Hello, everyone, and welcome to this quarterly presentation and first half year report of 2024 . My name is Leif Arnold Thomas. I am the CEO of the Huddlestock Group, and I will walk through the slide deck first, and then if you have questions, please type these into the chat channel, and I'll go through those afterwards. The total time is set for thirty minutes, and I would expect that that's enough. So let's just start. But again, welcome everybody for participating. Yep, here we are. Okay, second quarter of 2024 and the first half year is the topic for this call.
You are now listening to the quarterly presentation from Huddlestock. Our mission in the market is to enable companies that would like to launch investment services or saving services or trading services to come to us, so that they can just be able to deliver that in the market without a lot of investments and a lot of time consumption. That's the short way of telling what we are delivering and our value proposition to our clients. Q2, very short. It's a quarter where we have seen that revenues has declined from NOK 21 million in Q1 until NOK 18 million in Q2. The reason for that is actually quite easy to explain.
The most important, I think, and what pleases me, is to see that recurring revenues from the technology part of the company, what we call Investment as a Service revenues, they grew with 7% from Q1 to Q2. And that's in my perception a very good figure that I think it is important to highlight also when it comes to comparing revenues from one quarter to another. And the explanation for the decline in the revenue from these two quarters is the consultancy area, where we have had some changes in the staffing. And with all the consultants going out and new coming in, it always takes some time for the new ones to get up to speed. So that is what has happened in Q2.
So when it comes down to the top line, yes, it has declined a little bit from these two, from Q1 to Q2, but the explanation is actually very not good, but it's easy to explain. When it comes to profitability, EBITDA was -NOK 4 million in Q1 and -NOK 6 million in Q2. I will come back to a little bit more of the parts underneath these figures. But we have had some reduction in personnel costs with approximately 14%. That I think is important to emphasize since we are in a period where cost reduction and efficiency is one of the highest tops of the agenda.
The plan forward and the short-term objective is, of course, to continue the work that was started the first half. And a lot of decisions and activities have been done during Q2 that we expect to see the results of also on the cost side during the last part of 2024 and into 2025. What is very important for Huddlestock is to work with our core, our technology, our products. And what we have planned for development on that front is developing on track. It's about to migrate Norwegian customers that uses third-party systems today into our own technology.
And also, of course, to make sure that the technology that is working in, for example, Sweden, also is adjusted so that it can work in another market, for example, Norway. We are still, of course, looking out of the Nordics and Europe is then the place I'm talking about, and Germany especially. We did write and announce an LOI with a big player in Germany called AVL in January this year. And that process has been going for months. I would really like to keep it much more shortened. But on the other hand, Germany is a very different market than the Scandinavian markets. Things are more manual in general.
It goes a little bit slower, but at the same time, it's all figures and numbers, and everything is bigger. So we are continuously working with that process. We have a good dialogue and have had that all the way with this company called AVL. And as part of that work, I was happy that we could announce last week that we have signed an LOI with Tradevest, which in the AVL setup will be an important component for the whole delivery package. When it comes to consulting business, I expressed in Q1 that that was an important area for us, and that we have been working on to see how we can make that business grow. And that is something that we started in Q1, and in Q2, we have already...
Or that was actually after Q2. We have now started to see the first result with a new Danish client as a client of ours in Denmark. So we have not been allowed to say so much about our client. They would like to keep in the dark. But for us, it is very important to step in the right direction, and it's a very good match with the ambitions and the work we have been doing on the consulting area and make that to grow from the good base that we already have. In Huddlestock, we have a two-sided business model.
It is what we call Investment as a Service, and that is the product area, the tech area, where we do offer investment solutions to companies out there that would like to capitalize and use our technology infrastructure, trading solutions, and also our regulatory permissions if they do not have that. The business model is based on monthly licenses, assets under management or administration, and transaction fees. It is important for us to have a revenue model that is divided between more than one axis, because then, as I will come back to, that makes it possible for us to get revenues on some of the sides, even though the other side is not growing, and vice versa. On the other hand, we have the consulting business area.
We have, on that part, big players in the market, big banks in the market. We are on loan contracts, and the history so far has seen that we're able to sign up loan contracts, and it's a very sticky business, so that is the basis for a growth strategy that we have been starting on, then on the customer side, we also have in two directions. We have the incumbents or the players that has been in the market for many years. They very often have a big distribution network where they could capitalize on new services, and that would make Huddlestock interesting.
And also we have a lot of new startups and new ideas coming on that would like to take the advantage of the opportunities that is coming in the market, following more investors and more technological solutions possible to capitalize on. We've tried to find good figures for this market and to illustrate how big it is or how it grows, and it's difficult to find the perfect illustration. But almost every report you are reading, and whatever angle you are looking from, the signal is the same. We are in a strong growth market within the digital investment area, meaning that where... that's the area and the market where increased demand for investment services is combined with new digital services.
