Good morning, everybody. Thank you to attend this meeting with the results of the first half of the year of 2023. Unfortunately, there is no Bridgette in this time, we will do a quick overview of the results of the year together with Andrea from Berlin. The measure KPI. The first half of the year was very positive. We closed the semester, six months, with EUR 107 million, more than EUR 100 million in revenues, with a strong growth, 71% more than the same period of the last year. The important to highlight that there is a strong organic growth, a solid organic growth with respect to the same period of the last year, plus 14%.
This growth is driven mainly by the synergies of the companies belonging to the ecosystem. The results of the new governance is bringing good results and overall growth of all the business lines. In terms of EBITDA margin, is consolidated more or less EUR 14 million, that is 13% of the revenues, at the end, the net profit consolidated by almost EUR 7 million, so 93% growth with the same period of the last year. We have a growth in all the segments of our offerings, the main business is the software engineering, so innovation of products of the customer by using the technologies. This business is overall 68% of the overall business of the company, with a strong growth, 100%.
We double size in this area, mainly is driven by the new acquisitions, so the new company that joined the group last year, but there is still a strong organic growth in this part. The Smart Solutions, so our proprietary solutions that accelerate the transformation of customer, is 18% of the overall business and recorded a 12% of growth year-over-year, and this growth is mainly organic. In terms of Digital Advisory, we have the stronger growth, so our presence in the market to innovate processes of the customers has been recognized with a strong 66% of growth. That is mostly organic, because we added two companies at the end of the year, but the strong growth is coming from our, let's say, ramp up of projects in the public sector for the Digital Advisory.
Overall, is 14% of the overall TXT business. Revenues record a 72%+ with respect to the last year. Last year, we closed at EUR 62 million, now more than EUR 100 million, so EUR 107 million. It's important to highlight that the EUR 100 million revenues was, as consolidated result, was reached for the first time last year. In the overall history of our company, now we are going more than EUR 100 million in just one semester, so in six months. The growth is driven by all the segments, as told before. The overall business related to software engineering is more or less EUR 73 million. EUR 50 million, more or less, comes from the digital advisory business, and EUR 20 million, more or less, comes from software revenue.
Licenses, subscription, and advanced services we provide around our products. In terms of profitability, there is a strong growth, 52%, more or less EUR 40 million of EBITDA. We have a slight decrease of the percentage of the margins, mainly due to the dilution of the business, because we included a lot of software engineering business that has an overall 12% of margin, and that there are a big volume. The contributes of EBITDA coming from software engineering services is EUR 8.6 million.
We have a 15%, more or less 15%, in profitability for the digital advisory division, with a contribution of EUR 2.1 million, and the business coming from smart solution is 16% in terms of percentage margin, and recorded EUR 3.2 million in growth of 22% with respect to the last year. Overall, positive KPIs, and the contribution coming from the new perimeter of the new consolidated companies records EUR 36 million revenues in growth of 60% with respect to the last year. All the segments are performing well, both in terms of growth and in terms of profitability. We continue to invest to improve our product lines.
The investments in our, let's say, portfolio, of smart solution is EUR 4.5 million in growth. We increased the, the percentage of investment during the year by 14%. The revenues coming are more or less EUR 20 million related to our products, in growth of 12% with the same period of the last year. We still have a strategic outlook for internationalization. We did with it a little bit, the overall percentage, because, the new acquisition were mainly based in Italy, even if we are pushing in order to export our competence and our solution to the international market. EUR 22 million coming from international business.
In terms of net debt, so adjusted the net financial position, we are still positive, because we have EUR 24 million as net debt adjusted with the, let's say, excluding the participation, financial participation in Banca del Fucino, that is worth more or less EUR 16.5 million. We have a buyback plan that is continuing. At the 30 June, we had, considering the evaluation of the stock price at 20, 30 June, we have as treasury share, more or less EUR 27 million. This means that we have still the capability to invest, to continue to grow, because we plan to use our, our, let's say, treasury shares in order to continue our M&A plan.
In terms of core markets, the distribution, according to our strategy of the diversification, is similar to the distribution we had at the end of the last year. 24% in the core market of aerospace and defense, with a recorded growth of 20% in this segment, mainly driven by the defense programs that are growing fast. There are good signals also coming from the civil aviation division, even if the results will be consolidated more in the second half of the year. In the industrial automotive, there is a stability with respect to volumes.
We are facing also some, let's say, constraints, giving also by the fundings coming from the innovation and the digitalization of the industry, that in Italy are a little bit slower with the PNRR that is not going so fast as expected for this segment. We have stability, 10% of the overall business. 22% in the fintech, banking, and financial domain, with a growth recorded of 15%, so positive also the growth in this kind of segment. The most, let's say, the champion of the growth is related to the public sector, because we are ramping up with the project that we won last year, so big tenders related to innovation of public sector in general, in Italy.
