Good morning, and welcome to Acast's earnings call for the second quarter of 2024. As usual, we have our CEO, Ross Adams, and CFO, Emily Villatte, that will present the results and the developments for the quarter. You're welcome to submit questions throughout the session using the form below, and we'll make sure to answer them in the Q&A session that will be held after the presentation. I would like to kick off the call by handing over to our CEO, Ross Adams. Hi, and thank you for everyone for dialing in. My name is Ross Adams. I'm the CEO, originally based out of London, where I am actually today, but now living in New York, where I've been for the past two years. We'll take you through the Q2 numbers and recent events, and our CFO, Emily Villatte, is also on and will take you through our financials. If you're new to Acast, we are the market-leading independent, global infrastructure platform, uniquely positioned at the center of the podcasting value chain. We connect advertisers with podcast creators who want to monetize their content and their highly engaged audiences. Essentially, we are an internet-connected ecosystem, bringing together creators who produce compelling content to attract listeners, using their creativity to build a loyal audience base, and this high-quality content attracts audiences who are eager to consume it. Sizable and engaged audiences are highly attractive, of course, to advertisers seeking and paying for efficient reach at scale. So we are in the middle of this value chain, helping advertisers to access highly engaged podcast audiences across the globe, and we share the advertising revenue we generate with the podcast creators on our platform. In building the world's most valuable podcasting marketplace, we've established a portfolio of over 125,000 podcasts, generating more than 1 billion listens per quarter, and we work with around 2,700 advertisers, consisting of both global brands and smaller companies, too. We allow them to reach these listeners with effective and creative advertising campaigns via Acast's marketplace. We take great pride in fostering and growing our relationships with podcasters of all audience sizes and types from around the world. Our slate of podcasts ranges from some of the biggest podcasters in the world, like Marc Maron, to news publisher shows, as well as emerging creators. The common thread is that they all choose Acast as their partner to find and grow their audience and earn revenue through partnering with advertisers of all sizes. So let's look at our development during the second quarter of 2024, and another good quarter with sustained healthy levels of growth. Group sales grew by 24% to reach SEK 478 million in the quarter. When adjusting for currency changes, our organic growth was at 22%. Importantly, we have maintained a good growth in North America at 26%. When looking at the growth level in North America, I want to remind you that we had easier comps in the previous quarter, and I'm also glad to show that Europe grew by 25%, reflecting a higher pace compared to the first quarter. Our gross margin was steady at 39%, which is in line with the previous quarter, but reflects a three percentage point increase compared to the level a year ago, another sign of healthy development of our business. And together with continued cost control, the progress has allowed us to make an additional EBITDA improvements in Q2. Our EBITDA loss in the quarter amounted to negative 11 million SEK, corresponding to a negative 2% EBITDA margin, and this reflects a 9 percentage point improvement year-over-year. And this, of course, shows that we've taken another step closer toward profitability. In June, we announced the results of a comprehensive study we ran together with the media agency OMD. Using data from the Swedish market, the study reveals that podcasting advertising not only surpasses other media in brand building, but also in generating sales. The results show that podcast advertising provides the highest long-term return on ad spend ROAS, with ROAS of 4.9, meaning that every SEK invested in podcasts generates 4.9 SEK in long-term sales. This surpasses, for example, social media, which has a ROAS of 4.6, and radio, with a ROAS of 4.3. It also shows that podcast advertising is 34% more cost-effective in driving brand awareness compared to other media. Adding podcasts to a mix of TV and online video can increase a campaign's short-term ROAS by up to 18%. Synergy between different media channels enhances the value of podcasting and underscores why advertisers need to integrate podcast advertising into broader media strategies. The study clearly illustrates that the attractiveness of podcast, or the podcast market, and the large opportunity for both advertisers and creators, as well as the ones providing the infrastructure needed to realize this potential, us. An important market trend is that video and social media components are becoming increasingly critical in podcasting, enhancing engagement, expanding reach, and improving monetization opportunities for creators. More and more multi-channel creators are choosing Acast as their home, and some recent relevant signings and renewals in this space include Have A Word, ShxtsNGigs, The Fellas Studios, and Kayla Itsines, among many others. Acast has been at the forefront of this evolution. In fact, we launched our first multi-channel campaign more than six years ago, and recently we have refined our multi-channel offering due to increased demand from advertisers recognizing the value of such campaigns. And we see more podcasters keen to extend their brand campaigns across all their channels. Furthermore, our innovative work in this space is being recognized across the industry. In June, our multi-channel work was celebrated at the Campaign Audio Advertising Awards by winning in four categories, including Best Branded Podcast Episode, Best Social Strategy, Best Sustainable Green Campaign, and Best Advert. It's testament to our commitment to creative excellence, versatility, and pioneering integrated marketing that so