Good morning. Welcome to MÁDARA Cosmetics Investor Webinar. We will start with company's presentation and continue with a live Q&A session. To join the discussion, please submit your questions through the Q&A window below the presentation. The session is being recorded and will be available for re-watch shortly after the call. Let me now introduce you to our host, the Member of the Management Board and CEO, Gunta Šulte, and Member of the Management Board and CFO, Tatjana Nagle. Ladies, floor is all yours.
Thank you very much, Ieva, and good day, everybody, and thank you very much for joining today. We start. Today, we will discuss the performance of MÁDARA Cosmetics of 2023. We will guide you through key financial results as well as some other important events that we experienced last year, and then also give you a sneak peek of what to expect in 2024. Of course, you have full access to the management report and the audited financial statements in our investors section under madaracosmetics.com. As mentioned today, we are here with Tatjana Nagle, our CFO, and me, myself, Gunta Šulte, CEO of the company. We start. Describing 2023, I use the word dynamic, and it comes with many meanings of the word dynamic. Of course, we are very pleased and happy to say that we generated 8% in revenue growth in 2023.
However, we also must admit that the first half of the year has been a slowdown that we did not expect while kicking off the last year. There were a few reasons behind. One of the biggest, of course, was our partner in Finland not performing to the level expected, which definitely led to us generating almost flat revenue growth. However, second half was very much an acceleration, so we grew almost 18% in the second half of the year for various reasons, and we will touch upon those also a bit later. We grew in most of our export countries. We introduced new products, successful products to the market. We strengthened our team, so I'm happy to report 8% growth. One of these growth-driving engines for sure has been also the winning momentum we have had in tinted makeup.
That continued to increase faster than the average growth that we saw on, let's say, general portfolio. The makeup category in our portfolio increased its share by 2 percentage points compared to previous year. It's also going to be one of pivotal engines on which we will generate also growth next year and years to come. Last but not least, I'm also happy to report that we delivered sustainable profitability margin. EBITDA was at 14% level, which was on the same level as last year. Also what is important, that second half of the year, we increased our profitability indicators compared to the first half of the year. With that, I'm giving floor to Tatjana, who will guide you through more in depth of our financial performance.
Thank you, Gunta. Hello, dear shareholders, and let's dive into our key financial results. As Gunta pointed out, our revenue was EUR 20.23 million, which is more than 8% increase. In fact, as also already mentioned, growth in the second half of the year was roughly 18%. It was due to success of several markets where we performed very well. I will touch upon these markets a bit later. Also, speaking about profitability, we had EBITDA of EUR 2.9 million and pre-tax profit of EUR 1.9 million. Our pre-tax profit has increased by more than 24% in comparison to the previous year. Speaking about the margins, we see an improvement in margins as well, especially if we look at the second half of the year. They are much more healthier than it was in the second half of 2022.
Yes, there is a slight increase in gross profit margin. Again, the EBITDA margin is stable now for two years at 14% level. The reason for that is that we keep investing in the markets because we want to achieve higher growth and to drive development of the revenue of the company. Investments are inevitable. Now to elaborate more on key events, we will start with the geographical split. Here, thank you. Here, first thing I want to mention is that we did great job in a number of markets. We had no negative surprises in the second half of the year in our stable big markets as Latvia and Finland, which of course helped not to drop. Also we had positive tendencies in our growing markets.
In France we had +15% in revenue growth in the second half of the year in the B2B segment. Overall, at the end of the year, we had around 200 new retail doors opened in this country. This year we will definitely continue to spend more time in developing this market. Also an interesting fact is that, at the moment, the Czech Republic is among the top 10 biggest markets of the company. In the second half of the year, Czech Republic generated +50% in revenue in comparison to the second half of 2022. If we look at the sales distribution across the big markets, so EU, outside the EU, and Latvia, what we see is that there is no huge change in any direction. Although a small share decrease is in Latvia.
The share of Latvia decreased by 1 percentage point. I think it is quite clear that to grow a stable market, we need much more resources than we need in markets where we are just at the beginning. I think this trend is quite clear, and it could continue in other periods as well if we continue to boost our sales in other markets. Now let's talk about the product categories. Here Gunta already mentioned that our makeup segment is growing. Also in 2023, we had extensive skin tint campaign, which definitely contributed to growth of makeup share and also makeup segment, and specifically tinted products are at the core of our business. We will continue to promote them in next year as well. Otherwise, we see that proportions are quite similar. Still, for MÁDARA, face care is the top segment.