This part is 13% of the overall business, with a recorded growth of 54%, so very strong go-to-market in this area. The new market related to telco and media, that comes from an Ennova acquisition of the last year, today is 32% of the overall business. According to the segmentation we provided this last year, we have changed this year by smart solution, by offering. Last year, we were present by market. According to the segmentation of the last year, there is this reflection of growth in all the industrial segment, as discussed before. Some highlights of what happened in the last three months. Let first focus on the smart solution business, with an organic growth, more or less, 9%.
For this area, we have to highlight the fact that we are now progressing strongly with our solution based on artificial intelligence, that is the Faraday platform. The multi-year contract with the two main large banks institution started to go in profitability, because we started to invoice our revenues coming from the subscription we provided to them. There is a ramp up. I want to highlight that the company that is providing this smart solution in the Q2 was at breakeven. We know that we are still investing in our artificial intelligence platform, but the revenues coming from the market are starting to bring benefit, and will bring also value during the rest of the year.
We had a very good also upsell of license for the digital twin with our aircraft preliminary design platform, that was selected by a large North American engine manufacturer. We started to grow also in this segment. North America is very strong for the growth for the civil aviation, for all the product lines, but in particular, the aircraft preliminary design signed important contracts during the Q2. Also, the platform related to extended reality, our Weaver platform, is starting to generate revenues and growing.
This platform is a cross-industry solution that is starting to be appreciated by the market, and we signed in the second half of the, in second quarter of this year, a new, a new contract with a big pharma company that will adopt our technology in order to train all the operators they have over all the world, in a global, let's say, landscape, by using our XR technology. We have also a new innovative project that is related to a big, worldwide leading IT blue chip. We signed an agreement with Google LLC in order to provide technology in the innovation for aviation.
Our product lines will be empowered by the artificial intelligence provided by Google, and more information about this partnership, strategic partnership, will bring value in the second half of the year and will be highlighted in the next course that we will have. Focus is instead in to the another area, so not the offering in digital advisory. As, as told before, this part was the champion of growth for our, let's say, overall portfolio, because we recorded a 35% of organic growth, mainly driven by the growth in the public sector. The big tenders that we won at the end of the last year, now are operational projects, they are growing. We have, we have started with several projects.
The companies that are working on this area are growing also in terms of resources, so we find people, and we increased our team, and we are now delivering with a good pace, what was expected to be delivered. Investment in the healthcare segment with the acquisition of PGMD last year, bring us also acquisition of new contracts and synergies also among the companies in this area, position ourself as an emerging player also for the digitalization of the healthcare, mainly in Italy. The offering in cybersecurity brought by TLogos last year, in the space domain, is also a strong opportunity of cross-selling and very high valuable multi-year contracts that are bringing good margins, so that contributes in a good way for the margin of the digital advisory division.
We have new strategic opportunities because we are continuing to invest on the commercial side in order to win other tenders, and we are in a good position for close additional big contracts for the second part of the year with an outlook for the multi-year, so 2024 and 2025. Looking to the software engineering division, that is the bigger one, we still had a double-digit organic growth, more or less 12%, driven by the new opportunities in the historical market and driven by the synergies among of the company of the group. For the embedded and simulation, the area in which we are very, let's say, we have a strong value proposition also against the competition, it's a strategic market, and we are pushing in order to be more international.
We recorded a growth of 30% in this area, related to advanced services, mainly with the in the German market for big defense giants operating in the area. Another important point to highlight is the signature of an important and strategic defense project that is led by Rheinmetall, and there's big players like Airbus Defence, MBDA, Thales, and Leonardo, for a new, let's say, environment for training and decision making. We are part of this large consortium that is innovating also the training by using the technology at a European level. As a technology provider, we are working with these giants in order to bring innovation in the defense and in the military side, also for the Europe, for the NATO.
The offering also that is a very high value in our portfolio is related to quality assurance. For the software quality assurance, test automation, artificial intelligence applied for testing of complex system for customers. Also, this area is the main driver of growth for the banking and finance domain, for which we are present with the large institutions, and we are continuing to grow and position ourselves as a strong player in the market. Because today we have a team of experts in this area that is more 300 resources, very specialized, that are bringing value and bringing big, let's say, projects towards our portfolio. Of course, we are continuing to invest in technology. We have competence center of artificial intelligence, extended reality, cybersecurity, and data analytics that are shared.