many of these types of creators choose Acast, and so many advertisers trust us with these valuable campaigns. I'll now pass over to Emily, who's gonna take you through our Q2 financials in more detail. Emily? Thank you, Ross. So let's step into the details of our numbers. Per usual, we start by having a look at the listens. And just as in Q1, we have a decline in listens due to the iOS 17 update that has changed how podcast listens are measured. And in Q2, our listens decline was -15%. But our average revenue per listen, ARPL, which is the best indication of monetization that every listener has, at the same time, developed favorably, growing by 45% to 0.43 SEK in the quarter. So the decline in our on-platform listens has not limited our ability to continue to monetize our portfolio. Actually, I'll add some nuance here, because we're not only limited to sell what we are hosting on our platform, but we also have access to some inventory off-platform via technologies such as VAST, which are not included in our reported listens. So our work to assist creators in monetizing their content outside RSS, but also helping them in other media channel or multi-channel work, as Ross just mentioned, is gaining traction. And this means that in practice, we can sell more than the capacity stipulated by the reported number of listens. All right, our net sales growth amounted to 24% in the second quarter. Apologies, my light has gone out. The solid growth development was also 22% organic growth after adjusting for FX. So, this development was driven by another good quarter for North America, as well as a good quarter for Europe. But I will get into discussing the segments shortly. Moving on to gross margin, we have maintained the gross margin level at 39% in the second quarter, which is the same as in Q1. But when it comes to absolute gross profits, this increase represents an increase of 35% compared to the last year, and a three percentage point higher gross margin. So as mentioned on previous calls, this positive gross margin development has been driven by the contribution from our friends at Podchaser, their products, whilst we also have had favorable product mix effects. Moving on to the development of our geographical segments. Again, we've had North America taking the lead on sales growth, growing by some 26% year-on-year this quarter. And those of you who have followed us for some time, as Ross mentioned, you might recall that we had easier comps in the previous quarter, explaining the difference in growth between Q1 and Q2, specifically in North America this year. In addition, we saw a good growth in Europe at 25%, I'm happy with that. Growth in our other market segments was more stable and increased by 10%, so it was a growth across the board. Also glad to see that we continue to see improvements, not just to the top line, but to the local profitability expressed as contribution profits in all our segments. So whilst our gross profits grew by 48 million SEK or 35%, our other operating expenses increased, increased by 21 million SEK or 11%. So this OpEx increase is explained by our continued measured investments, primarily in North America, but costs were also affected by FX, as well as small cost increase from incentive program costs linked to the recent share price development. So we closed the quarter with total staff and consultants of 378 persons, which is actually slightly lower than the 386 staff we had at the same time last year. I'm including consultants here as well. Now, turning to EBITDA, again, thanks to the combination of our growth, improved gross margin, and continued cost control, Q2 was another quarter with tangible EBITDA improvements compared to last year. So the EBITDA loss of -11 million SEK corresponds to a -2% EBITDA margin in Q2 of 2024, which compares favorably to the -42 million SEK that we had last year. On EBITDA margin, this represents a 9 percentage point improvement year-over-year. On the right-hand side, you can see the EBITDA development on the last 12-month basis, showing the gradual progress we continue to make. By Q2, our LTM EBITDA margin was also -2%. So Q2, 2024 marks another important step towards profitability, reflecting that we remain firmly on track to deliver on our profitability target of a positive EBITDA in the full year of 2024. Moving on to cash flows. The operating cash flows improved and amounted to -1 million SEK in the second quarter. As highlighted in the previous quarter, we usually have some working capital fluctuations, but we've clearly, over time, become better at driving down our DSO, so days sales outstanding, whilst maintaining our DPO, days payables outstanding, at a steady level. From a last twelve months perspective, it's clear that we've made large cash flow improvements, thanks to the profitability and working capital improvements. So by Q2 2024, so in this quarter, operating cash over the last twelve months amounted to a positive SEK 14 million. Recall those, that positive impact we had in Q4 of last year. By the end of the second quarter 2024, we held SEK 712 million in cash, reflecting that our financial position remains very strong. Back to you, Ross. Thank you, Em. So to summarize the second quarter, we have continued to build on the strong start we had to the year. We've maintained a high growth rate, not only in North America, but also in Europe. We proudly remain market leader in an industry that carries significant potential for advertisers, thanks to podcasts being a highly effective media in driving sales and building brand awareness. We are also well positioned to support our creators and advertisers beyond podcasts, as evidenced by our leadership in integrated marketing campaigns, and our ability to attract multi-channel creators to Acast. It's clear that we have continued to improve on our position throughout the quarter. Our financial development and improved EBITDA shows that we are on track to deliver against this year's profitability target. That concludes our comments on the Q2 results. Let's start the Q&A, so if you want to post a