Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call Conference Operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Tinexta Group Consolidated Results as of the 31st of March 2024 conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on their telephones. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Josef Mastragostino, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Yes, good afternoon. Good morning to the folks in the US. Thank you for joining Tinexta's 2024 Q1 results presentation. Here with me today, Oddone Pozzi, Group Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, all the relevant documentation for the Q1 2024 results can be downloaded from our company website in the Investor Relations section. For the purpose of this call, I will go over the Q1 2024 highlights and updates. Oddone instead will go over the Q1 2024 financial results, as well as the business unit's performance, providing us with a deep dive. The last part of the call will be dedicated to Q&A, and a recording of this conference call will also be available on the company website, and it will be posted upon completion of this call.
At this point, I will kick it off by turning to page 4 of the presentation. Starting from page 4, you see we have provided you guys with classic key data per quarter. We start with double digits down growth from in terms of revenue, which reached almost 198.4 million. EBITDA adjusted came in at EUR 15.4 million, growing around 3% versus the prior year. EBITDA on a reported basis was close to EUR 9 million, and EBIT adjusted was around EUR 8.1 million. I think it's worthy of mention that net profit on an adjusted basis reached EUR 6 million, and even more interesting is also the free cash flow adjusted on a continuing operation base, which reached a very considerable EUR 27.2 million in the Q1 .
Net Financial Position came in at EUR 240, and this is a function of the acquisition that you all know, which is related to ABF, which was closed in January of this year. At this point, I will be turning to page 5 of the presentation. Most of the comments of the numbers that you see here have obviously been commented, but I would actually start by talking about the Q1 from a qualitative perspective, right? The Q1 represents a gradual start of the year, and that was mainly driven by the well-known seasonality. We will need to stress the fact of the seasonality during this quarter and also.
In perspective, in terms of what the year will be, and we have dedicated actually a slide on this, and we would like the market to be very accustomed to the seasonality of our quarters, going forward. I think it's also important to highlight that, you know, that the adjusted net profit on a continuing operations basis is the real, you know, performer in terms of indicator when we look at the various numbers. Obviously, we have to give out EBITDA reported, EBITDA adjusted, but on an adjusted basis, I think it's important to highlight how adjusted net profit is, obviously a much better indicator. NFP over LTM is, again, a function of the most recent acquisition. We're up at 2.32x, which is again, a function of the recent acquisition.
Going to the different divisions, Oddone will give you a deep dive, but let's start by saying that the top line on all three business line grew. Starting from Digital Trust, Digital Trust kicked off the year very strongly. It grew 21%, and even more important was EBITDA, which reached 36%, with a very excellent EBITDA margin, which was around 31%. Again, another historical high for the division, so kudos to Digital Trust because they have started the year very well. Cybersecurity grew nice and healthy, 16% in revenue. EBITDA hit a +10%, and the margin was around 10%. Even in cybersecurity, we must highlight that there is some seasonality, and it is more pronounced in the latter part of the year.
Business Innovation posted a single-digit growth, around 4% growth, and obviously in revenue, and EBITDA came a bit over EUR 1 million. We'll extensively discuss about the dynamics about business innovation. In terms of the most recent events, I'm on the bottom part of slide 5. We reached 100% consolidation of the three cybersecurity companies, namely Yoroi, Swascan, and Corvallis. As a reminder, there is no impact in terms of net financial position because it is already included in the net financial position at the date of the acquisition. We also, during the quarter, launched a new strategic and operational advisory business for small medium enterprises. We all, obviously, are aware of the fact that we announced a very large acquisition and completed it in January.
It is about 74% of ABF, and the board of directors today approved the start of the share buyback program, which we will execute according to market dynamics. Now, going to page six. I think page six represents more of a, you know, a graphical representation of the numbers that we already highlighted. So mostly important is to turn to page seven. We, I think this is, we should focus extensively on page seven because it represents, first of all, the history of the group from a, you know, a, an EBITDA perspective, in particular, because that is what we will be concentrating on. But the most important thing here is the weight. The weight of second H in the last three years has considerably grown.
