Thank you for standing by, welcome to the Marley Spoon Q1 2023 quarterly results investor conference call. All participants are in a listen only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question- and- answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key followed by the one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Fabian Siegel, the CEO. Please go ahead. Thank you, good afternoon. Thanks for joining our investor call. My name is Fabian Siegel, founder and CEO of Marley Spoon. I have with me here today Jennifer Bernstein, our CFO, whose contract I'm pleased to say has been renewed for an additional three-year term. Earlier today, we released our first quarter results of the calendar year Q1 calendar year 2023. We're looking forward to presenting you those today, as well as providing you with an update on the business. We also will comment on the multipart transaction with, amongst others, 468 SPAC II that was announced earlier this week. At the end, as usual, we'll open the line to your questions. We started 2023 with improved margin and Operating EBITDA. However, in terms of revenue, the start was a slow one. While we showed sequential growth compared to Q4, net revenue contracted 11% compared to the prior year's period. We had expected a year-over-year decline in revenue for the quarter, but in the end it came in softer at EUR 91 million. Lower marketing spend in the second half of 2022 resulted in a lower customer base at the start of the year as planned. In January, we were unable to find the scale of new customer acquisitions at the target cost that we had expected. This did improve throughout the quarter, and we ended the period at the expected level of acquisitions while maintaining our customer acquisition cost and unit economics targets throughout the whole period. The lack of scale in our marketing resulted in a year-on-year reduction of marketing investments for the quarter by 12% or EUR 3 million, which contributed to the lower than expected revenue. The bigger missed plan net revenue, however, was caused by a decrease in customer frequency compared to the PCP. It was driven especially by Europe as well as by the U.S., and it was more pronounced for our budget offering, Dinnerly. Our data suggests that the decrease in frequency was primarily caused by an increase in budget concerns as household incomes were impacted by high inflation and lower consumer confidence. This decrease in order frequency alone translated to lost revenue of EUR 7 million for the quarter. In order to improve order frequency, we have begun initiatives to more actively influence our customer behavior by launching active merchandising and customer loyalty programs across our brands. I expect that those initiatives will start to take effect in the second half of this year. The adverse effect of order frequency was partially offset by our continued focus on growing average order value, which increased by 14% year-on-year this quarter. This improvement was driven by several revenue-enhancing activities in addition to price increases in 2022. For example, we continue to increase the number of recipes we offer, for which we continue to be market leading, contributing to a higher average amount of meals per order compared to the PCP. We continue to see strong adoption of our premium recipes, which provide special ingredients or faster cooking options for an additional charge. We are realizing incremental sales from our Market initiatives, which offers our customers more than 100 additional add-on grocery items. Finally, we saw benefits to our average order value from our newly launched recipe variants, which allow our customer to customize selected recipes by switching or upgrading proteins as well as switching other ingredients. Operationally, the year started strong. Contribution margin in Q1 reached 31%, an expansion of 3.7 points versus the PCP. Operating CM, defined as contribution margin excluding the impacts of marketing vouchers and fixed costs such as expenses relating to site leases, was up by 6.1 points to 43.7%. The strong contribution margin performance was driven by significant operational improvements and resulting margin gains in the U.S., which reached a record contribution margin of 35.7% in Q1, up 7.5 points year-over-year. European contribution margin improved significantly in Q1, expanding 5.9 points year-over-year. The strong contribution margin performance in the U.S. and Europe offset Australia's lagging margin, which was down by 2.1 points compared to the PCP. In order to react to the softer revenue experience, we initiated a cost reduction program at the beginning of the quarter, which is expected to result in EUR 10 million in annualized cost savings. We expect those savings to start meaningfully contributing to our financial performance as of Q2 2023. Despite the lower than expected revenue in Q1, due to the strong margin performance and cost control, we were able to improve our Operating EBITDA performance by EUR 3.3 million, landing at an Operating EBITDA loss for Q1 at EUR 6.4 million, which was in line with our plans for the quarter. Now I'd like to hand over to Jennifer, who will walk us through the key operating metrics, regional snapshots as well as the Q1 cash flow. Thanks, Fabian. On account of the acquisition challenges Fabian mentioned already, Active Subscribers were down 15% in the quarter to 250,000, but this was up versus Q4 2022 by 1%. Orders per subscriber were also down in the U.S. and E.U., while Australia had modest gains. average order value and meals per order, on the other hand, both grew in Q1, signaling that customers, while ordering less frequently, are putting more in their box. average order value grew 14% in the quarter versus the PCP, and while a little more than half of that is driven by the annualization of price increases implemented last year, Premium recipes, Market and Chefgood product mix also contributed to the increase. Further, meals per order grew 8% this quarter versus the PCP, in part due to more family plans in the mix in Australia. Turning now to the segment review and starting with the U.S. Net revenue in the U.S. was down 11% in Q1 versus the PCP, and minus 14% in constant currency, driven by cycling a tough lap of 36% growth in last year's Q1. That, combined with a reduction in half to 2022 marketing investment and the slow start to this quarter's marketing activity, led to a lower level of acquisitions than planned. The more material driver of the net revenue decline, however, was the reduced order frequency, particularly on our budget offering Dinnerly, which is being impacted more heavily by consumers' budget concerns. The top line was soft, contribution margin performed extremely well, with the U.S. team delivering a solid operational performance. Margin in the quarter was 35.7%, up 7.5 points versus the PCP, while Operating contribution margin was 47.8%, 9-point improvement versus last year. The margin performance was a significant driver of the U.S. being able to continue delivering positive Operating EBITDA as it has done now for the 4th consecutive quarter. Looking now at Australia. Net revenue also declined, though at a lower rate as compared to the U.S. Revenue was down 4.4% versus Q1 2022, or 1.5% in constant currency, while lapping 53% growth last year. Order frequency was relatively