Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Francotyp-Postalia Holding AG conference call regarding the financial results for the half year of 2023. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode. The floor will be open for questions following the presentation. Let me now turn the floor over to your host, Carsten Lind, CEO of the FP Group. Thank you. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to this presentation of our financial results for the H1 of 2023. I'm here with Ralf Spielberger, our CFO, who's supporting me on this call, as he's doing on any earnings call. In terms of the agenda, we will have, of course, the as reported numbers, a normalized perspective on the numbers and end up looking at the guidance. However, before starting with the financials, I wanted to add a little bit of color to the operations, and what we have been focusing on for the first six months, and we, of course, quite happy to be able to communicate that we are now live in two units on the new ERP project. So the digital business solutions and our two entities in Sweden, those we have merged, and they are now running on the same ERP system. In terms of DBS, the fact that we are live on here on NetSuite, also, of course, reminds us that the ERP project here in FP is not only about cutting the cost and being more effective on base processes, it is also a platform for growth. And already now, in terms of making international some of the software as a service products in DBS, it's quite helpful that we are on this platform. So, and now, of course, we are on to the next onboardings and taking this forward. In terms of the product launches and what have we been focusing on in the franking machine side and also in the digital business side. So in terms of existing products, let's say our existing products, improved, and new products, we had 12 launches in the H1, late in the H1, and with 6 in the franking side and 6 in the digital business solutions side. And we have the another 15, 16 launches planned for the second half of the year. And we have, as part of that, been focusing also on upgrading some of our upgrading our data centers in terms of server platforms. We have updated the workbenches for the R&D people and the software development people, and spend also there on third-party software, which are the tools that we are using in terms of building our software. So in the DBS, we are now launching internationally more countries on our parcel shipping application. In Germany, for June, we launched the EVO, which is a public sector application, and so on and so forth. Other operational areas worth mentioning, I'd say we have, of course, some impact in terms of being later with the ERP than we wanted. We are happy we are now live, but we are a bit late still with that one. And also, that of course weighs down on few countries in terms of the effectiveness, also in the sales. We are rebuilding fundamentally our team and how we approach the French market. And also, one learning still, of course, for DBS is that making DBS an international software company, it's very exciting and we are thrilled about it, and it's a good step forward. We need to also state that a sizable amount of our staff here are still on the learning curve since we started out with a company that was German focused only and had been focused on Germany for a decade or half a decade. And of course, moving now out and playing also in the Benelux, in the UK, in the Nordics, et cetera, is a good stretch. We will get there, and we are moving forward. So into the financials. From high level, we are basically at the same level as we were last year on the key performance indicators that we report. So revenues, EUR 124.6 versus EUR 127.6, EBITDA, EUR 15.3 versus EUR 16.3, and the profits, EUR 3.3 versus EUR 5.2, and so on and so forth. And as we have been communicating a few times, last year had quite sizable one-offs that impacted both the EBIT, EBITDA level and also the revenue level, which is why we offer in the next few slides a normalized perspective. I think it's also a takeaway to say here that, we are, growing, and we, we keep growing in the two business areas, the Digital Business Solutions and the Mailing, Shipping and Office Solutions.... which are the areas where we are really carrying the, EBIT and EBITDA, the cash flows, of the company, whereas communicated, Freesort is doing as we expected. We, we are actually, fine with the performance there. However, the business model of mail consolidation is a very low margin one, sometimes with quite big swings on the top line without really impacting, the bottom line. So on the, next slide, the normalized, EBITDA, we have the main effects, that we are backing out, without overdoing the normalization. However, the exchange rate effect versus last year is notable and obviously the rate change in Germany, which normally comes every two and a half years, if we back out those and a few other minor adjustments, the normalized EBITDA we end at EUR 18.8 million versus EUR 14.8 million. And also, we see here a margin increase to 14.6% versus 13.2%. So we are continuing to improve the underlying business. However, for portraying this performance, we need to do a normalization with the sizable one-offs that we had last year. Cash flows and the debt and cash is a bit on the same track, same trend as we reported, except here, cash flow is a little bit lesser, a little bit less because these are not normalized numbers, these are as reported numbers. The cash flow is a little bit less because we have earned a little bit less and also because we have invested more, as I said, in upgrading server farms, tools, and also that, let's say, the sales, for example, in the U.S., which is a rental business model, means that it draws a bit down on the cash flows when you are selling more in those countries. The trend of reducing debt and increasing cash is intact. So in fact, we have reduced our debt, and we have increased the cash, and this is at the level where we expect it to be versus the numbers that we have just shown you. So digital business s olutions, we continue to grow in the three areas with the smallest, as expected, growth in this document workflow management. We have there quite some focus on improving the margin there, but also making this service area more IT intensive. We are basically done with changing the production environment, and we are now in the phase of moving old contracts over to a new, let's say, state-of-the-art software for doing processing of output management. In the business process management area, FP Sign is moving forward. We did this year a few minor releases, and we expect in the second half to do a major release of FP Sign, which we kind of consider in our Digital Business Solutions, let's say the next