Finance Director, Kristian Sæther. I'm happy and proud to share that Zaptec continues to grow significant. We outperform our competitors and gain market share even when the EV market is temporarily challenging. Our focus on quality and safety makes a difference. During the fourth quarter, we have got better visibility for future revenue with our increasing order intake, and we entering 2024 with a record high backlog. In the fourth quarter, we also got more financial flexibility when we increased the overdraft facility. We have focused on our core business and divesting non-core assets, like the Charge365 in the fourth quarter. We have focused on key product market adoption and investigate future business models. In the fourth quarter, we invest for the future by building competency, next-gen, product portfolio, and increased marketing contributed to the strong sales growth.
We also have high export increase on the back of market penetration outside Norway. So let's look at the figure for the fourth quarter. The revenue ended on NOK 408 million, which is an increase for 70%, and for the total year, we passed NOK 1.4 billion. The order intake was also increasing and ended at NOK 362 million. This was also increased from the third quarter. As mentioned, the order backlog is record high and have an increase from 161% versus the fourth quarter last year. Also, the gross margin was increasing from the fourth quarter last year, and together with the EBITDA, Kristian will go more in detail on this later on.
The EBITDA was NOK -8 million in the quarter, but this is a high increase from last year, whereas it was NOK -39 million. For the whole year, we have a positive EBITDA. The export share was high with 72%, and this is an increase from 68% in the fourth quarter last year. Despite demanding macroeconomic condition, we achieved 70% sales growth versus the fourth quarter in 2022. For 2023, the turnover was more than NOK 14.4 million, and this is a strong growth of 94% compared to 2022. We are very satisfied with this when we take into account the weakened purchasing power in the core market last year, and it shows that Zaptec gained market share. Order intake increased compared to the previous quarter and compared to the fourth quarter in 2022.
The growth was 31% from Q4 in 2022. The graph shows a continuous increase, but one must remember that quarter one and two in 2023 were very special due to the sudden change in competitive situation in the Swedish market. The total order intake in 2023 was more than NOK 1.7 billion. Thanks to strong order intake also in the fourth quarter, we had a total of NOK 451 million in order backlog at the start of 2024. We have record high exports in the fourth quarter with NOK 293 million, and this is an increase of 75% from the fourth quarter in 2022. The export share increased to 72% from 65% in the previous quarter. We believe in an increased export share from entry into new markets in Europe.
We have now started deliveries in France. Benelux sales are ramping up. We have refocused the UK commercial strategy, and we have added distributors in several new markets across Europe.
Looking at the gross margin in the fourth quarter, we maintained a high level of 37% compared to 36% the same period last year. For 2023, in total, gross margin ended at 38% compared to 39% in 2022. In the fourth quarter, we changed accounting principle on revenue related to connectivity in our chargers after IFRS 15, where the related revenue is spread over five years instead of taking at time of sales. The change in principle does not affect cash flow, but shows a lower revenue and following margins. Compared to previous financial releases, the change in accounting principle stands for 1.5% lower gross margin in the fourth quarter and 1.7% lower gross margin in 2023 in total. Going forward, we expect to maintain approximately the same level of gross margin.
In the fourth quarter, we continued the positive EBITDA trend year on year. EBITDA in the fourth quarter was -8%, NOK -8 million, or -2% compared to NOK -39 million, or -16% in the fourth quarter last year. For 2023 in total, EBITDA was NOK 43 million. This is an improvement of NOK 68 million compared to negative EBITDA of NOK -25 million for 2022. Results in the fourth quarter are affected by one-offs for termination agreement with the prior CEO of NOK 11 million, increased provision for potential credit loss of NOK 9 million, and strategic use of additional marketing expenses, leading to the high sales achieved.
The impact of the change in accounting principle according to IFRS 15 stands for a total of NOK 39 million in 2023, and without this change, EBITDA had been positive in the fourth quarter and ended around 6% for 2023 in total. On liquidity, we increased the overdraft facility from NOK 70 million to NOK 300 million in the fourth quarter. The new facility is in DNB, is backed by Export Finance Norway, which guarantees for 50% of the credit limit. At the end of December, the credit line remained unused, leaving us with a strong position of NOK 441 million in available liquidity.
