Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Yellow Pages' Q4 2022 earnings release call. Today's conference call contains forward-looking information about Yellow Pages' outlook, objectives, and strategy. These statements are based on assumptions and are subject to important risks and uncertainties. Yellow Pages' actual results could differ materially from expectations discussed. The details of Yellow Pages' caution regarding forward-looking information, including key assumptions and risks, can be found in Yellow Pages' management discussion and analysis for the Q3 of 2022. This call is being recorded and webcast, and all of the disclosure documents are available on the company's website and on SEDAR. I would like to turn the meeting over to Mr. David Eckert, President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our Q4 and year-end analyst call. Today, as usual, we'd like to first provide you with an overview of our quarterly and year-end results, which I will do. Franco Sciannamblo, our Chief Financial Officer, will provide some additional details. Franco and I and Sherilyn King, our Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service, will be available to take any questions that you may have. We're pretty pleased with the results of our Q4 and our full year 2022. Both the quarter and the year, we show a good, strong, sustained profitability and cash generation and more steady progress toward revenue stability.
On the earnings front, our adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was a full 32.5% of revenue, and for the full year was a full 36% of revenue, in spite of the fact that we continue to make all the investments we feel are appropriate in our revenue initiatives as we go forward. Also during the Q4, as I think everyone knows, under a previously announced so-called plan of arrangement, we distributed CAD 100 million of cash to our shareholders and CAD 24 million of voluntary contributions into our Defined Benefit Pension Plan toward its wind-up deficit, in addition to the CAD 1 million previously announced voluntary incremental payments, into the Defined Benefit Pension Plan, all that during the Q4.
In spite of those significant cash distributions, we still have a very healthy cash balance. At the end of January, our cash on hand was approximately CAD 50 million. We are also today announcing our regular quarterly cash dividend on our common shares as in the previous quarters. During the Q4, we continued our steady march, getting ever closer to stability of revenue. That represented the 14th of the last 16 quarters overall, reporting a favorable, what I like to call bending of the revenue curve, with a better rate of change in revenue compared to the prior year than we had reported in the previous quarter. Very, continuation of our very steady march toward the stability of our revenue. I would say overall, we have growing optimism as we look to the future.
We feel good about the company and its prospects, and we're delighted with the overall progress. Frank, would you like to fill in a few details underneath that?
Sure do. Thanks, David, and good morning, everybody. Let me take you through our financial results for the Q4 ended December 31, 2022, starting with revenues. They decreased by CAD 4 million or 5.9% year-over-year and amounted to CAD 64.6 million for the Q4, an improvement from the decrease of 6.5% reported last quarter. The decrease in revenues for the quarter is due to the decline of our higher margin digital and print products, and to a lesser extent, our lower margin digital service and resale products. This change in product mix continues to put pressure on our margins. The decline rates for total revenues, digital revenues, and print revenues all improved significantly year-over-year.
The total revenue of 5.9% this quarter compares to a decline of 10.5% reported for the same period last year. For digital revenue, the decline of 4.3% this quarter compares to a decline of 8.7% reported for the same period last year. On print revenue, the decline of 11.7% this quarter compares to a decline of 16.5% reported for the same period last year. These improvements were due to better spend per customer in digital, increased renewal rates, as well as improvement in customer claims. The improved spend per customer is due in part to increased pricing.
Total revenues for the full year 2022 totaled CAD 268.3 million, a decrease of 6.7% year-over-year, an improvement for the decrease of 13.8% reported in 2021. Adjusted EBITDA, for the quarter, it was impacted by revenue pressures, ongoing investments in our telesales force capacity, the increase in cash settled stock-based compensation expense due to movements in YP share price, and lower wage subsidies received, partially offset by the price increases, the efficiencies from continued optimization in cost of sales, reductions in other operating costs, including reductions in our workforce and associate employee expenses, and the decrease in bad debt expense. As a result, Adjusted EBITDA decreased year-over-year by CAD 3.4 million or 13.9%, to CAD 21 million.
EBITDA margin decreased to 32.5% compared to 35.5% for the same period last year. Revenue pressures, coupled with ongoing investments in our telesales capacity, partially offset by continued optimization, will continue to cause some pressure on our margins in upcoming quarters. One last comment on EBITDA for the full year 2022, it was CAD 96.6 million or 36% of revenues. On adjusted EBITDA less CapEx, for the Q4 decreased by CAD 3.1 million year-over-year to CAD 20 million, mainly due to the decrease in adjusted EBITDA, partially offset by lower capital expenditures. The adjusted EBITDA less CapEx for the full year 2022 was CAD 91.6 million or 34.1% of revenues.
Our workforce stood at 629 employees compared to 651 at the same date last year. As for net income, for the Q4, it amounted to CAD 29.4 million compared to CAD 38.7 million for the same period last year. The decrease in net income for the Q4 is mainly attributable to a higher recognition of previously unrecognized tax attributes and temporary differences in 2021. Income before taxes increased from CAD 15.9 million for the Q4 of 2021 to CAD 16.7 million for the same period in 2022, explained principally by the decrease in adjusted EBITDA being more than offset by decreases in depreciation and amortization, restructuring other charges, and financial charges. For the full year ended 2022, net income totaled CAD 73.4 million.
As David mentioned earlier, during the Q4, we completed the previously announced plan of arrangement whereby the company repurchased from shareholders pro rata an aggregate of 7,949,125 common shares, including 388,082 shares held in treasury for a total net cash outlay of CAD 96.1 million. That's net of the 388,082 of the corporation's shares held in treasury and includes CAD 1 million of transaction costs. Pursuant to the arrangement, the company advanced CAD 24 million of voluntary contributions to our Defined Benefit Pension Plan wind-up deficit. Consistent with our previously announced deficit reduction plan, in the Q4 of 2022, the company made CAD 1 million in voluntary incremental cash contributions to the plan's wind-up deficit.