generation of FP Sign, with clearly a richer and better product, more stable product. And also, we have taken steps to move it into a much more modern technology stack than we had in the beginning. So this has been a delicate balance all the way to launch and grow a product where you simultaneously need to do some real refurbishment and modernization on some of the key parts in the product. We are there on a good way, and the way forward for this product and our other products, software as a service, will be a combination of direct sales, of logos that we work on winning ourselves, but also through accelerators. And we have already talked a few times about DATEV. We have now here the ELO, which is another accelerator, and there are more as well in Germany. So we go to market also indirectly through other software houses and other Systemhäuser that will help us to continue growing in a good way for that product. Further, we launched in June the eBO, which is the business to court communication. It's a secure gateway with secure communication and file exchange, data exchange between businesses and courts in Germany. We launched it in June. We have the first customers on board at the platform, and it would be, of course, very exciting to see where this will go. It should be that businesses are by law obliged to use such a service. There are three providers in Germany. They are, businesses are obliged to subscribe to one of these vendors, and we are one of them before the end of January next year. Let's see how this eventually could pick up. Shipping and Logistics. We have now consolidated this a little bit with basically two product lines. So we have the parcel shipping product line, and we have the Trax suite, which deals with internal logistics. And Trax suite basically now absorbs the Azolver acquisition and the software from Azolver that we acquired. And we had with the Trax suite a few notable wins recently, one reputable university in Denmark and an automotive company in Sweden. On mailing, shipping and office, small growth, as we communicate a few times, the aim here is to have, let's say, flat to small growth in this business area, that works quite well for us. A number of product launches, as already mentioned, is ongoing, and development thereof refurbished and improved products has our priority. In terms of replacing the Pitney Bowes franking machines across the nordic region with our machines, we are moving forward in a good way. And that also has a part of the explanation here for the performance. As I said, there are a few areas operationally that is kind of weighing down on the revenues for this business area. The rebuild of France laid here and there on the ERP, where the ERP, in particular, can help the sales. So, there is quite a lot of improvements to be done, going forward for this business area. So Mail Services, it's developing as we expected. It's quite stable. It's without the sizable one-offs that we experienced last year, mainly in Q1. And as we can see, they are not EUR 10 million less than last year. However, some new customer wins and some customers that are coming back for franking services are driving up the revenues. Because when we are delivering franking services for customers, we record the postage. However, the recorded postage is one-to-one with the cost of materials, so it's actually a pass-through, and also one of the reasons why, or the main reason why sizable swings on the revenues in Freesort gives no swings on the, or almost no swings on the EBITDA line. So no big upgrades. It's the same programs as at the end of Q1 report that we are focusing on. Of course, the ERP project is moving forward now in a better way and will become even better as we go forward. Lots of focus on product development, improving products, launching products, also in countries where we were never present before, for example, with the franking machines. That is the primary focus now. In terms of, of course, keeping the growth trajectory for both DPS and the mailing, shipping, and office side, we need to continue innovating and put better products out in the market, and that is exactly what we are doing. So, summary, basically, we continue growing in the two business areas that drives the bottom line. We have on a normalized base revenue growth of 12.5%, and the EBITDA growth of 27.7%. In terms of. And that brings me then to the last slide, which is the guidance. So in terms of the guidance from what we see right now, we stick to our guidance, which will be somewhere in the EUR 245-255 on the top line, and EUR 28-31 million of EBITDA. This is still what we see is possible to deliver for this year. So that was the words from our side, and we are happy to take questions and yeah. So please, back to the operator. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question now, please press nine followed by the star key on your telephone keypad only once. If you wish to cancel that question, please press nine followed by the star key a second time. The first question comes from Peter Rothenaicher, Baader Bank. Please go ahead. Yes. Hello, gentlemen. Firstly, a question on Azolver. So, last year, you had still some integration costs in. How do you think are you positioned with Azolver? Is the integration done? Is Azolver contributing to your results as planned? Thank you for this question. So basically, at this point in time, we have not yet taking the name Azolver off the market, but we eventually will do that. We don't see or speak about Azolver because we consider it to be integrated now in FP. And FP is the one name and company that we are moving forward with. In terms of the contribution, we see that this is on the software side, for example, this Trax suite is developing in a good way. The pipeline is growing. We had notable wins recently, and we, of course, are also looking for, let's say, the first notable wins, not just in the Nordics, but also in Germany and the U.K. And this is now well integrated into the digital business s olutions. On the franking machine side, we are, as said, with the product launches, we are now taking advantage of this acquisition by putting our revised products into the Nordics, replacing the installed base of Pitney. It's also progressing, as more or less as we want it to be. Some areas where we have been a bit late on, let's say, merging the companies and also finalizing the ERP. I think you can say that FP as a group should have helped the Azolver teams a bit better or a bit more. This is weighing down a little bit in the short run, but it's already improving. Teams are in place, and we are moving forward in a good way. So, long story short, we are definitely very happy with this acquisition. So as I understand you, more on profitability and positive effects to come in next quarter, then