It was 60%, I'm talking about the EBITDA adjusted, you know, in the second H, so that includes Q3 and Q4 of the year, was equal to 60% in the year, fiscal year 2021. It was 61% in the fiscal year 2022, and even more important was last year in 2023, where the overall weight of the second H EBITDA was 63%. This year, as you can see, we started the year, as we announced, in a most gradual way. The overall weight of the single quarters can be found on the bottom of each histogram, and you can see that the Q1 for this year represents around 12% of the data, considering the midpoint of the 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance.
So as you can see, the overall relative weight of the second H will be even higher this year. So we want the, you know, the market to be acquainted with that, and that's also one of the big elements, I think, of our business model. Remember, business innovation has a relative weight, which is obviously very important and much more significant in the Q2 , in the second H. So as you can see, the cadence of the single quarters shows a very light Q1 , a bit more pronounced Q2 , and then the big, obviously, between Q3 and Q4, mostly being around Q4 . So we want the market to be accustomed to it. We are preparing the market for it, in order to have a much more, I would say, gradual outlook for the market.
Let me stop there. Let me leave it to Aldona to do a much more deep dive onto the numbers. We also will go give you a nice outlook on the adjustments so that you have a very clear P&L, and then we'll wrap it up with some Q&A. Aldona?
Okay. Thank you, Joseph. Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for joining us for this conference call. You know, I will start from page nine, where we have the income statement. Joseph already explained how different business units, and then I will further deep dive. But, you know, you see the revenue is going up by almost 5%, mainly driven, you know, driven by all the business units. In terms of EBITDA adjusted, definitely we overperform the previous year with a different perimeter. And, as you can see here, we have a mix that I'm going to explain, that is the explanation for the drop of the EBITDA margin.
You know, basically, as a revenue mix during Q1, we had more businesses brought more business from the business unit with a lower EBITDA margin. And also in the Cybersecurity, we deliver a revenue mix with more weight from the products that are carrying definitely a lower margin. So overall, the EBITDA landed at EUR 15.4, with 15.6% EBITDA. Definitely, as Josef clearly stated, you know, we overall we deliver the best ever EBITDA margin from Digital Trust. The EBITDA margin from Cybersecurity was definitely aligned to the previous year, again, driven by worse revenue mix with more products.
If we look at Business Innovation, definitely there we have a lack of profitability driven by two things. First of all, the Q1 of ABF, ABF is negative in terms of EBITDA, something that we already expected very clearly. Revenue for the Q1 accounts for 5% of the total revenue, so you have a lower absorption of fixed cost during Q1. Second, as a revenue mix from Warrant Hub, again, expected with a lower weight from the subsidized finance has driven a lower EBITDA margin.
We do see this as a temporary situation also because the Industry 5.0 that we expected to start in Q1 has been, we say, approved, but definitely delayed at the end of May. So from that on, I think we could compensate the lower revenue that we are generating in subsidized finance. In terms of non-recurring costs, this has been a quite heavy quarter. Obviously, we completed the deal with ABF, clearly the largest deal ever of Tinexta Group, and this brought quite an important cost of transaction. Basically, in our view, it's an additional cost of the enterprise value, but accounting-wise, we have to book there.
In terms of depreciation amortization, the incident is slightly above previous year. Here, the continuous level of investment to improve our products and solutions is there, and, but, you know, we do see this honestly, as we expected. Net financial charges improved compared to previous year. Part of this is driven by a favourable adjustment of an amount of Ascertia for EUR 1.1 million. For the rest, we are not yet being impacted from the new financing that will start from early May. Definitely, our level of indebtedness was very low at that time, with a very low interest rate, thanks to the IRS that we put on that.
In the meantime, we were able to monetize the cash available with some time the cost. Let's move now to page 10. In terms of net cap, net capital invested, so if we see our balance sheet, basically, we have a net capital invested of not far from EUR 700 million. One third is financed by the net financial position, and two thirds are total shareholder equity. The increase of net invested capital is totally, I would say, driven by the acquisition of ABF that I may recall is about EUR 155 million.
On top of that, we have to consider that this includes also the net working capital of ABF that is positive by almost EUR 20 million. So the net financial position landed at EUR 240 million, as we clearly expected. I have to underline that the free cash flow, as Joseph stated, especially the adjusted free cash flow, was very positive, with a strong growth compared to the previous. Shareholder equity is EUR 451 million, and obviously includes the results of the period, as well as the put adjustment that we have in our shareholding.