stable year-over-year, with the sales decline more a function of the half to 2022 marketing reductions and slow acquisition start to the year. We also saw a higher level of marketing voucher usage in Australia, coming from a higher number of reactivated customers versus the PCP. While these customers tend to have a strong payback profile on the order of weeks versus months, the level of voucher spend in the region contributed to contribution margin landing at 26.3% for the quarter, a contraction of 2 percentage points versus the PCP. Operating Contribution Margin, on the other hand, showed improvement versus last year, landing at 40.3%, up 2 points versus the PCP. This was largely driven by supply chain improvements as the weather-related substitution events last year were less of a factor in Q1 2023. The region's Operating EBITDA also showed improvement, landing at negative EUR 1.2 million, which is up EUR 0.6 million versus the PCP. Turning to Europe, we saw tougher conditions and more pronounced net revenue declines in the quarter as compared to the other regions, with net revenue down 27.6% versus the PCP. A lot of focus has been placed on Europe and its performance. To understand the drivers, it's important to understand our marketing investment strategy as well. Unit economics and the expected customer LTV play a critical role in resource allocation. Excuse me. The LTV is a function of contribution margin, which contracted significantly in Europe last year due to operational challenges. This means that the half to 2022 marketing spend reductions we previously mentioned were higher in Europe than in the other regions, stemming from the margin performance. Part of the Europe turnaround plan was to improve margin, which I'll address in a minute. Equally, the plan included getting more forensic on LTV calculations by country. We now have a strategy that invests where the greatest returns can be realized, which explains why we ceased operations in Sweden, which was an underperforming market. In addition to these LTV and investment dynamics, we have also seen a particularly price-sensitive consumer in Europe such that order frequency has decreased versus the PCP. We have also observed an increased level of travel among European consumers, underscoring the somewhat unpredictable consumer behavior we're facing this year. Coming back to margin, we saw great strides made in Europe this quarter, with contribution margin reaching 27.2%, up nearly 6 points versus the PCP. Operating contribution margin landed at 37.7%, up 4.5 points versus last year. The margin improvement and significant cost reductions, which saw G&A decline 14% year-over-year, helped the region deliver nearly break-even Operating EBITDA in the quarter, excluding headquarter costs. Turning now to cash. We ended the quarter with EUR 14.7 million, implying a cash burn of approximately EUR 4 million since year-end 2022. Cash from operations was a positive EUR 4 million, driven by positive working capital and net income losses that improved month-over-month in the quarter, driven by the margin improvements and our cost discipline and prudent cash management. Cash from investing activities landed at a negative EUR 3.5 million. We continue to invest in our digital assets, spending approximately EUR 2 million in the quarter. We paid EUR 1.6 million to settle the remainder of the Q4 2022 payment to Chefgood. There were no expenditures against fixed assets in Q1. Financing cash flows were negative EUR 4.8 million in the quarter. The repayment of the EUR 5 million money market loan with Berliner Volksbank in February was offset by the drawdown of the same amount of a new loan with BVB, which carries the same terms as before. Mainly 6.5% plus Euribor per year. Other financing cash flows included EUR 45 million of combined IFRS 16 lease payments and interest payments, including the payment to Runway of our monthly interest obligations. As shared in the release announcing the 468 SPAC II transaction, those interest obligations will be deferred for six months beginning from April. With this, I would like to turn it back over to Fabian. Yes. Thank you, Jennifer. To summarize the first quarter, we used marketing profile in the second half of last year, which emphasized EBITDA profitability over growth led to a smaller subscriber base at the start of the year. In addition, we experienced stronger than planned softness in consumer demand, which led to a more pronounced year-on-year decline in sales. Despite that, we achieved our margin and profit goals for Q1 with expanded margin amidst material improvements in Operating EBITDA year-on-year. However, because of the lower than initially planned order frequency in Europe and the U.S., we are revising our revenue outlook for 2023, as we currently expect order frequency to remain at the current level throughout the balance of 2023. We now expect a single-digit percent revenue decline year-over-year for full year 2023, while at the same time, we expect to return to revenue growth in two for this year. We affirm our guidance around contribution margin and Operating EBITDA. We continue to expect expanded contribution margin to between 30% and 32% and full year positive Operating EBITDA. I also want to comment on the recently announced transaction in regards to additional financing and intended relisting to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The proposed investment by existing and new investors of EUR 32 million at EUR 0.17 per CDI, a 19% premium to the last close before the announcement, is an important step to support the company's growth plan and provides the required working capital means to continue our path towards free cash flow break-even. The amendment of the terms of our Runway debt facility provides additional support. In a separate step, shareholders currently representing around 70% of the share capital agreed to sell the shares for new shares in the Frankfurt-listed special purpose acquisition company, 468 SPAC II, subject to among others, 468 SPAC II shareholder approval at an implied value of EUR 0.21 per CDI, a 45% premium to the last close prior to the announcement. 468 SPAC II has committed to offer all CDI holders under a subsequent offer the opportunity to sell Marley Spoon CDIs for new issued shares in 468 SPAC II under the same commercial terms, allowing for long-term participation in the future upside of Marley Spoon's equity value. After having explored various strategic options over the past months, we believe the agreed transaction offers the best alternative for shareholders to realize value. Thank you for taking time this afternoon. With that, I would now like to open the call to questions. Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Once again, that is star one to ask a question. We'll now pause a moment to allow for any questions to register. Thank you. There are no questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. Siegel for closing remarks. Yeah, thank you for dialing in today. We will have some broker calls scheduled for next week starting Tuesday. If there are additional questions coming up, we'll be happy to answer them there or you can always reach out to our investor email address and Michael Brown. Thanks so much. Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.
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