and cash flow positive. Clearly, some really significant milestones.
Thanks, Nick.
No worries. Just a couple. So I just wanted to just clarify with Luke, the operating cash flow conversion, as, as you pointed out, Paul, really strong in this period. Are there sort of some one-offs coming through that we should think about in the future that might keep that high? Or is it just some sort of timing benefits this half? And do you want to shoot my other couple of questions while I'm-
Oh, let me take that one first, Nick. That's pretty straightforward.
Thank you.
There is some timing benefit, obviously, that's come through there. There's also a small benefit, AUD 2 million, that was as a consequence of NBN changing their billing timing to a calendar month billing. So timing things really sort of meant that we finished where we did for the year. As Paul mentioned, we continue to expect, and I think a good number to model and focus on would be, you know, in the high 80s, you know, low 90% operating cash to EBITDA conversion ratio.
Thank you, Luke. Also thanks for putting that organic EBITDA growth slide in there, which is slide 18. I just wanted to make sure I'm reading it correctly. So your organic EBITDA growth went from AUD 20.5 in 2022 to AUD 29.9 million in 2023, so basically up 46%, nearly 50% for the year. Is that the right way to read that?
Yes, that's correct.
Awesome. Okay, sorry. I'll keep going quickly. Just the consumer growth side of things, and then I'll jump back out. Obviously, you had a cracking first half and fastest growing NBN reseller for a couple of quarters there, then you acquired MyRepublic, and it just sort of plateaued for a little bit. And then I think Paul said it kicked off again quite strongly in the first quarter of this year. So, is there still some seasonality there, or did you kind of hit your target for the year and decide we've got enough, so we'll stop going and kind of maximize the gross margin? Or could you just talk a little bit about, I guess, how you thought about chasing subscribers in the second half of the year? Thank you.
It's a bit of all those things, Nick. We run our consumer business to a portfolio gross margin, as you know, and we trade off volume versus value all the time. We tried some different things. We did some repricing things. So we've played with all sorts of sensitivities. We had a very strong half, first half of the year, as you said. Clearly, you can see the margin improvements coming into the second half. And we'll continue to balance volume versus value. At the moment. And sorry, that's also a function of competitive intensity during the period. So, there's a lot of changes in that market, the new NBN SAU coming in, the shift to high-speed plans and a lot of those sort of things. We're very happy with where it is.
As you see, at the start of the year has been very strong with that, actually record level of acquisitions we're going through at the moment. But we're particularly pleased at the type of subscribers we're acquiring, and are doing very well in the high-speed plans. Obviously, the 29% gross margin that the portfolio is running out at the moment is quite encouraging.
Thanks, Paul. I'll let other people ask some questions.
Thanks, Nick.
Your next question comes from the line of Rob Chen, from JP Morgan. Your line is open.
Hi, Bob.
Hey, guys. Hey, guys, just a couple of questions from me. Just on the consumer gross margin, you know, really, really strong, this year. How are you thinking about this, sort of longer term? Is it sustainable at these levels?
We've not changed our target. Our mid to long-term target remains that 25% gross margin level. Of course, we're not going to give margin away, and if we can maintain a higher gross margin, we will. We want to, as I said to Nick, we want to maintain that balance of healthy growth, but at healthy margins. It's really a function of what the market does from a competitive intensity point of view. So I'm not heralding that we're going to drop prices and drop margins deliberately, but, you know, as I said, the kind of the model for the business has been put together based on a slightly lower gross margin than where we're currently trading.
Okay, great. And then just on the cost base side, you know, obviously stepped up a bit, bit of marketing investment, but then there was good cost control across the rest of the business. I mean, can we take that second half OpEx number, that AUD 43 million, and sort of use that as a base going into next year?
Yeah, look, you know, the second half of the year, you know, generally is reflective of, you know, the capability of the business in terms of what it can deliver from a financial performance point of view, and that extends to OpEx as well. You know, we did have to grow our OpEx base over the course of 2023 to, you know, be able to handle, if you like, it, and maintain customer experience at the levels that we want, the growing size of the business. So that second half, you know, a lot of the expansion that we did, we did ahead of time, knowing that we would be bringing that MyRepublic base into the business, as well as, you know, the opportunities that we saw coming on the business segment itself.
I think ultimately, the answer to your question is yes, it's a, you know, that second half of the year is what you would expect to sort of see, you know, per half moving forward into FY 2024.
But I think it's worth reflecting on where the cost saving is coming from, and it's a structural change. So we've discussed a number of times with your good self as well, the digital transformation that's in the business, and the retiring of a whole raft of billing systems and ticketing systems and ERPs and various other things as we complete that digital transformation. So the reduction in OpEx as a percentage of revenue isn't just sort of one-off belt-tightening. There are structural changes in the business as we take cost out, and, you know, obviously, we believe those cost-out initiatives are sustainable into the future.
Okay, perfect. And then, just a final one. Just looking at your borrowings, it looks like a fair bit of it has come current. Any thoughts on what's happening there?