If we move to page 11, I will keep your attention to the adjusted free cash flow of the continuing operation. We deliver a very strong growth in term of 20%. So it means that, obviously, what we voiced and how our revenue of Q4 has been cashed, actually, obviously, during Q1, improving the performance compared to the previous year. And this is a very important indicator to us. If we look at the last twelve month, net-- no, the Q1 brief, sorry, again, as I mentioned, is here with a strong adjusted free cash flow and the significant investment in ADF.
If you look at the last 12 months, first of all, I think we need to highlight that the adjusted free cash flow is EUR 61 million. This is a very solid, a strong, figure that support, you know, our capability of converting our EBITDA into cash. So this, this is a very important figure. So we were on top of this, net financial charges over the last year was basically close to nil, and again, this the result of the very disciplined approach to the net working capital. Dividends accounted for EUR 32 million, including also the minority. Obviously, the largest change is within the acquisitions.
So basically, we have almost EUR 250 million, so all the debt is driven by this. And with the acquisition of ABF for EUR 155 million, the acquisition of the 20% of the minority of the FinTech at EUR 25 million, and Ascertia, including obviously both ABF and Ascertia, including the put and call that we have there. We don't have other major changes over the last two years, and you can see here also the profit of EUR 3.4 million related to the OCI data. So let's move to deep dive to the business unit.
As I mentioned here, you know, very, very quickly, we have seen Digital Trust, let's say, overperforming cybersecurity, considering the Q1 is, you know, the weakest quarter of the year. We still deliver what we were expecting, and we have, you know, Business Innovation driven by the key factor that I already mentioned, but I will deep dive. So let's move to Digital Trust. As I would say now, or probably we are talking about the last Q10 , you know, the performance of Digital Trust has been extremely positive.
You know, we have seen over the last Q10 , the revenue going up in the range of 8%-10%, with the EBITDA constantly better in for 3-4 percentage point more, and also in this quarter on, I would say on a like-to-like basis, was up almost by 20%, 12% on organic basis. If we add the performance of Ascertia, that is obviously in Q1, speaking, the results, the performance being 21% with 36% growth. I will say that, all the different component of the business went very well. Also the activity in France were positive. Also, the activity we have in Visura growth in the range of 10% in the revenue, 15% on EBITDA.
You know, I would say, everything is moving accordingly, accordingly to what's expected, continue to deliver results, in, with a very nice operating leverage and, you know, all the product lines, moving, very strong, accordingly to, to our plans. You know, we have no, significant comment here, not reiterating the, the capability to deliver strong results. We continue to invest, significantly to support future products, future development, and support, customers solution, but this is not impacting our capability to a strong, cash conversion, driven by the fact that the working capital here is negative. So, Q1 continued very strong, aligned with the, the last Q10 , I would say, very positive. Let's move to cybersecurity.
Also, we are again, although, you know, Q1 is not the most important quarter, we continue strong in terms of growth in the range of 60% with the EBITDA going up 10.1%. Obviously, we are not having worse margins if we look at business by business. Obviously, during Q1, we deliver a mix between services and products that is more weighted on the product than on the services, and this is the reason why the EBITDA margin is dropping from 10.2 to 9.7. This is not absolutely a trend.
It's an occasional situation, and we do expect, you know, the EBITDA margin move accordingly to our expectation and delivering an improvement compared to results 2023 as a percentage of revenue. We continue to develop our business in the pure cybersecurity solutions with the positive indicators from the customer, from the customers, and obviously also in the digital transformation side of business, we are continuing very strong and positive. Our pipeline is increasing compared to previous year, and we do expect also in this segment a better delivery than previous year. So, overall, I would say positive results and you know good pipeline in order to address Q2. Let's move on to business innovation.
Obviously, from the external standpoint, you know, it's quite tricky to understand the figures. I try to be very clear, or at least as clear as possible here. First of all, I think it's worth to recall to everybody that last year we deliver in Q1, EUR 5 million EBITDA, and then we ended up the year with EUR 51 million. Q1 is not at all, you know, the main part of the business, and so this is has to be everybody must to be very aware of this.
Second, as a revenue mix, we do expect it at this from at the start of the year, the Q1 being weaker as definitely subsidized finance has a lower rate that was clearly expected. And potentially we could have expected a better start of the new the new Industry 5.0. This is gonna be delayed by 2-3 months from our initial expectation, but we are very competitive. This year is just a matter of to implement the new regolamento.
