Next up is Nepa with CEO Ulrich Boyer, welcome.
Thank you, Jasper. Hello, everybody. Yes. We published our quarter one report this morning, and before I comment on that one, I will go through what we are doing. What we do, we help marketeers, brand builders to understand how to rule that with an optimal investment. We track and measure about 7,500 brands every day, 365 days a year, in order to optimize the long and short-term effects of their marketing efforts. About the long-term effects, we are one of the few of a few that do that, and we have a very special technology for that. Obviously, as you can see from how many brands we already have attracted and are still attracting, we do that very successfully as well. How do we do this?
Well, what we do is that we have really brilliant human analysts that, together with the technology they work with and the technology we supply our clients with, turn this data, all the data around the consumers into growth opportunities for our clients. Who do we serve? Well, together with the clients you see in the picture, which are really well-known brands, global brands, a lot of them, we make an ARR of SEK 169 million a year, we really work with these global consumer brands all around the globe. Even though we have offices in only a few places in the world, we are a global company, and we historically have long-term contracts that, yeah, make us really proud about what we do.
We also have the relationships with the brands that they trust us, both in the quality of our data and the tool delivery, but also trust the consultants they have that all work at Nepa. Our financial performance is again SEK 169 million ARR this last quarter. A good cash position and operating cash flow SEK 5.6 million, and then a negative EBIT margin this quarter. The positive. On the positive is a solid subscription pay base and a strong cash position. On the negative, the last quarter. How do we do it? We gather the data with different or from different panels, suppliers all around the world. We have systems and tools in place that transform that into automated reports and visualization tools.
On that, we send the data and the reports directly to clients. In parallel with that, our really great analysts and advisors work with that within their work environment that is tech-augmented, then they can deliver excellent consultancy. Totally, we have about a little bit more than 300 global brands around the globe. We are focusing in our growth and our, on the subscribers, we have, as you can see on this picture, a very stable base of subscribers where we have very little churn. The little churn we have in the subscription revenue is related to when you look in the details of the report, you will find that it is related to the CX part that is not the strategic focus in long term.
We also have been very good in growing our subscription revenues per client. Yeah, we hope that to do that, generate some growth from that in the future. The main effort is on attracting new clients here. The last half year, we have been reorganizing us a little bit in order to streamline our organization towards our focus, our core focus areas within MO based on brand tracking, MMM, and campaign measurements. Therefore, we have created a sales and marketing department, marketing science, global operations, and tech all over in all our offices. The advantage of that is that we it's easier to focus and, yeah, make and get an efficient organization. Our financials, quarter one.
Here, we can see the growth, 0.5%, in revenues on the pre-nomination base, subscription base. When you look at the part of ad hocs we are doing with the subscription clients, this is down 7.7%. With the rest of the client base, which is not subscribing on services from Nepa, it's a much bigger loss of 31.5%. Those numbers reflect the hesitant market right now. Also for that, it is very important that we really focus on growing our subscription base in order to stabilize the business in the long term. Yes. Thank you.
Thank you for that presentation. All right. If we just start with the focus that you have right now. I mean, you have your subscription business, which is the Marketing Optimization, but also the customer experience part, where in the Marketing Optimization, it's basically the brand tracker. Could you just elaborate on what you see the need for them for the brand tracker in this market?
The need for the brand tracker in the market is that if when you look at the global brands, they really need to understand how the consumer is reacting on the messaging of the brand, on the core of the brand, and how this long, how you can stabilize that long term. You know, if you have a very well-known brand and that customer like, and then it makes a big difference against other brands long term. What you want to do is that you want to have like booster up the base sales of the brand versus the short-term effects of campaigns. Most campaigns, the relative cost of them is higher and they campaigns should contribute to build that base higher and higher.
The salience is there so that the sales are also happening when you're not just advertising.
All right. I mean, as seen in your, in your list of clients, you've obviously been quite successful in this. I mean, you are competing against big giants like Kantar and Nielsen and so on. I mean, how can small Nepa be a strong competitor in this field?
Well, I think in clients relations, Nepa can be much more agile. You know, I think what we sometimes say when we meet clients or when we talk about ourselves, and we say, you know, "We are small enough to care and big enough to deliver quality." I think that's where we have our sweet spot as well. We are focused. We do that, and we don't do everything, and we are really good at it.
You know, then going into, like, your growth plan, you're obviously bringing on or wanting to bring on new clients and so on. Once you have that client, can you grow further with that client?