Competence center that are, let's say, a leverage for all the companies within the ecosystem to get, let's say, knowledge, to get people, to get resources in order to address new markets. We are continuing as a strategic outlook to leverage synergies, technological synergies, commercial synergies, in order to continue to grow. Some highlights related to the M&A strategy. As probably you know, we did an important acquisition strategic from a large aerospace giant in Canada. We acquired the business from Presagis, related to embedded graphics. A technology that is already present on the market since many years, as a leader in this niche environment that is called VAPS XT. This business will be integrated in our company that is specialized in innovation, in aviation, that is PACE.
PACE GmbH will have a new product line, so VAPS XT, that will be, let's say, exploited and will give us a stronger positioning to the aerospace market, because VAPS XT is already used by the main aerospace player in North America, is already used by main, main players also here in Europe, and there is a lot of opportunities of synergies, upselling, cross-sell of other products and services around this particular technology. The acquisition, let's say, is strategic, is also a little bit complex in terms of, let's say, operation, because this business is divided from Canada, U.S., and Europe, and so all the entities that will join the group will be merged within the PACE companies that are already present in Europe and in North America.
We will have a new development center in Montreal, so in North America, in order to continue to bring value also for this region, that for us is very strategic. The business from Presagis, as, let's say, an overall average business of the last years, that is around EUR 5 million, is a software business. A software vendor means that these EUR 5 million come from licenses and maintenance of the software that was already sold. There is a recurring business that is more or less half of these EUR 5 million, so EUR 2.5 million per year, that are the maintenance of this software for the main aerospace giants.
We are planning to add additional advanced services to this software in order to continue to grow and to continue to bring value to the, to the giants in this market. The closing of this, let's say, acquisition, will be done in September, we plan to start to consolidate from the third quarter, the last quarter of the year. Of course, for this year, there will be not, let's say, a strong contribution in terms of revenues, but we plan to be, let's say, to start to consolidate stronger starting from the next year. This acquisition was, let's say, done strategically in order to continue to grow internationally, and to position ourself as a stronger player for the innovation, for the digital innovation, for the aerospace and defense market.
Another consolidation that I want also to highlight, is related to Switzerland. In July, we decided, and we proceeded to merge the two companies that were operating in Switzerland, so Txtnext SAGL and Mexolution. Mexolution is an acquisition from 2020, more on the fintech domain. Txtnext SAGL was more working on the aerospace and defense market, and also in the industrial market. This consolidation was made in order to focus on the geography. In Switzerland, there are opportunities to grow, so by continuing to bring the overall offering of the group to the region.
The strategy is to push all the smart solution we have in the portfolio, all the capabilities that we have in the markets, and are stronger in Italy, mainly, also to this region, that will be addressed by a legal entity that is Txt E-Swiss. The first result that we also recorded in this period, after, let's say, the merging of the two companies was, let's say, growth into the manufacturing sector by upselling licenses of smart solution that are mainly present in Italy today, coming from two companies of the group that are LBA and DM Solutions. Also our strategic, let's say, positioning into the government segment, that is a segment that, as far as today, was present only in Italy.
We started at the beginning of the year to apply to several tenders, and we position ourselves on two important tender contracts. One related to healthcare, for the innovation of a particular region in Switzerland, that is implementing new solution for the healthcare. Another multi-year tender that was won recently, is related to MeteoSwiss. This tender was won, thanks to the synergy also with the PACE team, because we are speaking about weather data that are used in the aerospace market also. This tender is worth more or less CHF 5 million in a three-year contract, and we are leading a new program of data acquisition, data analysis, and data provision for the MeteoSwiss organization.
This, I wanted to highlight this because since we are continuing with our M&A strategy to aggregate in our ecosystem, vertical excellences, we are also doing a rationalization of the offering by region or by offering itself, by putting together companies that are focused on a specific high value and target. This is an example of Switzerland. Strategically for us, it's important, because we want to grow by bringing the overall offering to a specific country. In terms of financial, I've given you some highlights. Now we will do some more detailed analysis of the data, thanks to Andrea Favini from Berlin.
I want to before bringing, let's say, the line to Andrea, I want to remember you that we have a Q&A session by the chat in this call. You are welcome in order to put some questions that will be addressed by me and by Andrea after, let's say, the financial. Put your, let's say, question on the, on the chat, and Andrea, please go in order to explain some numbers to our investors.
Sure. Thank you, Daniele, welcome everyone to the financial section of this conference call. Starting from the profit and loss of the first half of the year, as already explained by Daniele, revenue were EUR 107.3 million, up 71.6% compared to the half year of 2022. The M&A contribution was approximately EUR 38 million, so we recorded an organic growth of 14%. In terms of gross margin, net of direct costs, it increased from EUR 24 million in the first half of 2022, to EUR 37.4 million in the first half of 2023, with an overall increase of 55.3%.