Yeah, certainly. No, it's a good pickup, Rob. You're 100% right. When we got to the 30th of June, our existing debt facility was actually due to expire on the 24th of June, 2024. So under the accounting standards, because of that expiration date, we were required to show it as a current liability as opposed to a non-current liability. So obviously, in response to that, you know, we knew that was coming. We began a process back in April of this year to actually renegotiate that debt, and we renegotiated it on the 21st of July. But unfortunately, it doesn't change the way in which we have to present it in the financial statements.
But, ultimately, it's, you know, a quirk of accounting and how we have to treat it, you know, current versus non-current. You know, absolutely now it sits in the non-current bucket going forward from here until we get to September 2025.
Great. Thanks, guys.
Your next question comes from the line of Ross Barrows from Wilsons Advisory. Your line is open.
Hi, Ross.
Thanks for taking questions. Good morning, guys. Just a couple from me. Just picking up on that cost comment you made earlier. So I think it refers to being down 20% in FY 2023, and you're just-- your comments just then being sustainable structural changes. Are there further efficiencies that you can see going forward? And maybe how important do you see that efficiency being, I guess, as competition remains high and potentially goes higher?
Just, just before Paul answers, just one thing. So it is down to 20%. It wasn't down 20%. So just to clarify that point, but, I'll let Paul-
Thank you.
Take that.
Yes, I think you asked two questions there, Ross. One was on the sort of the structural cost base of the company, and then the second was on, I think, gross margin in the consumer, if I answered the question properly. On the structural cost base, yeah, there are further initiatives. We have broken the back of the digital transformation, but we've not completed it. There are still things that we have in the pipe that we're working our way through. Of course, we also have pressures going the other way with wage inflation and, you know, growth in volumes and all that sort of stuff. It is our intent to continue to take OpEx as a percentage of revenue down. That's certainly our plan for FY 2024.
We have quite advanced plans in the pipeline to take further cost out. So, you know, I think it's fair to say you can assume that OpEx as a percentage of revenue, excluding marketing, will continue to fall in future years. In terms of the consumer segment, you know, I think I wouldn't have too much more to add other than we will continue to prosecute our midterm ambition of 5% market share. We can get there a whole lot faster if we were willing to sacrifice gross margin. We're not going to do that. We will continue to try and find that balance between healthy growth and just growth at any cost.
Understood. Thanks. The next one is just around your current thinking on SAU. Do you have any thoughts you could share with us on it?
Yeah, look, I think, you know, my, my reflections would be in line with what you'll hear from most people in the industry, which is we expect the implementation, you know, towards the latter end of this calendar year. We feel that we will be as well, if not better placed than anyone in the industry, given our mix of high-speed plans. We're doing extremely well in the greater than or 100 meg and above, but in particular in the greater than 100 meg plans. At the moment, this is where we're really finding our sweet spot, and obviously that's advantageously treated under the new SAU. So, you know, there's a lot of things that people would like out of that SAU. Of the options presented, the option 2 was the preferred option for Superloop.
I think we're all past trying to debate it, some of the other elements that we would all like to see change. But, in the industry, we see ourselves as well positioned to enjoy the benefits of the new SAU.
That's helpful. Thank you. And just the last one, just for, I guess, our understanding, can you just explain the SuperBiz and the TotalBiz Internet products a bit further for us?
Yeah, that's a new range of, Well, depending on which one, there's a lot of different portfolio elements there. But it's business-grade products that are largely operating over the NBN access, that have a mix of business-grade features to them, support models that sit around them, come with different inclusions. But I think one of the, the interesting distinctions is, the symmetrical nature of a, of a number of those, products, where you've got equal upload and download speeds available, but at a, at a much better price point than the traditional, offerings that, were on the, you know, NBN Enterprise Ethernet product or, or the Telstra equivalent. So more competitively priced, symmetrical in their nature, with all the business-grade support attributes that, that sit behind it and all based on fiber.
So, pretty well researched, and we're seeing some good market appetite for those products.
Just remind me, they're launched already or about to be, and timing-
They're launched.
Of release.
They're launched.
Uh, okay.
Only recently launched in the sort of the last month, six weeks, yeah.
Yep. So it's incremental in 2024?
Yeah. But, I'm sure you're going to be one of our early customers on it, Ross, so, you know, give me a call and let me know how you enjoyed it when you place your order.
You haven't got it yet? Okay. I'll, I'll chase it up. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
Thanks.
Thanks, Ross.
Again, if you would like to ask a question, please press Star one on your telephone keypad, and we will pause now for just any final questions. There are no final questions at this time. I would like to hand over to Paul for closing remarks.
Thanks, Paul. Look, I'd just once again like to thank everyone for their participation in the conference call. I think we're right on time. As I said, we saw 2023 as a really strong set of results in year and a great conclusion to the three-year turnaround for the business, and we feel really bullish about where 2024 and beyond is going to take us. So thanks, all, and look forward to speaking with many of you over the next couple of days.
This concludes today's conference call. Enjoy the rest of your day. You may now disconnect.