Of course, we have body care and hair care products, but face care is our focus segment. Some key events of the second half of the year regarding products is that we had several very strong and successful launches. The first one is Retinol Alternative Serum in the TIME MIRACLE line, which already from the beginning, got really big acceleration in revenue growth. Already now it is one of the best-selling products of MÁDARA with really good reviews, both from our B2B partners and customers. We are really proud about this product. Also we introduced SOS+ line for sensitive skin, which is dermatologically approved. This is also quite a new segment for the company, and we really hope that we can, with this line, attract new customers with sensitive skin. Products are without aroma and are really suitable for this type of skin.
Also last year, we launched an extensive set collection. We had overall 25 sets, and we saw really huge increase around Christmas period, which it was also intended from the beginning. Yes, it was a really new segment for the company to try itself in. We saw that the customers, especially in retail, were really happy about such option. We got the chance and tried to position MÁDARA also as a brand that you can gift someone. Going next, regarding channels. As you know, direct e-commerce is an important part of our business. In 2023, our direct e-commerce sales were 36% of the revenue. It is an increase of two percentage points versus a year ago. Overall, we see that direct e-commerce is growing. Revenue increase was plus 5%. We keep attracting new customers, which is a good sign.
In the second half of the year, 32% of direct e-commerce revenue came from new customers. Of course, direct e-commerce is very important for us, both from sales perspective, from marketing perspective, from customer experience and loyalty building, and also from sales portfolio diversification. We will continue to develop direct e-commerce channel in the next period as well. Now I give floor to Gunta.
Thank you, Tanya. I continue with other events that might not necessarily be put into numbers or specific numbers, but other highlights to mention is that last year we started implementing new retail identity in our retail stores in Latvia, Riga. We opened a new store in Galleria Riga shopping center in the downtown Dzirnavu Street, with revealing also new, like I mentioned, brand retail identity. Then we also refurbished a Spice store. I'm happy to report that Galleria Riga is one of the top two performing retail stores already now since its opening in September. We will also continue investing in refurbishing stores in 2024, so bringing this new retail experience to more stores. Second, which is also very dear to my heart, is that it's part of brand DNA to be a sustainable company and to deliver sustainable products.
We very much put our team effort and also financial effort into the mission of really delivering eco-certified sustainable products to our end consumers. I'm very proud and happy that these practices have been recognized by the industry. Last year, MÁDARA was nominated as number one greenest brand in the Baltics, which we proudly take home, and we will proudly continue innovating and setting a course, an example for the whole industry in sustainability agenda. Last but not least, we continue to push ourselves and to innovate ourselves, not only within the existing technology that we have, but then also last year with the help of Norwegian grant, we invested into new production equipment so that we can enter new segments into pressed powders, which is, to be honest, quite a demanding segment to be in.
I'm very pleased to say that we have started production of pressed powders, and we will offer the first products in the market in 2024. Another important avenue to discuss and reflect on, of course, is our print on demand for cosmetics company, Selfnamed. Selfnamed can be characterized by one word last year, so that's for sure growth. We saw almost 4 times increase in revenue. That was very much generated by new user acquisition. There was more than threefold increase in new user registration, and then 14 new products added to Selfnamed portfolio available to customers to put their brands on and sell to their end customers. If you look at key financial indicators, then another important milestone was reached. Company generated more than EUR 1 million in net revenue.
Of course, this is still a business where we have to invest into both product, and by product I mean the platform of selfnamed.com. We have to invest in team and people. Team is growing as the company's growing. Overall, it's logical and expected that Selfnamed generated EUR -56,000 in EBITDA. Then to continue on what's to come in 2024, and for sure it's going to be a year full of events. First of all, to mention that management expectation is to grow at least 10% in 2024 compared to previous year. You may speculate, is it a lot? Is it a little? One important point to mention here is that we will continue investing into bringing external expertise in our teams, that we are more fluent in new user acquisition in B2B and B2B segments.
However, I also have to mention that we have taken conscious steps into how we approach our also MÁDARA Cosmetics promotional strategy. There is a balance game that we will try to reduce the promotional intensity of the brand. That very much also impacts with what speed we may grow, knowing that decreased promotional intensity will help us to generate higher gross margins and then healthier brand for the future. Coming back to, let's say, number one goal for next year, it will be new customer acquisition in business segment and in end consumer segment. This is also themes where we will fortify with both raising internal competencies, but also bringing external expertise in. If we talk about the products, then I would like to highlight two strategic directions that we have set to go forth in 2024 and beyond.