Gross margin, as a percentage of revenue in the first half of 2023, was at 34.8%, down 3.7 percentage point compared to the 38.5% in the first half of 2022. Due to the different revenue cost mix with the dilution of the smart solution division business related proprietary software and solution, against the consolidation starting from the last quarter of 2022, our service company with a significant volume compared to the group consolidation volumes.
In terms of indirect costs, we reported an increase in all the items, with a significant increase in commercial costs, where the group pushed in order to support the accelerated growth plan, with a new investment for events, exhibition, and to enforce and to strengthen the commercial and management team. In fact, in terms of commercial costs, we recorded an 83.4% growth compared to the first half of 2022. In terms of R&D expenses, as already highlighted by Daniele, we recorded a significant growth of 14%, and this is fully almost fully organic, and we are at EUR 4.5 million in the first half of 2023, with an incidence on revenues of 4.2%.
I want to highlight one more time that all our R&D costs are expenses within our P&L, and there are no capitalization of R&D costs. In terms of general and administrative costs, the group in the first half of 2023 recorded EUR 8.4 million, with an incidence on revenues of approximately 8%, which is in line compared to the latest quarters.
In terms of EBITDA margin, the group recorded EUR 13.9 million of EBITDA, with an EBITDA margin of 13%, down 1.7% compared to the EBITDA margin of the first half of 2022, with an increase compared to the gross margin by 2 percentage points because the indirect cost grew at a lower rate compared to the direct cost. In terms of depreciation and amortization, we are at approximately EUR 5 million, and consist of EUR 1.8 million of amortization of intangibles, of which EUR 1.3 million related to the purchase price allocation coming from M&A. There are also EUR 2.8 million of depreciation of tangible fixed asset, and EUR 0.4 million of impairment losses.
Here, we recorded a growth of 95.5% compared to the first half of 2022, mainly related to the allocation of goodwill to other intangible assets. In terms of reorganization and our recurring costs, those are nil in the first half of 2023, compared to EUR 75K in the first half of 2022. Instead, in terms of net financial result, in the first half of 2023, recorded a positive net balance of EUR 1 million, compared to the negative balance of EUR 1.4 million in the same period of the previous year.
The difference in net financial result, consist mainly of the positive effect from the recognition of the fair value of financial instrument for EUR 0.6 million, as of June 30, 2023, against the negative effect of EUR 1 million in the first half of 2022. Consisted also of the positive effect for EUR 1.9 million, for the lower debt recognized relating to the commitments undertaken by TXT, in the context of the acquisition, for which, for the purpose of earnouts, TXT has guaranteed the doubling of the value of the TXT share transfer plus of the consideration paid.
In terms of earning before taxes, we are at EUR 9.9 million, 9.2% of margin on revenues, with a significant increase compared to the EUR 5.2 million as of June 30, 2022, this is also driven by the different, let's say, financial results in the two different period. In terms of net profit, the group was also able to record a new record for the first half year, with a important net profit margin of 6.3%, versus the 5.6% recorded in the first half of 2022, with an overall increase of net profits of approximately 93%.
If we move to the second quarter of the current year, we have a revenue set approximately EUR 55 million, +71.7% compared to the second quarter of 2022, with an organic growth that is really significant, almost 17%, and also a significant push in the commercial costs. The effect described, while describing, let's say, the half-year results, is mainly driven by the second quarter of the year, when the commercial investment more than double compared to the previous year. In terms of EBITDA margin, in the second quarter of the year, the group was at 12.9%, with a drop of 3.8 percentage point compared to the second quarter of 2022.
In terms of depreciation and amortization, the effect is the same as, let's say, commented for the first half of the year. Also in terms of financial income and the taxes, we recorded, let's say, a constant trend compared to the first quarter of the year. If we move to the net financial debt, as of 30 June 2023. Next slide, please.
The unadjusted net debt is equal to EUR 38.9 million, an increase of EUR 1.6 million compared to EUR 38.3 million as of December 2022, with main disbursement of the period related to the repurchase of treasury shares for EUR 8.5 million, the payment of dividend for EUR 2.1 million, investment in minority interest of Simplex for EUR 3 million, and last lab for EUR 0.3 million. The disbursement of the period have been almost fully offset by the cash generated from operation during the first six months of the year. The main items of the unadjusted net debt as of June 30, 2023, consist of cash of EUR 65 million, mainly in euro, and with the major Italian banks.