We probably only have seen the start of that journey, but that is at least where the space Huddlestock is in, and we think that this is an interesting place to be and to capitalize. If you look at our own customer base per today, we reported in the Q1 report that we had 7,000 end clients in our systems, and they had 11,000 end client accounts. If you look at the comparison between Q1 and Q2, it could look like we have just made an error because the figures are the same. The explanation is that if you look at Q2, the numbers are a little bit less than the one you see, and on Q2 it's a little bit higher than we want to see.
But when you make it a little bit easier, it's pretty much the same. And that is also the same as you probably everybody have seen, that we have not signed up any new clients in production in this period. But I mentioned the revenue model and how that was divided between different areas, and what is very interesting for us to see that our customers are succeeding. So even though we have not any new customers starting to use our services, we see that we have a very good growth on the assets under administration, and that is one of the revenue legs we have.
So when our current clients are succeeding and getting more assets under their administration, that is also something that we are capitalizing on, because that is one of the revenue sources for us. So it's a demonstration that we are able to capitalize on our current clients as long as they are succeeding. We have at least three main areas we are focusing on. It's in the Nordics, and especially in Norway and Sweden, where we have this Bricknode system that was acquired last year and that is well functioning in the Swedish market. We are working on sales towards new potential clients, of course, in the Swedish market. But we are also, of course, eager to get that technology working in the Norwegian market.
Stack by.me is the first Norwegian client that is using the Bricknode technology for fund trading. What is important going forward is, of course, to make sure that all existing clients in Norway can also use the same Bricknode system, and of course, new companies that we are attracting, then there's no question, it's the Bricknode technology we are using. And why is that important? It is important for many reasons. One is, of course, to make things easier internally. All employees can work in the same system. We can... We do not think about other systems. And also, of course, it has a cost side, because when we can use our own technology for all our clients, we will not be able to...
It's not necessary to pay any third-party providers for that service. New sales and cross sales are important components in Norway and Sweden. We have also tried to estimate approximately what could be our market share in Norway and Sweden, and we estimate it to be between 10% and 50% of the serviceable market for us. That is the customers or the companies that are out there today, but we also experience that there are coming new potential clients every week or month in this market. It's a very interesting place to be. Outside the Nordics, we do have a lot of interesting companies that we really would like to have, and we're working hard to get that.
But of course, Germany is one important space for us, and that's a place where we have been physically for many years. And we have people on the ground, and we have an LOI with a very interesting company called AVL. AVL, that was signed in January, and we are now working together with AVL and ourselves on how to put together all the pieces in this ecosystem. And with that as a background, I was very happy to be able to announce last week that we have signed an LOI with Tradevest. That is one of the local components that would be interesting for Huddlestock in the European strategy. Consultancy business, I've talked a little bit about.
We have a strong foothold in especially Sweden and Denmark, and we have now started to explore how to grow that business even more. The Nordic market is, of course, not perhaps a big market. To us, we still have a lot of potential to take out of the Nordic market. But the Nordic market, defined as Norway and Sweden, compared to, for example, Germany, is just a fourth of the German market. So we're talking about a big market with millions of potential customers, and with millions of individual investors in this market and coming into this market. This market is also being more and more populated by different preferences.
So with different preferences that open up opportunities for new players to offer new value propositions and new services. And what is very common in such situations is that they need a technology partner, and LOI with Hillebrand in Norway before the summer and also AVL, and more that is not signed as LOIs, is that they need Huddlestock technology to be able to realize their ambitions. Of course, to take care of our current customers is important, and we announced that Kraft Finans was-
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Oh, perfect. Okay, sorry about that. I don't know what happened, but, let's continue. Yeah, I think I was finished with this. This was about the market that was evolving and how new commerce and different old commerce see new opportunities with this market, and where more and more companies out there see that Huddlestock can help them to realize their goals. Huddlestock is, to our knowledge, at least, the only company in the European space that can deliver a complete Investment as a Service offering, meaning that based in our technology, in our investment platform, we are able to support our customers.
It could be a front-end solution, it could be an advisor solution, or it could be with APIs as well, if they do have some other preferred solution for that. But of course, having the investment platform and technology is not enough. We need to also make sure that instruments or connections to different markets or sources need to be fed into the system, so there we have full flexibility. Also, on the bank and custody side, we have the opportunity to connect to whoever our client thinks is the best, and of course, on the license area as well. Some of our clients have their own license, and they are only interested in some of the other solutions.