So let's look closer on the EV market and the sales figure. First, we look into Norway and Zaptec had a strong increase in sales in Norway despite the weak EV market. Look at this, graph. EV sales are down 56% from the fourth quarter last year, while Zaptec increased sales by 51% in Norway in the same period. So I have to say, we are really pleased to have increased our market share so strongly in Norway, and these are impressive figures in a mature market such as Norway. For the whole 2023, sales in Norway increased by 95% and ended at NOK 449 million in revenue in Norway in 2023.
When you look at the same figure outside Norway, we have a high increase in export in the fourth quarter, despite a weak EV market also in Europe in the fourth quarter. Also international, Zaptec can show strong figures in the fourth quarter. EV sales in Europe were down 7% in the fourth quarter compared to last year, while Zaptec delivered an impressive 75% growth in fourth quarter compared to 2022. It is also worth noting that there is an expected 20% growth in EV sales in Europe in 2024, and a massive 45% increase in EV sales in 2025 in Europe. Then we have to repeat what we had said before. We are well prepared to capitalize on European mass market EV adoption.
If you look at the graph on the right-hand side, you see this huge shift in EV sales, which is forecasted from 2025 in Europe. The Nordic EV sales are just a tiny part of this total sales, and the Nordic is the main market for Zaptec so far. So that show this huge potential we have in new markets, especially in countries like France, UK, and Germany, who have more than half of the new EV sales in the coming years. The Q4 performance provides both visibility for future revenue and the financial flexibility needed for sustained growth. And as I said, the export revenue is projected to accelerate further. Sales are started in France. We have a good momentum in the Benelux.
We have refocused our sales strategy in U.K., and we have got a lot of new distributors across European markets, also in many new markets. And maybe the most important of all on this slide, we have several new product releases upcoming, developed for the European mass market. And all these new product releases, either is software or hardware, will be released during 2024. So in all, strong growth in the addressable market due to improved product market fit and forecasted EV sales acceleration. So we expect a significant cash flow generation from 2025 and forward. So that was the presentation this morning, and we will now open up for questions. Your largest listed competitor have- there was many question at the same time.
Your largest listed competitor have recently commented that the negative destocking cycle at the distributor seems to have ended, and that orders have started to increase again from Q4, early 2024. Do you also see this trend in your business? The answer is yes, and you can see our order backlog at the end of the year. That's a sign of that. So we really see that the destocking is now happening, and we will start to deliver again. Can you shed some light on how you are targeting the Benelux market? Type of sales, channels, distributors? Are you doing the same as the other markets? Yes, we have the same model in the Benelux as in the other European markets.
So, so we address widely in many channels, both wholesalers, utilities, value-added resellers. So it's the same, and in Benelux, we have the same challenge that we are market fit for the Pro version with MID certification. But in the whole market, we have a smaller market since we are still not ready with the MID certification on the Go, but that will come soon. What does the other operating income of NOK 24 million consist of? Maybe you, Kristian, have some detail.
This is related to our divesting of Charge365, our payment service, which is a non-core asset we had previously, and see that we... With the profit on maintaining our core business and focus, we focus only on that.
Yes. Another quarter, it cost higher than we expected. Do you have control on cost for 2024? The answer is yes, because a lot of the cost in fourth quarter is related to both a change in the accounting principle and one-off. So yes, we can control the cost. I'm not concerned about the cost. I'm not concerned about the margin. The most important is that we have the top line, the sales, because the other factor we can adjust and influence ourselves. So yes, we have control. Could you please elaborate about your expectation for sales level in Norway and Sweden in 2024? Do you believe in a flat level, given the slow consumer demand, or is it realistic to believe in a growth?
We have really done a thorough job making the budget for 2024, and out from all the income from all the distributors in Norway and Sweden, we have in our budget a growth in both countries. But of course, the growth will not be 100% as last year, but we have growth in both countries. Do you see any price pressure for your charger? How should we think about the gross margin in 2024? Well, we say that we outperform our competitors, so price, we don't have this price pressure so far. Of course, there is price pressure. We compete on price all the time, but we have a very low price, so we think that the gross margin should be the same in 2024 as we presented now.
Could you comment on the expanding inventory, 5 times Q4 2022? Yes. This has been our biggest challenge the previous year, and the reason is that when this shift in competition, in especially Sweden, happened one year ago, we have a extremely high demand after our chargers, and we ramp up the production both in Norway and in Germany, and then really succeed with ramping up the production. And then this autumn, we got this huge and suddenly shift in the demand due to the stocking in all distributors around Europe. And as you know, when we are doing electronic production, we have a long lead time, and we cannot turn around so quickly as we wish.