For the rest, I think that as I explained it before, the ADF result is negative in the Q1 , but again, you know, the seasonality of ADF is basically mirror of the seasonality of the year. And so therefore, obviously, we will expect a very strong Q4 and Q3 as Joseph anticipated during his part of the presentations. So, obviously, not the best start, but no other indicators that, you know, this is a threat to the delivery of full year results. I think, you know, this is all. I would say very positive is the cash flow of this part of business during Q1.
This means that we are collecting properly the first part, the last part of 2020. Now, I will revert back to Joseph, and then we will be ready for the Q&A part. Thank you, everybody.
So following, you know, the deep dive that Oddone obviously gave us, which I think is always of high value added, we confirm our guidance in terms of 2024 versus prior year. Revenues, as a reminder, are expected to come anywhere between 21%-23%, of which 7% organic, more interesting, is EBITDA adjusted, which is expected to come in a range of 28%-32% growth versus prior year, of which 10% organic, and then obviously the leverage ratio, net financial position over EBITDA adjusted, is expected between 1.7x and 1.9x.
This, just to be very crystal clear, does not include Lenovys, for which we announced the closing at the end of last month, as well as no effect from the potential call we have on that bank. Okay.
Just to make it very clear. So it is with all the announced, you know, acquisitions that we did already. At this point, I will leave it to the operator to open the Q&A for us, please.
Thank you, sir. Excuse me, this is the Chorus Call Conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. The first question comes from Isacco Brambilla of Mediobanca.
Hi, good afternoon, everybody. Three questions on my side, one for each business unit. Starting from Digital Trust, more specifically, Ascertia, doing some rough calculation on the perimeter effect on the EBITDA and revenues. Looks like Ascertia has been a great contributor to EBITDA of Digital Trust. Could you just confirm the company was accretive to the EBITDA margin? Because I was thinking about a dilution in the first month of consolidation. Also, if you can share any target for Ascertia in terms of revenues and EBITDA for the full year. Second question on Business Innovation.
Considering all the elements you mentioned, and the fact that Q1 is very light, seasonally speaking, is it reasonable to expect the division to fill the gap at current perimeter in terms of revenues and the EBITDA by the end of the year? Last question is on cybersecurity. You mentioned in the press release orders at EUR 29 million as of the end of the Q1 . How should we read this data? Which is the time horizon to attach to these orders? Are all of these to be delivered by the end of this year, or some of them are of a multi-annual extension?
Good afternoon, Isaac. Okay, thank you for your question. Yes, you are right. Ascertia accounted for in the Q1 for, you know, around EUR 6 million revenue, and 2.5 million EBITDA. Obviously, driven to the seasonality, I think, this is accretive definitely Q1, but, you know, on a yearly basis, you know, this percentage of profitability will be diluted because we have, historically, a concentration in Q1 of our profitability. So this is the first point. On the BI, filling the gap is our goal, definitely.
As of today, we do not have information for which we will be not in the position to achieve the result. Obviously, next quarter orders will be very important, but we have seen also that last year, you know, we entered Q3 with not extra portfolio orders, but then we were able, in any case, to deliver the result. As I mentioned before, the Industry 5.0 is a key element, no doubt about this. We are suffering a little bit of delay in issuing, you know, rules and putting, you know, this opportunity on the market. I think that by June, we will be in a position to sell the solution and the opportunity to our customer.
We are already working from, with our customers, trying to explain to them exactly how it works and potentially how they could benefit in order to, to stimulate, you know, their interest. Obviously, they are interested. There is interest on the market, but everybody was waiting for the final definition of the final, rules, of, of how this will be, applicable. So the level of investment is a little bit, you know, from our customers, a bit on order as soon as everything will be clear. But we are already ready to work with the client, and we already, are working with them in order to, identify clearly the opportunity, there. So we do expect it.
So far, the component of the digital part, let's talk about, you know, the acquisition of ABF and Plannet, started in Q1 very well with more than a double-digit growth with the proper profitability, so this is another part of the business that started well. So obviously, challenging year as usual, but you know, we have opportunity there to fill the gap and to achieve what's expected. Sorry, the question on cyber, in terms of backlog, definitely we have to deliver more than EUR 100 million revenue in this area, as you know. So, you know, backlog, I would say, is, you know, mostly related to the current year.