particularly 2024. Well, this review here is about the H1 of 2023. But obviously, our intentions for next year is to be better on the top line and better on the bottom line than this year. And for a number of reasons, where the acquisition is one of them, but there are also other drivers in this play. Okay. Then on franking machine business in North America and tailwind you're hoping for from the certification issue, how is this proceeding? Are you gaining market share, and are you getting additional sales volumes already? So we don't report, let's say, volumes or installed base per country. The outlook for the total is that our installed base and this business area will be quite on the total, quite stable. As we said, flat to small growth and, let's say, still a positive outlook on the installed base. Some countries are weighing down and some are helping. The U.S. is one of the countries that we consider now and also going forward, that will be helping. And regarding France, so you mentioned you're putting strong effort here in getting better market share. Can you comment on this? Have you been hardly active in France so far? And I think it's a core market of your major competitor. So can you comment a little bit on this, what you're hoping for in this market? Well, so far, France was not in the category of countries helping the outlook and the installed base, and our intention is to change that situation to the opposite. It's a sizable market for franking machines, and we should be capable of doing better for the years to come than what happened in the last couple of years. So we now move forward with France, with a totally new team, new location, new ERP, and we want to leverage that to improve the situation there and get the sales to improve. Okay. And then last question on the ERP system. So, what percentage of your installation of the new ERP system are you now? So, is the biggest part now done, or what will have to follow in the second half of this year and in 2024? Well, we don't have, let's say, any perspective on an exact percentage. So, but where we are right now is that you could say the digital business solutions is done, which is very helpful because that's one of the drivers in improving FP. And we have, with the merger in Sweden, we have, let's say, learned some of the areas that has been quite difficult for us across a number of countries. And so you could say we have a number of countries that are more or less identical to the situation in Sweden in terms of moving from an old system to the new system. So the learnings and the experiences that we have made there will definitely help us to onboard the next wave of countries. In terms of 2024... We expect, and one also note in Sweden is that although we are on the new ERP and not using the old, we still need to keep the old on the air, so to speak, for audit reasons, for the rest of this year and even a little bit into the next year. And that will be, of course, on a per country. Every time we onboard a country, we will have this effect actually for a while, with kind of double cost on at least on the basic license fees and things like that. However, we do expect that these, both the project should cost-wise be off, let's say, our books when we leave 2024, and also that the old systems are out and sunset when we leave 2024. That's what we want to do. Okay, thank you. Last technical point, you had a relatively high tax expenses in the Q2. Is there a specific reason, and what can we expect going forward? Well, there are a few basic reasons for that, let's say, a bit of an anomaly. It's explained on page- How much? 41? 41 in the annual report that went out, and it relates to the US. I mean, if this is not fulfilling to describe the change, basically the real tax rate we consider is 33% and not the 47%. So there are a few simple reasons for the 47% that admittedly looks a bit odd. If I can refer you to this report, if you want more explanation or something- Mm-hmm. Please, come reach out to us, then we can set up a quick call and and explain it in more detail, if you want. Okay. Thank you very much. The next question comes from Felix Ellmann, Warburg. Please go ahead. Yes, good morning. I have a question with regards to the mail services business. Looking at the last year's quarters, this business doesn't seem to have a real direction where it's aiming to, and from the strategic point of view, it doesn't seem to be that important, let's say. Do you have any plans with this to give it a direction, looking forward, or do you even plan to sell it or something like this? The first, let's say, years of this transformation program, we have been focusing on improving that business on both sales and operations. We also did a few investments into it on the IT side to be ready for this, let's say, new framework laid out by Deutsche Post, which started earlier this year. And indeed, it has improved both on the top line, and it's profitable and stable business. And it's one of the, let's say, pieces on the table here to look at what is then looking three years out, what is then the steps forward for Freesort. At this point in time, it's part of the portfolio. We don't have any actual plans of changing that. As long as we have it in the portfolio, we have our eyes on the ball and want to make sure that it continues in a good way. Okay, thank you. At the moment, there are no further questions. If you would still like to raise a question at this point, please press nine, followed by the star key. There's one question coming from Roland Könen, Value Holdings. Please go ahead. Yes, good morning from my side. Thanks for taking my question. Just one first, congrats on the figures from the H1. My question relates to the depreciation and amortization, which are a bit lower than in the last year. Is this what we saw in the first and Q2, the run rate also for the rest of the year and going forward, or are there some special items in the H1 in the depreciation line? Thanks a lot. Thank you for the question. In terms of not walking down the alley of a lot of technique, I propose that we take that offline and give you an answer, so that this is in line with what I just presented. I said, we have been doing a number of investments in third-party tools and hardware refresh, and which is not something that we do every quarter or even every year. But I think it's better that we take this and discuss it with you offline, if that is okay with you. It's absolutely okay. Thanks a lot. Thank you very much. There are no more questions at this point. I'd like to hand back to Carsten Lind. Thank you, and thank you for the questions, and thank you very much for spending just under half an hour with us here today on the H1 results. So, looking forward, speaking again later this year, and thank you very much.