NFON AG exceeds profitability targets for 2023 and continues profitable growth trajectory in transformation year 2024

NFON AG exceeds profitability targets for 2023 and continues profitable growth trajectory in transformation year 2024

• Recurring revenue up 4.8% at EUR 77.1 million
• Share of recurring revenue increased to 93.7% of total revenue
• Adjusted EBITDA increased by more than EUR 9 million to EUR 8.4 million
• Free cash flow positive for the first time since the stock exchange listing at EUR 1.0 million
• Forecast for 2024 anticipates growth in recurring revenue combined with improvement in profitability at a faster rate despite ongoing transformation
• Transformation year 2024 to form the basis for accelerated growth along with sustained high profitability from 2025 onwards

Munich, 7 March 2024 – NFON, a leading European provider of integrated cloud business communications, significantly improved its adjusted EBITDA by more than EUR 9 million year-on-year in financial year 2023, while also increasing revenue, according to preliminary, unaudited figures. In 2023, NFON made significant progress in creating a solid foundation for sustained profitable growth. For the first time since its stock exchange listing, NFON also reported positive free cash flow of EUR 1.0 million – a trend that is expected to continue, thereby strengthening the Company’s financial and strategic flexibility and its resilience to external factors in the future.

In financial year 2023, NFON managed to increase revenue by acquiring new customers, activating additional seats and offering expanded products (premium solutions) to existing customers. Recurring revenue, a key figure for NFON, consequently posted growth of 4.8% to EUR 77.1 million (2022: EUR 73.6 million). Total revenue saw a moderate increase of 1.9% to EUR 82.3 million (2022: EUR 80.8 million). As a result, the share of high-margin recurring revenue rose to 93.7% of total revenue in financial year 2023. The high share of recurring revenue underscores the loyalty of NFON’s customers and forms a reliable basis for further business planning. In the context of focusing on profitability and associated increases in efficiency, earnings developed positively in 2023. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) improved from EUR –1.0 million in the previous year to EUR 8.4 million in the 2023 reporting period, thus exceeding the earnings forecast, which had been raised twice during the year. Before adjustments of EUR 1.5 million, EBITDA for the reporting year was EUR 6.8 million (2022: EUR –5.3 million).

The number of seats installed with customers was increased by 3.4% to a total of 655,967 in financial year 2023 (2022: 634,288).

With the goal of living up to its self-image as an innovative pioneer in integrated cloud business communications on the European market and capable of exploiting market potential accordingly in the future, NFON sees operational excellence as the basis for this. NFON therefore initiated an extensive transformation process in the first half of 2023. An important milestone on the path to an optimised organisational structure was already achieved in the second half of the year with the restaffing and reorganisation of the management levels, including the introduction of new areas of responsibility at C level. In addition, Andreas Wesselmann was appointed to the Management Board team as Chief Technology Officer as at 1 January 2024 to strengthen NFON’s technological innovation prowess. In order to boost profitability, measures have also been taken to optimise the process landscape and cost base.

Patrik Heider, CEO and CFO of NFON since the second quarter of 2023: “We firmly believe that profitability and growth must go hand in hand at a technology company like NFON. In 2023, we already achieved significant improvements in our results and initiated key strategic projects. We are proud of what we have already achieved and see this as confirmation that we are on the right track. It is now a matter of continuing to work on operational excellence at NFON in the transformation year 2024 in order to further boost our profitability on this basis and also speed up the growth rate again from 2025 onwards.”

To achieve operational excellence as the key to consistently profitable corporate development, NFON is working on better aligning cooperation among the customer- and market-based product management and the service-focused sales units and agile development area. Based on this foundation, the three strategic growth pillars – “innovative product development”, “focus on sales excellence” and “stronger partnerships” – will likely begin to have an impact on NFON’s performance from the first half of 2024.

For financial year 2024, NFON plans growth in recurring revenue of a mid- to upper-single-digit percentage (2023: 4.8%). On this basis, the Management Board anticipates a share of recurring revenue of >90% of total revenue (2023: 93.7%). Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between EUR 10 million and EUR 12 million (2023: EUR 8.4 million).

The fully audited report for financial year 2023 will be available to download in the Investor Relations section of NFON AG’s website from 25 April 2024.

Overview of results for financial year 2023¹:

¹ Unless stated otherwise, all values in the consolidated financial statements and the related notes are rounded. The tables may therefore show rounding differences.

² Based on average number of seats per month in the periods under consideration.
 

Investor Relations contact

NFON AG

Friederike Thyssen

Vice President for Investor Relations & Sustainability

+49 89 453 00 449

ir-info@nfon.com

Media contact

NFON AG

Thorsten Wehner

Vice President for Public Relations

+49 89 453 00 121

thorsten.wehner@nfon.com

About NFON AG

NFON AG, which is headquartered in Munich, is a leading European provider of integrated cloud business communications. The listed company (Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Prime Standard) with more than 3,000 partners in 18 European countries and eight branches counts around 60,000 companies among its customers. The NFON portfolio comprises four areas: Business Communications, Integration, Customer Contact and Enablement. With its core product Cloudya, the smart cloud communications platform, NFON offers hassle-free voice calls, simple video conferencing and seamless integration of CRM and collaboration tools for small and medium-sized companies.

All NFON’s cloud services are operated in certified data centres in Germany, with 100% of their energy needs covered by renewable sources. NFON accompanies companies into the future of business communication by offering intuitive communication solutions.

http://www.nfon.com/

Disclaimer

This notification is made for information purposes only and constitutes neither an offer to sell nor an invitation to buy or subscribe to securities of the Company. The securities discussed in this notification are not, and will not be, registered under the US Securities Act of 1933 as amended (“US Securities Act”) and are permitted to be sold or offered for purchase in the United States of America only after prior registration or on the basis of an exemption under the US Securities Act. No public offer of the securities discussed in this notification will be made in the United States of America and the information contained in this notification does not constitute an offer to buy securities. This notification is not intended for direct or indirect distribution, publication or dissemination to or within the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Japan or other countries in which the distribution of this notification is unlawful, or to US persons.