So we will work very hard now to reduce the inventory in 2024, and we have already done action. We have slowed down the production, and we are looking to do even more in that perspective. So you will see a much lower inventory at the end of 2024 than you see today. We expect the inventories to slow down during third and fourth quarter. Sorry, I forgot to read the question, but it was, when do you expect the inventories to decrease? Yeah.... Any news on the vacant CEO position, or can you, Kurt, manage the workload? I can manage the workload. I see no challenge with that. It's a positive challenge. I like what I'm doing.
The board is working now on the process to finding new CEO, and they are expected to have a conclusion on this process within the end of this month. Now, Kristian Sæther, there is a question about: could you please indicate the IFRS 15 effect on 2022 EBITDA?
So you can look at Note 15 and see the details there with comparison for each quarter. But on the top of my head, we have approximately NOK 20 million in 2022 and NOK 38.8 million in 2023.
Could you provide some more details on the planned European product launches? Well, I will not give you all detail, but I can say that we are now finished with the OCPP box level on our Go charger. We are now doing the business review on, and then we will launch it out in the market. We will come with a new update, load balancing or Sense, during the spring. We will also launch a brand-new app during the spring. We are launching a new website. And of course, the biggest launch this year is the new Go charger. The...
I have already said that it will be MID certified, but it will also contain a lot of other stuff, and this is planned to be launched in August and planned for mass production in September. And we are working both with our vehicle-to-grid. There has happened great things there during the year. And we will also have the Eichrecht for the Pro market in Germany during the year. And we have recently, a couple of days ago, launched and produced and sent out the new Pro charger for U.K. with the security reg in place. So now we are ready for U.K. with our Pro system. And other things I won't talk about. A secret. Could you elaborate on distribution in France, Benelux, and the U.K.?
As I said, France was a new market. We haven't had product before now in January, and we started up really good. We are very pleased with the opening in France on the Pro. So it's looking very positive when it come to the France market, and they will also get the Go charger when we launch the new Go later this year. Benelux is going really well. We are really pleased with the development in the Benelux, especially Netherlands and Belgium. Luxembourg is a small market. And UK, we had to refocus on the strategy. We was too narrow and look into the home building market. Now we have the same strategy and as is the other market, and we have got the first huge contract with the wholesalers and distributors.
We see a positive development in U.K. How do you expect OpEx to develop in 2024? Will quarterly OpEx roughly be in line with Q3 2023 of NOK 115 million? Kristian, do you have the detail?
Yes. Since we had some one-off effects in the fourth quarter, we are looking at, approximately, above the third quarter OpEx level since we had a couple of more employees coming in this quarter. And there will also be salary increases, for 2024 as, as last year. So approximately above, the third quarter, as running, OpEx level.
I don't see any significant revenue coming from Belgium. Why, what should we think about this? Netherlands seems to have a very large growth in percentage, so why not Belgium? Well, the reason is that we have fewer distributors in Belgium, but we are increasing. And another factor is that we didn't have people in our organization in the Netherlands who speak French. So we have now hired French people also in Belgium, because in the Benelux, it's like, it's a bit like the Nordic. We think that a Netherlands salesperson can do the same job in Belgium as the Belgian people, but there is a culture difference. It's like Norwegians should try to sell in Sweden, so therefore we have hired people from Belgium.
So I think that's some of the reason. Will inventories continue to increase in Q1 and Q2, or should we expect it to be stable versus Q4 2023 before dropping in second half 2024? Of course, it depend of the sales, of course, but we have a reduced production every month this spring, and will be down to the goal we had in April. So we don't expect it to drop before in the third quarter. Isn't that right, Kristian?
Yeah. Yes, that's correct.
Yeah. Will the new product to be launched in 2024 contribute positively or negatively to the gross margin going forward? It will contribute positive. I cannot go in more detail than that, but it will be positive. Can we expect any write-downs of the current inventory when you are launching all those new product? The answer is no. We have a plan, and there's different markets, so there will be a different product in different markets. Will there be more buyback of shares from Zaptec? We have no plan at the moment to do that, but we have outstanding option. So, in that relation, it may be happen, but we have no plan for that.
We hope that the share price will stay at the level that we don't have to do buyback. It seems like that was the last question. So if there isn't any other question, we just want to thank you for listening in, and thank you for following us in this journey. I just have to say, drive safe. So thank you.