Again, here, we do not see a, you know, major, major risk. The reason why, overall, we confirm the guidance. That is, again, we develop ourself challenging plan with a grow, an important grow on cybersecurity. We are in the process of complete the merge between the four entity. We last week launched the new organization and the new business model that is in place now. And, you know, we do expect a better capability to address, to, to manage internally and to address customer needs.
Okay, many thanks, Oddone.
Thank you.
The next question, sir, is from Aleksandra Arsova of Equita.
Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my questions. A couple of my hand. The first one is on Digital Trust. So we saw again a very solid growth profile in this quarter, +8% in revenues organically. So I just wanted to understand how much of this 8% is volumes and how much is prices effect? And then a little bit of trading update on how it's performing the Digital Trust division in this first part of the Q2 . Then second one on Business Innovation, just follow up on what you were explaining before. So you were mentioning that you expect to see already some effects of the Industry 5.0 in June.
So should we expect a sequentially better Q2 in growth rate terms vis-a-vis the Q1 , which has a double-digit decline? And sorry, the last one, so you already mentioned that your figures do not include the guidance, does not include Lenovys and Defence Tech. So do you have any maybe timing of when you will start maybe consolidate Lenovys and maybe an update on on on Defence Tech? Thank you.
Yes. No, here I am. So, digital trust, no, it, it's not driven by volume and, and, or price. You know, it's, we are continuing absolutely as expected. We continue, you know, you have to consider that, one part of the business is OKF, and here, price is a volume, as, you know, is an important matter. But, on the other side, we have DTM, where, you know, you have a, a, a complete solution that is different customer by customer. Any case, there is no, a key element that is driving, the growth.
The growth is driven by the capability of InfoCert and other companies of the group to stay in the market, to stay in the market in a profitable way, and being able to manage fixed cost, delivering an average. So here, you may see it, since many quarters, you know, there is no specific that. Definitely, during early 2023, we did some activity on pricing, because, you know, inflation was there, and so we adapted the pricing in order to compensate the impact on salary and third-party services of the cost, and this perfectly was applied. So you have seen from 2022- 2023, no change in the market, and Q4 even improving. So this is the picture.
Q2 started well, as ended up Q1, so you know, and not able to predict now, it will be 9 or 8.5 or 8% growth, but still, we will have a growth not far from 10%, and EBITDA is growing more. Obviously, this is a normal way. Then if you get a bigger project with a low margin, probably next quarter, we may have a slightly different, but this is a very stable and recovery. On Business Innovation, what was mentioned is then we may start from June to sell Industry 5.0. So the revenue will come will come down the road over the next over the next month.
I think this is basically the situation. Again, we have several lines of business, you know, we explained how they are moving, and this is the situation. Definitely, Industry 5.0 will be a key driver of the final result. Lenovys will be reported during Q2, and we are discussing the technical day by April or by May with the auditor, but it's not changing the picture in these few months. In Defense Tech, I would say, the board will analyze in the next weeks the dossier. You know, 2023 results of Defense Tech being released 140 days ago.
We are doing the relevant and proper analysis on that. When we complete them, you know, the dossier will be brought to the board for a decision.
Okay, thank you.
The next question is from Chandra Sriraman of Stifel.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my question. Good afternoon, Rene. Good afternoon, Joseph. Just a couple from my side. So I noticed a big step up in terms of, the inorganic contribution in Q1, and this is also in, goes hand in hand with this big jump in international growth. So can you just, talk a bit about this, what drove this, acceleration? And my second question, I'm just trying to understand, the impact of, the PNR. You mentioned that it's not in the guidance, but you're highlighting that, it was one of the reasons, the delay was one of the reasons for the weakness. So can you, square the difference, and also quantify how big this could be, the PNR impact for this year? Thanks.
All right, I'll take those, Chandra. So couple things. Let's start with the first part, right? You were asking about the step up in inorganic versus the Q1 and therefore the international. As you all might recall, during the Capital Markets Day, we heavily stressed the fact that international revenues are growing, right? The company has now reached a considerable size, and therefore, the revenues from a overall group perspective are expected to grow up to 25%-26% by the end of the plan, which is 2026, right? So obviously, this is a function of what is all of our foreign subsidiaries and also the acquired companies.