Financial instrument at fair value of EUR 38 million, which include investment in insurance pool with the partially guaranteed capital for EUR 31 million, a bond loan for EUR 0.5 million, and government securities and bond with an overall medium, low risk profile for approximately EUR 7 million. In terms of current financial debt, as of June 30, 2023, which is equal to EUR 81 million, it consists mainly of EUR 60 million, related to the current portion of the non-current financial debt. EUR 70 million for other short-term loans, mainly hot money lines, and EUR 3 million related to the short-term portion of the debt for rental and lease, following the adoption of the accounting standard IFRS 16. Plus, EUR 1 million for the estimated disbursement for earnouts.
The short-term financial resources are equal to EUR 22.5 million in the first half of 2023, and are lower by EUR 7.8 million compared to year end 2022. If we look at the non-current financial debt as of June 30, 2023, it amounted at EUR 64 million, and they consisted of EUR 54 million for the portion of medium to long-term loans, with a maturity of more than 12 months. We have EUR 4 million for the estimated fair value of the debt for the put-call and earnouts, linked to the acquisition.
There are approximately EUR 7 million for the medium to long term portion of the debt, for the payment of rent and lease of offices, cars and printer, for all the installments until the end of the relevant contracts, following the adoption of the accounting standard, IFRS 16. The unadjusted net financial debt includes also EUR 9.9 million of debt referred to IFRS 16, up EUR 2.7 million from EUR 8.5 million as of December 31st, 2022, and EUR 4.8 million of debt were earnout and put-call option for the purchase of minority interest.
The unadjusted net financial position as of June 30, 2023, was equal to EUR 23.5 million, down EUR 16.5 million compared to the unadjusted debt, due to the reclassification of fixed investment in Banca del Fucino from fixed assets to the financial assets. If we move to the next slide, we have the balance sheet statement as of June 30, 2023, which shows fixed assets of EUR 119 million, up EUR 3.5 million compared to year-end of 2022. We have intangible assets of approximately EUR 77 million, which mainly consist of goodwill for approximately EUR 64 million, and the customer relationship linked to purchase price allocation on M&A for approximately EUR 11 million.
Reduction compared to year end 2022, is related to the depreciation, to the amortization of the period. Tangible fixed assets as of June 30, 2023, are of EUR 20 million, and consists mainly of hardware and building a rental and lease contract for offices, cars, printers, following the adoption of the accounting standard, IFRS 16. Intangible fixed assets are up EUR 2 million compared to the year end 2022, mainly for the CapEx of the period. In terms of other fixed assets, they consist mainly of the investment in Banca del Fucino, with fair value of EUR 16.5 million, constant compared to the year end of 2022.
The increase of EUR 3 million, compared to the year end 2022, consisted of the effect of the equity investment and the new associate company, Simplex, mainly. In terms of the net working capital, Dixi recorded a drop of approximately EUR 4 million, which is attributable to the reduction in the trade receivable compared to the year end 2022. Partially offset by the increase in the inventories related to the work in progress to our current ongoing projects, and by the decrease in trade payables, tax payables, and other payable and shorter term liabilities. In terms of severance and other non-current liabilities, we recorded an increase of EUR 0.5 million.
Instead, in terms of shareholders' equity, there is a reduction of EUR 2.5 million, which comes from the effect of the positive profit of the period, offset by the buyback period and by the effect coming from the equity reserves. If we move to the next slide, We can see the shareholder structure as of June 30, 2023, which show constant, let's say, stake for a Laserline and LBO, Global Asset Management, 230% and 3% respectively.
Then we are recording an increase in treasury shares compared to the year end of 2022, and a slight increase in the market, which compensated a slight decrease in the manager shares, related to the exit of a manager that enter in the Dixi project in 2018, and retiring in 2023. If we look at the dividend and treasury share repurchase in the period, in the first half of 2023, the disbursement was approximately EUR 10.6 million, of which EUR 2.1 million related to dividends, and EUR 8.5 millions related to repurchase of treasury shares.
In terms of market data, in the first 6 months of 2023, the Dixi share price recorded an official high of EUR 22.85 per share on June 20, 2023, and a low of EUR 12.86 per share on the second of January 2023. As at June 30, 2023, the share price was equal to EUR 22.35 per share. The average daily trading volume on the stock exchange in the first 6 months of 2023, was 26.3 thousand shares, up from the daily average of 24.3 in 2022.
Treasury shares as of June 30, 2022, were, June 30, 2023, were 1.2 million, representing 9.34% of the issued share, at an average carrying value of EUR 6.56 per share. Treasury share were 906.6 thousand as of December 31, 2022, and the increase of around 310 thousand share is to be attributed to the buyback plan, net of the consideration paying Dixi shares in the context of the 2022 M&A plan.