This brings the full year total of voluntary incremental payments, including the amounts pursuant to the plan of arrangement to CAD 28 million. As David also mentioned earlier, despite the cash outlays mentioned, our cash on hand at the end of January stood at approximately CAD 50 million. Finally, the board of directors declared a cash dividend of CAD 0.15 per common share, payable on March 15 to shareholders of record as at February 24, 2023. This concludes our formal remarks. Thank you for taking the time to join us today. We will now take your questions.
Thank you. We'll now take questions from the telephone lines. If you have a question and using a speakerphone, please lift your handset before making your selection. If you have a question, please press star one on your device's keypad. To cancel the question, please press star two. Please press star one at this time if you have a question. There will be a brief pause while participants register. Thank you for your patience. Once again, please press star 1 at this time if you have a question. The first question is from Luc Troiani from National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.
Hi there. Luc filling in for Adam here. Congrats on another quarter of execution towards your objective, guys. In terms of revenue, do you see any key risks or opportunities given the macro headwinds that many are expecting in 2023?
Thank you for your question. It was a little garbled, but I on my end. I think the question is, do we see any risk to revenue, given the economic climate? Is that the question?
Yeah.
Yes, David.
Okay. Look, of course, no company is immune to risk on the revenue side if there are major problems in the economy in Canada. We're not particularly concerned. As you know, our revenue is very diversified. We have lots and lots of customers, so there's no sector or individual customers or anything that we're concentrated in. It would need to be a broad-based and pretty significantly negative change in the economy for us to have a major adverse effect from that. You know, like everybody, we might face some mild, you know, headwinds. It's not something that we have a great worry about.
Franco and Sherilyn, would you have any additional or different comments than that? It's just not something that I'm terribly worried about.
Nothing to add on this end.
No, nothing to add.
All right. thanks for that. Do you have any update on the relative size or contribution of higher-margin digital products versus other digital products? Is kind of an 80-20 split maybe a fair assumption?
now it's more like 55, 45. 55-
All right.
Higher margin, 45%, lower.
All right. Do you have any comment on overall EBITDA margin trajectory beyond the next few quarters, which you kind of outlined in the release today, but that or maybe where you see it trending towards in the long term?
I think we're not in the business of making predictions, but I also think that our strategy, we've tried to be very clear now for years about our strategy. I think we're very transparent in our reporting. I think our reporting is pretty uncluttered and unadjusted. I think our trends are pretty clear, and that's why I said that we're pretty confident about the future. You know, if you take all the trends together, things are looking, you know, we think pretty good over the short, medium, and long term.
All right. Then maybe, one final one. After the significant pension contributions and share buyback efforts in 2022, what are your capital allocation priorities going forward, given your very strong free cash flow profile?
Well, I think it continues to be what it has been in the past, which is our top priority always is to make every investment within the business that we think is warranted to provide great products and service to our customers and to be well-positioned to meet the needs of our customer marketplace. That's always our top priority. We will spend there whatever it takes. As is obvious, we generate a lot more cash typically than that need. Beyond that, I think our actions in the Q4 are illustrative of our priorities, which is we wanna take great care of our other constituencies.
As we mentioned, in the Q4, we paid CAD 100 million of cash to the holders of our shares, and we voluntarily injected CAD 28 million additional cash into our Defined Benefit Pension Plan for the benefit of our pensioners. You know, we feel that we're very focused on the business strategy. We're bound and determined to make it successful. I think there's no doubt that so far we've been doing a great job in making it successful. Not perfect. Nobody's perfect, but a great job. That will continue to be our top priority, but I don't see that, given the strategy that we have, which I think is the winning strategy, it's not a big consumer.
It doesn't consume nearly all the cash that we generate.
All right. Thanks for that. That's all for me.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Once again, please press star one if you have a question. The next question is from Daniel Marken, Self-directed. Please go ahead.
Hello. Good morning, David.
Hello, Daniel.
Hello. Yes, good morning. Good morning. I've been trying to get a hold of your board there for the last couple of months there. I still haven't received a response.
I don't know what that pertains to, but I would suggest that you contact Treena Cooper, our head of our legal department and who also handles all matters relating to our board of directors.
Okay. I guess my question is that the shareholders just enjoyed CAD 100 million with your buybacks. I was just wondering, this is regarding the warrants. I'm just wondering why that the board did not give any consideration in Article 5.1, optional purchases by the corporation to buy any or all of the warrants. It's. Can you talk about that?
I would refer you to Treena Cooper rather than getting into all that in this forum. I'm sure she'd be happy to answer your question.
How would you get a hold of her, please?
why don't, T reena , what would, what would be the best way for this purpose?
Please refer to our corporate website, and you'll be able to see an email called legal@yp.ca.
Okay. 'Cause right now I've tried, and I've phoned your offices across Canada, and nobody seemed to know how to get a hold of you.
Well, I think.
I think Treena-
Treena just told you what to do. Send an email there, and we will respond to this question.
Thank you. There are no further questions registered at this time.
Thanks very much.
There are no further questions registered at this time. I'll turn the call back over to you, Mr. Eckert.
All right. Thank you all for joining us today. We really appreciate your interest. We appreciate your support, and we look forward to talking with you again in 90 days, when hopefully we can again report a favorable quarter's worth of results. Thanks very much. Have a good day.
Thank you. The conference has now ended. Please disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.