So we are growing specifically, if I look at, for example, Digital Trust. Digital Trust has done a considerable job in terms of foreign revenues, reaching a very considerable percentage point. Q1 obviously does not represent, you know, one fourth of the entire year, but I think at least for Digital Trust, it represents a good proxy of where we are going in a directional phase. So stay tuned to see what the overall percentage will be on a yearly base, but we have not given a specific, you know, foreign revenue percentage guidance for the year. We know that by the end of 2026, we should reach at least 25-26% of overall group revenue coming from abroad.
The second question, I want this to be very clear. We mentioned PNRR from a BI perspective. Let me walk you through it till you get a better understanding. It has nothing to do from the potential impact that the plan could have had when we started discussing about the PNRR. What we are referring in BI is Transition 5.0. Let me walk you through with greater detail. All of BI's business in the past three years, when we refer to subsidized finance, is referred to the so-called Industry 4.0 or digitalization. So that means that you get, to make it simple, tax breaks, subsidized finance, if you, being an entrepreneur, are applying for any sort of tax breaks in that realm or in that category of investment.
Now, as you all know, and this is the reason why you've seen a contraction in margins in the BI, the 4.0 margins and deductible rates have been lower year-over-year, and that's why we actually saw a reduction of margins in BI in the first quarter of this year. What will come later this year, and what O’Donnell was referring to, is the rephasing of that part of the plan of the PNRR, referring to Transition 5.0. Remember, Transition 5.0, dealt with everything that's relating to investments, referring to environment, improvement of energy, and so and so and so.
So what we are witnessing from a BI standpoint is basically a second-half increased weight in terms of margins coming from that type of investment. So the entrepreneur right now is coming out of a 2023 that has been obviously a very busy quarter, specifically the Q4 for BI. The Q1 is usually very light, and now, obviously, all the efforts are being concentrated on both the 4.0, that is residual, and the 5.0, which will kick in no later than the second part of the year, so after June. So it is, obviously, the first two quarter will follow the same type of logic, and then the Q3 and Q4 will follow a more, I would say, you know, 5.0 type of logic when it comes to BI.
I hope this is clear, because we need to make it very clear to the market.
Perfect. Thanks. Maybe a quick follow-up. Can you give us a sense of the seasonality of ABF in Q2 and Q3?
Yeah. Still, you know, still we are not expecting the, you know, significant, you know, change. You know, it's a, it's a trend that is what we have learned from the due diligence, is a trend where, you know, Q2 should be better than Q1 and Q3 even better. You know, definitely is Q4 is the key element. You know, you have to consider how these businesses are working here. Basically, we're talking about investment from our customers that are subsidized. And so basically, a customer has a budget for doing investment. So the budget of a client is over the year, you know.
If you look at Italy, with subsidized finance, they are running to complete, put up a running investment just before the year, so in the next tax filing, they can deduct the amount earned from this investment. From, you know, subsidized finance related to ABF, basically there, you have to fight with public body, and when you get the positive answer, then you have still timing for getting the cash from them. So here, again, also here, the most important part of the year is expected to be late Q3 and Q4.
Great. Thank you very much and all the best for the rest of the year.
You're welcome. You're welcome.
The next question is from Carlo Maritano of Intermonte.
Hi, good afternoon, everyone. I just have a quick question. You mentioned during the presentation that CertEurope is performing well. So I was wondering if you could provide us some more color on this company and how it's progressing after the change in CEO, if you're seeing an improvement in the trajectory compared to the past?
Yes, Q1 of 2024 were positive, both in term of revenue and EBITDA, growing in the range of 10%. So this is absolutely positive. Definitely, it's not the most important quarter, but still it's important to start very well compared to previous year. Second, you know, we improved our capability to put in the market offers on the new InfoSec solution. So, as you may recall, we appointed late last year a new CEO after the exit of the minority shareholder. And then, you know, we had just on board a new sales director.
So we, you know, the company is very well organized, is already putting in the market InfoSec solution, and we do expect, you know, the growth of the revenue coming, you know, to be, you know, pushed by the sale of new InfoSec. Any case, this is the challenge we have when we go abroad, and I think we are working in a right direction.
Carlo, do you have another question? No, if not, I think there's another last question, operator.
Yes, sir. Sorry, I apologize. The next question is from Russell Pointon of Edison.