In the first 6 months of 2023, in fact, approximately 140,000 share were transferred to the vendors and current manager of Dixi, and around 450,000 shares were repurchased at an average price of EUR 18.89 per share. We are done with the financial section of this conference call. Now we are going through your Q&A. Daniele, we are ready to go through the question received.
Thank you, Andrea. Thank you so much for this explanation, okay, about numbers. We can go-
Exactly
through the questions, Andrea, if you can read the, the, the questions coming, I can answer to them, so.
Sure. I start from the first question related to the acquisition of Ennova. Andrea Randone from Intermonte is asking, "Can you tell us how the integration with Ennova is going on? What was the margin in the first half of 2023?
Ennova, let's say, was consolidated starting from the last part of the last year, so 6 months, more or less, that is within the group. For sure, there are several initiatives of synergies that we are driving through Ennova. Especially because, you know, we are re-entering a market that TXT was present several years ago, so the telco gaming market, that is a new market for us, so a diversification. There are a lot of cross-selling, upselling opportunities, so the main initiative we started with Ennova team are commercial ones, so to go to this large player in order to present the overall offering.
We are in a, a initial phase of starting with, let's say, new opportunities, new possibilities that we want to, to close and to start for the second half of the year. As far as today, the main integration also that we implemented in this part, initial part of the year, is to put together the development, so the software factory of, of innovative products that were within the Ennova perimeter, together with Assioma, that is another company of the group with a strong software engineering capability. These two teams are working together to address the market, and they started to do integrated projects for the large customer of Ennova itself. We are bringing synergies in terms of resources, in terms of technologies, in terms of capabilities.
Ennova, let's say, is also pushing some commercial activities. We started an initiative with the LBA. LBA, that is another company of the group with a proprietary solution for digital payments. In order to address the already present customer base, especially in the gaming segment of Ennova, we are implementing a new product that we will launch, and we are starting to, to, to bring to the market, and that will bring value in the second half of the year. Summarizing these, the main activities, initiative that are open with Ennova are commercial ones, so address their larger customer base with the overall offering of the group. The second one is technological synergies between the two team related to software engineering capabilities that are in Ennova and in Assioma.
In terms of margins, so Ennova, has a large footprint in terms of revenue, so the contribution of revenues coming from Ennova is important to the overall results of the group. The overall margin they recorded in the first half of the year is between 11% and 12%, more or less, okay? There is still space of improvement because we are, let's say, also implementing a rationalization of all the general services cost at group level. As you know, probably I've already told in the first meeting after the first quarter, we have reorganized the general services team in the holding, so in TXT e-solutions, that is serving all the company of the group in order to do implement economy of scale.
This process, of course, is ongoing. Some results are coming also in the first half of the year. Of course, the benefit of this organization will come later, also in the rest of the year and the following years. Of course, let's say, having these margins for a big amount of revenues, as the dilution of the overall group margins, still being a service company, having an EBITDA margin of 11%-12% is the target we want to continue and to push, and is a reasonable target for the kind of the business they are addressing. Another highlight is of course, Ennova is operating in the telco industry that is a very, let's say, stable, already consolidated market.
There, there is no a strong space in order to, to improve so much the profitability of this area. Even if we are implementing several, let's say, innovative solution based on artificial intelligence also for the advanced caring, that will optimize the service level and bring value in terms of overall profitability. I, I think to have answered to the question.
Thank you, Daniele. We have another question about the detail behind our R&D investments. We stated that we invested approximately EUR 4.5 million in the first half of the year. If you can give us a bit more of color?
Yes, EUR 4.5 million out of EUR 20 million of revenues coming from the smart solution. Our strategy of investment is based on our smart solution portfolio. This is a strong value proposition also against the competition, because as an overall group, we have the capability to advise customer in terms of innovate their processes. We have a capability to deliver software engineering capability to innovate their products. Having a proprietary portfolio of vertical solution is a strong asset in order to capture new opportunities and position ourself as a valuable partner in the customer base that we have.
The EUR 4.5 million out of EUR 20 million means more or less 25% of the revenue of smart solutions are reinvested in our pro- portfolio of products. Because for us, is very strategic to continue to invest in technology and have solution that are ahead of the competition. We are investing in artificial intelligence, we are investing in virtual reality, extended reality, in cybersecurity, all the, let's say, technology that are enabler for the transformation of customer products and processes. Out of these four, EUR 4.5 million, they are distributed among, let's say, the overall portfolio that we have. Of course, there are some area in which the investments are more. We are speaking about the less mature products.
The products, for example, based on artificial intelligence for the anti-money laundering, is one that is the highest peak of investment with respect to the other. Let's say that these EUR 4-4.5 million are distributed almost equally among all the product portfolio that we have, in order to continue to be, let's say, ahead of the competition by the technology and by the solution that we are offering.