Number one is really strengthening our core segment, which is skincare. We have said that we want to be experts in functional skincare or how we say it, alternative or rebel skincare. Meaning it's not just organic, it actually it's much more. It does much more. You have seen innovations like Retinol Alternative Serum, which is going to expand into a line. Now we literally a few weeks ago launched botanic alternative to niacinamide. This is the avenue we are going to innovate, and we are going to invest our resources in to deliver more functional products. This is also very important because in one of our focus markets, France, we are actively working on pharmacy distribution networks. These type of products have very good traction in these markets.
That's why we will continue actively focus on really functional products that are, by the way, ECOCERT. Second growth avenue will for sure be tinted products, which we see continuous growth momentum. Just to mention what is coming in semester one. We are adding 12 additional shades to foundations. It means in overall, we will offer, as of April, 18 different shade ranges to different skin tones of our tinted products. Here we collaborate with both makeup artists across the markets, and also end consumers to really work on communication model that supports that these are amazing products for your skin that you use on daily basis for many hours, so they must be good for your skin. We address the diversity.
We are offering multiple of shade ranges to choose from, again, which opens us doors of distribution in European and beyond markets, but then also addresses the brand being inclusive and offering diverse portfolio to its end consumers in various markets. Last, when speaking about the products, like I mentioned, we will start offering product powders, pressed product powders. It will start from translucent powders, but will continue into bronzers and blushes. Again, new growth avenue to explore for the company. Last but not least, and I would say one of actually most important points, we will continue strengthening our teams. Just to maybe highlight two most important changes is that already last year, we did quite some restructuring of how we think and approach marketing in the company.
In February, we welcomed the first-ever chief marketing officer to the company, a person joining from Bolt with global experience into scaling and building global business. I'm happy now this Bruvelis has joined the team. Also to mention other changes in the marketing, we are bringing external expertise into marketplace team, so working with Amazon and clients alike. Yeah. The other team that also reflects on the company's goal of new customer acquisition, we are strengthening our field teams in Germany and in France. We are adding people in sales teams to really accelerate new business client acquisition. This team, let's say, like I mentioned, strengthening will continue in 2024, and we have also a pipeline of team activities to address in 2025. With that, I believe should be my last slides.
Thank you very much, and I hope it gives the clarity of company's journey and also setting expectations for what's to come. We are open for questions. I will stop sharing the screen.
Thank you for the presentation. Dear participants, feel free to engage in the discussion and ask your question through the Q&A window that you see below the screen. Questions can be asked either with your name or anonymously. The first question that we have received: Do you see a possibility to decrease selling expense ratio from sales? Currently, it's 45%. Can you make more sales with less sales costs?
Thank you. I will tackle this one. When we discussed the three-year growth trajectory, this was definitely one of the questions that we asked ourselves how we can be more efficient. That didn't come only at the sales expense ratio discussion. It came also at gross margin discussion. Obviously, we discussed how can we be more effective in the field, or let's say, at executing the strategies in the markets. Where these expenses are, let's say, what are the two biggest buckets here? It's definitely people cost, and it's also trade marketing initiatives that we do. Here, my answer is that we have to grow faster in terms of revenue.
What we set the trajectory for the teams is that although we will continue increasing, in terms of trade marketing activities, in absolute terms, we have to decrease the percentage rate, while we do so. It means we have to accelerate the growth. Answer is yes. It is set also in how we constructed the next year's P&L and three-year P&L, that we have to generate more revenue with, let's say, same or relatively less absolute resources increase, so to be more efficient.
Thank you. When do you plan to pay dividends, and what could be the amount?
Yes, I will answer this one. First of all, MÁDARA has paid dividends over the past many, many years. We expect to propose from the management dividend payout this year as well. Normally, we publish this information end of May in our audited financial statement. Just follow company news. Then in June, normally, we have the meeting of shareholders, where shareholders vote for the proposal. I cannot name the amount yet, but we are planning to make such proposal. Also to elaborate a bit more, for the past years, the goal of the management was to provide growth of the company, but a profitable growth. Yes, there is an intent from management to propose paying out dividends. Thank you.
Thank you. As there are no more questions received, we'll be wrapping it up. On behalf of MÁDARA Cosmetics, thank you everyone for joining, for listening. It was a pleasure to be with you today.