Good afternoon, Oddone and Josef. Three questions from me, if that's okay. The first one on Business Innovation, can I just be clear? So I understand that 5.0 has been delayed coming into the at the end of the year, and when you set your guidance at the start of the year, we knew that the deductibility rates were lower than what you'd anticipated. So was it just a reflection, therefore, that in the first quarter, that actually the underlying volume growth decline was probably worse than anticipated because of those lower rates? Or was it just a delay of 5.0, which has affected Q1? My second question on Cybersecurity. In one of the documents, you quote market growth rates for 2024-2026 of 6%.
When I look back at the Capital Markets Day presentation from the start of the year, I think, when you combine the two numbers quoted for digital and cybersecurity, you were looking for, I think it was like 5% compound growth, 2023-2025. So could you just talk about why it's slightly higher? Is it a different base, or is this an acceleration in market growth rates versus what you had anticipated at the start of the year? And my final question, just a small detail. Ascertia's revenue of... it was EUR 5.6 million revenue in Q1. That's more than, way more than double of what you reported in Q4, which was the first full quarter, I think, of its results.
You, you did mention earlier there is some seasonality here, but I just wanted to get some feel for is that Q1 representative of the normal seasonality, or has it just done a lot better than you anticipated in the first quarter? Thank you.
Okay. So, Russell, let me walk you through a couple of things. Let's, let's explain again, AI, so we get. You know, there's a couple of moving parts to explain the quarter, right? And they are the following. First item, we talked about transition 4.0, and as you mentioned correctly, the deductible rates are lower on a year-over-year basis. First point, then we have an overall, and Oddone was very clear on this, an overall different mix from the other revenue streams. So we're talking about what we've been investing in the last 2 years to diversify the top line. We're talking about energy transition, we're talking about training, we're talking about green, we're talking about ESG, okay? So that has an overall lower volume, because, and this is the fact that we want to stress, Oddone touched upon it, let me stress it again.
When an entrepreneur falls into the new year, they have an overall budget that they need to deal with, right? So what happens then? What they do is they allocate their priorities. Their priorities will play out throughout, throughout the year. So if you look at the overall seasonality of BI on a like-to-like basis, it's always back-ended. It's usually Q3, end of Q3 and Q4. We've mentioned this for the last three years in a row, and this year it will be even more pronounced, because we also have another business that came on board, which is ABF, which, let's be very clear, will follow the same type of logics. Another moving part is Transition 5.0.
So the plan, the PNRR, states that 5.0 was supposed to come in, and it is, it has come in, but it will show its effects only in the latter part of the year. And what those, what will those effects be? They will be the investment. Again, we go back to the budget of the entrepreneur, that will have to play out what their priorities are and check that the overall investment will have to fall under the umbrella of energy transition, improving in terms of energy consumption and all that, and they always have to deal with their personal budgets, okay? Now, will it be, obviously, to the advantage of the entrepreneur to invest? Obviously, because they will get back the money that they will invest. Remember, we also were very clear on the overall deductible rate.
The deductible rate on 5.0 can reach up to 40%. So in this type of situation, we expect the second half to be definitely an area where EBITDA generation will be significant. Full stop. Now, you talked about CS growth rate. I think it's customary for specifically on the overall interim report, that we give out a bit of color on what the market situation is. We have a guidance out there. We stick to our guidance. The market is probably higher or lower. It doesn't really matter. What we really want to be is grow with the numbers that we gave out to the market, and we have confirmed that guidance. Lastly, you were asking about Ascertia. Ascertia has its own seasonality. Q1, yes, it's a very strong quarter, without any doubt.
In fact, if you look at Q1 versus the prior quarters that we had in the prior years, you see that Q1 is the best quarter ever, right? So what we expect is the overall delivery to happen as we are seeing. In this case, for Ascertia, Q1 was a strong quarter. Full stop. I don't know if, Antonio, you want to add anything?
No, this is important to keep in mind. So they delivered very well, accordingly to our expectation, and so we are happy because this is what we were expecting. And we will continue like this. We are working to improve the pipeline, to achieve new customers, but very important from the pure financial standpoint, they delivered a very, very strong Q1. That is what was in our calendarized plan.
That's great. Thank you for the answers.
You're welcome.
Gentlemen, at this time, there are no more questions registered.
Thank you very much for attending the call, and I will talk to you soon for Q2 results.
Thank you. Thanks, everybody. Bye.