Thank you, Daniele. Thank you so much. We have another question related to the M&A plan and activity. Can you comment about your ongoing M&A activity, and remind us what is your financial flexibility for acquisition?
Yes. As we stated also at the beginning of the year, we are strongly committed in continue to, to grow, our, our, let's say, ecosystem of companies, so do additional acquisition. First half of the year recorded, let's say, the, one, let's say, acquisition strong, that is, the Presagis business related to embedded graphics, so in order to go internationally, as explained before. We had two minor investment in two startups, of, smart solution in the fintech domain. Let's say that there is an overall, let's say, slowdown in the market with respect to M&A. Overall, also, equity, funds, or other, big players, recorded for the first half of the year, an overall slowdown.
You know that the macroeconomic situation is not so strong, there are a lot of uncertainty related to all the political movements and the war, and all, let's say, also uncertainty related to financial, recession in several countries. There is, let's say, a slowdown in the overall M&A activity in Italy, essentially, but also worldwide. We are a little bit also slowing down with respect to our initial expectation of the beginning of the year, to continue with this, let's say, process of acquiring companies and bringing companies into our portfolio. We are currently working on two opportunities that we want to close by the second half of the year.
In terms of financial availability, as I said before, we are more or less at net financial position zero, considering our treasury shares. We have a strong, let's say, portfolio of treasury shares that we want to use to do this operation. We are planning to invest and to use up to EUR 30 million this year in order to continue. Of course, we have to find the right targets, because our, let's say, strategy is growth by acquisition, but acquiring or sustainable business, so good business generating values already present with a strong customer base, or invest in more start-ups in order to bring technology to our customer.
Today, also, our, let's say, analysis of the market of opportunity, let's say, is stronger, is more difficult than before, because, you know, you, you, you have to find targets that are in line with these, our requirements. We have, let's say, a good outlook, so the possibility to do other extraordinary operation, even if maybe is lower than we were expected to do.
Thanks a lot, Daniele. We have another question related to the contract we signed in the banking sector that, we stated during the call. Can you give a bit more of details around this new contract in the banking sector?
If we are..[crosstalk]
It was related to Faraday, I guess, and the anti-money laundering.
Okay. If was referred to... Overall, the banking and finance sector as, let's say, presented, in our slides, recorded a growth of more than 20%, if I remember well, Andrea.
Yes.
This is the mix of, let's say, smart solution and the large service contracts. The two drivers are, the smart solution is the Faraday, the anti-money laundering solution. Today we have, let's say, the total of subscription, let's say, not yet consolidated because maybe they comes during the year, but the overall amount for one year of subscription is in our portfolio today is more or less EUR 600,000, so more than EUR 500,000 of subscriptions that are recurrent. Now we are starting to be present in the market stronger, and this EUR 600,000, let's say, will be reported out also in the next years coming.
Of course, we have open still opportunities, so we want to increase these, let's say, recurrent revenues target, and we are working on it. In terms of instead, new contracts for services, they are mainly related to bigger, let's say, work packages, based on a service level agreement with customer related to test automation and quality assurance. For this, we are mainly, let's say, improving our footprint to three large customers that are bringing most of the value, and we are very well positioned to have these as recurrent revenues for the next year. Of course, for service, you know, you sign contracts that are one year long, in general, with the opportunity to be renewed year by year.
I cannot give too many details of this kind of contracts, because, of course, when you do these kind of projects, you need a disclosure from this large customer in order to provide the details, and it's very complex to obtain them. What I can share is that these contracts put us in a strong position in order to continue to deliver these work packages also for the next few years.
Thanks, Daniele. That's really helpful. We have another question about the EBITDA margin expected for the second half of the current year, compared to what we achieved in the first half of this year. This year was 13% in the first half, and which is our expectation for the second half?
We have, I said before, initiative in order to do economy of scale and cost reduction in, in terms of general services, so administrative cost of the overall group, that will bring an improvement of the profitability in the second half of the year. Of course, we started the year with a target to reach 14%. The first half is 13%. It's more complex now to reach the target, of course, because it means to do very, much more better than the first half of the year in terms of percentage of marginality, but we are strongly committed to continue to, to drive. For sure, the outlook that we have for the second half of the year is positive, so at least the result of the first year will be done, okay?
First half of the year. 13% is a, let's say, bottom level that we will reach, and we are working hard in order to improve it, in order to reach the target that we are planning to do.
Perfect. Thank you, Daniele.
I give an answer very high level, because, this, this is the point that we are working harder in order to keep, to maintain, as promised.