Usually, yes, because most clients, you know, they don't give you all the business at once. Often, you know, you start with some kind of ad hoc project, and they want to feel you a little bit. "Okay, what are you up to?" When you have built, when the relation is there, then you are invited to, for a tracking pitch, you know, trying to get the brand tracker or ad tracker. Then you have a chance to get that. Then maybe you get that for a few countries or a few of their markets, and then it you'll grow into that client when you do a qualitatively high and consistent delivery.
It's basically growing geographically with the same client but also adding more brands?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
All right. All right. I mean, looking at your numbers, as you said, you grew or you actually declined ARR by 1% year-on-year. Behind this, and also regarding the NRR and churn and so on, you have a decline in the CX business.
Yes.
As, how do these figures look like for the, for your main focus area, the brand tracker?
For the brand trackers, they look positive, but of course, we would wish them to look more positive because as we've wrote, they compensated the growth in the subscription base compensated not for the loss in ad hocs during the last two quarters. That is of course due to the market because yeah. Right now, we need to focus on the cost side, and we need to keep our effort on the sales side intact or even accelerated. It's all hands on deck when it comes to sales, and it is focused on cost as well.
Yeah. On the cost side, you have initiated since, I think it was, December announced a cost savings program that you will bring, like completed in Q4. Could you just tell us about the thoughts that you have on this? Like, what roles are you cutting?
Well, I think what we when we went out there, we cut a part of the roles in the ad hoc part because we knew that that is the one that is going down. We cut like a certain levels in the organization. We try to make the pyramid still a pyramid, we cut it little bit everywhere. We narrowed down the leadership group and, you know, we have cut a little bit everywhere.
All right. I mean, right now I think you have 55% of your revenues is like pure recurring subscription, and then you have some ad hoc from existing clients and then some ad hoc others. You're saying that you want to move your revenue base so that you can scale with like your subscription base only. Could you just elaborate on where do you see yourself in three years revenue-wise? five years?
It's very much up to the market, if let's say we could build, we would grow the revenue at the ARR with maybe 10, around 10% every year. I think that would be if you look at the situation right now in the world, then I think that is ambitious. I would like to see much, much more, but I think it's not really realistic. We always will have the ad hoc business on top, and that will also grow as soon as we come out of the recession. Whatever we want or not want, that is just going to happen.
Okay. You still see the ad hoc business as a good, like, extra revenue on the side to have?
Well, I think it's not, it's not a what... The thing is that new clients will often try us with ad hoc, we have the existing clients, they will always put some ad hocs in to us because, yeah, that is what they do and they, you need to deliver certain side products as well. Otherwise it would be like when you go to a restaurant to eat and you don't get anything to drink, you wouldn't be happy, and customers are the same, you know? They want the main meal, but they want something as well on the side, so we have to deliver that. That's why we always will have it. 100% subscription, that will never happen. We'll always have consulting.
We will always have and need these really clever human touch on what we deliver. Even if ChatGPT is getting better and better by the day, yeah, so far my colleagues are clever, more clever than ChatGPT.
I'm glad to hear. Then, and then also, regarding your subscription base and your sales efforts on that, you quite recently started more sales efforts in order to get into more procurements and so on. Are you doing so? Like, are you in more procurement so? How are those going?
We are in more because, you know, our marketing, also our marketing efforts are working quite well. Not perfect, but they're working quite well. We just one year ago started a real effort about marketing and of course that is making companies that not earlier has been client seeing us and then inviting us to their RFPs. There are not so many companies that deliver global tracking in the way we do. We have a good chance, you know, to be invited, but we need to be on the roster. The only way to get on the roster for RFPs is that people know the brand Nepa for being delivering ad tracking or brand tracking. That's why it is so important.
Of course, sales is also contacting people and trying to get us and get meetings and so that they know us a little bit.
All right. Sorry. Quite recently you also announced that you are entering the Asian market and so on, and expanding your efforts there. Could you just elaborate on your ambitions?
Well, I think it's more that what we did is that we have had an Indian office, and the Indian office has been the fastest growing for at least the last two years. You know, now, you know, of course, It's interesting revenue when you go to Singapore and all this and we already have clients there. It's more that We put a label on it.
Okay.
We have done that for the last two or three years, and now it's more that it's more official that we're doing it.
Okay. No, no additional cost based on that?
No, no, no.
Okay. That's all the time that we have for now, and, thank you so much for coming.
Thank you, Jasper. Thank you for listening.