Other clients really would like to have that as well as a regulatory umbrella around it all. So we have full flexibility. We can deliver it all, or we can deliver parts of this, and that is something that is very important for us in communication with existing clients or with prospects, that we're able to put together the different pieces of the whole that is necessary to have a good parallel setup for that client. Going forward, in addition to work with tech integration to make us be able to migrate clients over to our own platform, and also to work with technology to make sure that all processes are as automated as possible.
We are, of course, also looking forward, and, if I should just have some highlights of the next period of 2024, the last half, it's now a lot about to do the adjustment into the Norwegian market. We have this ASK, a share savings account, that is a typical Norwegian thing, a little bit comparable to the ISK in Sweden, for Swedish investors that might listen into this. It's about tax reporting. It's one of the areas that is normally different from country to country, and most of it is the same, but you still have some small adjustments, and now we're working full to handle Norwegian tax areas.
Automation. I've been talking a little bit about, and of course, to migrate the current Norwegian customers over to our own technology, making things much easier for us and, of course, also making it possible for us to reduce cost. We do have equity trading available in the Swedish market, and now we are working on how to also make that accessible for the Norwegian market. Even though it might seem easy, it's lots of small bits and pieces that need to be put together in order and be tested so that we make sure that what we deliver is of high quality and not just rush to the market with something that is not working properly.
That's the main priorities for the last half of 2024. Visigon, I've been talking a little bit about as well. Ambition is to grow the business. We see from the history that they have a steady business, and with new services or new energy to make more out of that, I'm very happy to see that we have already been able to sign up a new client in Denmark, and in Q3, we will launch a new Visigon website as well. So a little bit about the financials. I've been a little bit into that earlier on.
I think that even though the top line has been declined a little bit from Q1 to Q2, with some very direct and rational reasons connected to the consulting business, it's very good to see that the recurring revenue business from the technology side has been growing organically with 7% from first quarter to the second. So, of course, we are, if you look a little bit some years back as well, it's an ambition to make the recurring revenues to be as much of the total revenues as possible. And that is the big picture that we also still would we'll work on to increase that percentage and the part of the business. Because recurring business revenues are very good and steady to build on.
When it comes to PNL, we have more focus on Q1 to Q2 than to compare with Q2 last year. The reason for that is actually very simple. That's because the company is totally different today than last year. Especially Huddlestock Solutions that was with us last year is not no longer a part of the business. That was divested end of last year. That is why we are most focused on the development from Q1 to Q2. Total operating income, I have, I think, commented a lot already.
I've said before, and I say again, that we are constantly working on the cost side, and with that as a background, I'm happy to see that the personnel cost had been declined with approximately 14% from Q1 to Q2. On the other hand, we have other operating expenses that has increased a little bit in Q2 compared to Q1, and the reason for that is very close connected with all activities that has been done in Q2 to prepare for the last part of our 2024 and into 2025. It's about restructuring the organization, it's about changing roles and responsibilities. It's about to look at all costs. It's restructuring activities, most of it. We will always have some operating costs, for sure.
That, that's absolute for sure, but we have had some extra operating one-offs in Q2 that makes the EBITDA going in the wrong direction from a little less than four to a little bit higher than five in Q1. Depreciations and amortization and impairments, it's on the same level as the Q1, and that makes sense, a little bit higher than last year, and that's of course a consequence of acquired companies that we have done since last year, and also due to technology that has been developed, and we are now starting to use. When you start to use the technology that you have invested in, then you also need to start amortization.
Cash flow ended out in last quarter with approximately NOK 10 million on bank accounts, and that's gone. If you see at what has happened during that period with cash flow for operations, investments, and financing, we are out of Q2 as well with a cash balance of the same level as when we went into this quarter. To sum up, we will still continue to focus on the profitable consultancy business and make that grow. We will focus on our Onvestment as a Service part of the business, that is the tech part, and very much about recurring revenues. We will still work close and hard with the market outside the Nordics and in Germany particularly.
Of course, at the same time, have a strong focus on the EBITDA positive, neutral part of it, so that we are not bleeding money, and that is about to focus on sales. It's about to grow the consultancy business. It's about to increase and enhance efficiency in the organization, and as always, good cost control and cost reduction where that is possible. That's the takeaway from this presentation, and also what we will focus on in the months to come. Thank you. That was 30 minutes. I cannot see that we have received any questions. If there are no questions, you are always welcome to send questions to investorrelations@huddlestock.com, of course.
And, I apologize for the technical challenges in this meeting, but, that is something what happens, and I'm so happy that I was made possible to come back again. Let me see. There is one question someone is writing in, it seems. Yeah. Okay, then I say thank you very much, everybody, for participating, and, please, contact me or someone else in the group if you have questions along the road. Thank you.