Really good. Thank you, Daniele. We have another question, or maybe I can take care of the second part of the question. I start with the first part, which is asking that, "If I'm right, you mentioned being well positioned to grasp the new public tenders for the Digital Advisory segment. Are you able to give us a bit more color on that side? Just to get an idea, could there be programs as big as the Concept consortium?
Yes, we are very, very well positioned. Also in this case, we cannot disclose information before all the, let's say, step of the tenders, public tenders are completed. They are not larger as the concept consortium that we won, that was a very huge one that we won last year. They are smaller, of course, in the overall footprint, but we are speaking about tenders from EUR 10 million-EUR 20 million. Still, important multi-year engagement to customers. This is the information that I can share.
Thank you, Daniele. On the same question, we have seen an improvement in working capital this semester. How do you see the dynamics going into the second half? Should we expect a significant increase in the working progress with regard to the acceleration of the growth plan for second half? It's true, let's say, maybe you can, little bit-
Yes, go, Andrea. When we are speaking about numbers, you are more, more...
Yeah, I know, it's just, let's say that historically, the TXT Group was always, let's say, behaving in this way. Close to the year end, to accumulate more, let's say, receivable and working progress, that are then, let's say, historically reduced during the year. The same trend we expect also for this year. Let's say that, year end 2022, there was, let's say, all the, the company currently in the consolidation, let's say, perimeter already within our balance sheet. Of course, the EUR 37 million of net working capital need to be balanced with the pro forma revenues, and we were approximately at 18% of revenues in terms in, of net working capital.
We can expect a similar level also for the December end of the year 2023. Between 17% and 20% of the working capital as a percentage of let's say, the consolidated revenues or the pro forma revenues, if as planned, we will make let's say, new acquisition. The increase will be both in the let's say, work in progress, but also in the trade receivable, because working with for example, with the governments or with some major let's say, defense player, close to the year end, there is let's say, a stronger invoicing process that then let's say, collected during the first half of the next year.
We have another question, which is, again, related to the Ennova business, and investor is asking, is TIM, TIM Telecom Italia a significant contributor to Ennova's revenue? Is there a significant change in TIM's demand for ECT in the past few months with the, all the issues, surrounding Open Fiber Edge? It's more, let's say, question specific to our, exposition towards, let's say, TIM and any issue.
Yes. Yes, TIM is a significant contributor to Ennova revenue, of course, because operating in the telco market, especially in Italy, Telecom Italia is the larger player. Of course, I, as you know, Telecom Italia is under, let's say, a transformation phase. Of course, there is uncertainty when you have a large, let's say, organization that is changing skin. Nevertheless, let's say TIM is doing also good results. If you attended and you, you see the results of TIM for the first half of the year are positive, and the ICT demand, at least for this year, is in line with the expectation. There, there will be no, let's say, a big change with respect to our plan. Of course, there is uncertainty for the future because it is under transformation.
The other thing is that, Telecom has also, TIM, Brazil, that is controlled by TIM, that is also performing well, that is also customer that have different dynamics with respect to the Italian counterpart. We are, we're very well positioned on the overall footprint of Telecom, and we think that, of course, we have to build for the future. What we are, we are doing is also to a diversification, because, yes, Telecom is, is an important customer, but there are other telco player, other gaming players. There are other customers that are growing, and we are also pushing to diversify more the business with respect to the, the past business of Ennova, now that Ennova is a part of larger group as TXT.
Thank you, Daniele. We have, one last question. When we will see the impact of the new, public administration contracts in, your sales growth? I think, we are, referring-
Yes.
to the one already acquired, I would say.
We are already, we are already, let's say, recording the growth coming from these contracts, because as stated during the presentation, the, the government segment was growing faster than the other areas in which we are present. We have still capability to grow with this part, because, you know, when you start up the project, is a phase of phase out in which you, you do more activities and the ramp up of the team itself. Already the first half of the year is recording this growth, and it, it will continue in the second half of the year, of course.
Thank you so much, Daniele. We currently don't have any other question.
Okay.
We can go to summer vacation, no?
Uh-
No, in Berlin, we work all the August and all the rest of the year.
Of course, Daniele, of course. Thank you very much for attending this meeting. I hope that we give you, as usual, a lot of transparency of, on, on what we are doing. For us, it's very important to have our community also of investors that are engaged. We are also recording a good performances of our stock price in, in the stock market. The management of the team, of the whole company, of the group, our chairman is also strongly committed in order to, to continue with this growth plan that is, let's say, very consistent, quarter by quarter. We are very committed. We want to continue. Thank you very much for attending, and have a nice summer break for who is going to have a summer break. Thank you, Andrea.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Daniele. Thank you, everyone.
See.
See you next time.
See you for the nine-month results in three months. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.