question, feel free to type them in the text box below. Thank you, Ross. We'll start with some questions from Andreas at Carnegie. "So first of all, I guess we should assume price levels are fairly stable, which would imply that it is the sell-through rate that is the main growth driver. Can you explain a bit more about how you have accomplished this, and also, if you could say anything on what is more to be done? Anything on seasonality we should be aware of for the remainder of the year?" When it comes to our CPMs, Andreas, thank you for the question. They were actually a little bit softer in Q2, compared to Q1. So this means, and implies that our sell-through rate has taken a good step forward. There has been a little bit of softness in market, so this is not unusual when we look at U.S. and other big advertising players focusing on the brand spend side. So, but we have the available inventory to continue to grow our top line. When it comes to seasonality, you might recall that we had tougher top line comps in Q2, so this quarter compared to Q1, but Q3 of this year represents the toughest comp when it comes to growth rates. So I just wanted to make that note as well. Another question from Andreas: "Could you give some indication on the seasonality of the cost side? You have increased efforts in sales and marketing, and given the effect you get from this, I guess we should continue to expect these levels to be sustained?" When it comes to the cost line, there was an increase in the quarter, of course, but I'll recall as well that, you know, with our gross profits increasing by 35%, our OpEx increasing by 11% still gives- has given us a good lever of, level of operating leverage. The cost, as mentioned previously, have increased due to our measured investments in the U.S., but they've also, not quite half of the cost increase, but, but, close to half, has been driven by FX impacts, USD and GBP, for example, fluctuations versus the SEK. So our cost base, our OpEx cost base that we have in foreign currency has increased, and we've also had an increase from share related incentive schemes as a result of the share price increase that we saw during the second quarter of this year. When it comes to seasonality, we do have more staff going on holidays in Q3, so that can have a small impact on our staff costing line and holiday accruals. But I wouldn't guide to any sort of radical changes in our cost line. We will, of course, continue to make measured investments where we see fit and where we expect a return. Another from Andreas: "Given that you have no debt and a strong cash position, is there any reason to expect the Q2 financial net should be materially different coming quarters?" Q2 financial net should be.. Sorry, I'm just reading the question, again. Well, it's- [crosstalk] So there are, as you have seen, when it comes to net profit and loss, and the impacts that we have in the financial items line, below EBITDA, and then coming down to net loss, as you can see, in prior quarters, we have had some quite significant impact from FX there. In Q1 in particular, there was impact from unrealized FX gains. We have a goodwill in the balance sheet in USD, and that is revalued as USD moves quarter to quarter. When it comes to the financial items in Q2, they're smaller, the impact is smaller than in Q1, and these relate mainly to gains from interest on our cash position. So, the financial items line will continue to be impacted by, for example, FX moving forward. Another question from Andreas. "How dependent are you on certain podcasts or certain industries when looking at your revenue? Are there any podcast platform, or is there a podcast platform that stands out as more important than others?" For us, you know, all, all podcast platforms are important. You know, listens are primarily split between 2-3 platforms. But for us, you know, having the open ecosystem and RSS as a distribution system is important to distribute content to anywhere that a listener actually wants to listen to it. When it comes to how dependent we are on certain podcasts or certain industries, when we're looking at our revenue standpoint, we have no advertiser that is a material part of our overall revenue, and we have no podcaster that stands out as material, and material being over 10% part of our overall reach. So, you know, the beauty of having 125,000 or over 125,000 podcasts allows us to spread that audience and reach out, and spread that risk across, you know, the entirety of the network that we represent. Another question from Andreas: "Can you explain your multi-channel offering to customers? What exactly are you doing in this area, and how does the business model look?" Yeah, we have, you know, video right now. If you look at kind of social and more general, podcasting is really part of that social ecosystem and, as a social influencer, a medium. But podcasters obviously have video assets. Video assets might be there to promote the show, and they might become in short form, they might also come in long form, an offering as well. They might simulcast their content as well. But, again, you know, distributing your content on as many platforms as possible is key to reaching as wide an audience as possible. And for us, it's about how we monetize that audience across those, the entirety of wherever people are listening or watching your podcast, short or long form. So the offering that we offer to customers there, of course, is very similar to we do in just audio. More integrated campaigns happen across video as well as audio, whereas, you know, our ad model distributes mainly around the audio offering. But multi-channel is becoming a more popular buy and a more popular request from advertisers now. They're very keen to associate themselves and have a creator endorse their product, regardless of where people are listening and watching, regardless of the short, long form. So, you know, we then offer ad formats that answer that and then operate in those different mediums. Some questions from Bernd at Barclays. "How much of the strong continued growth in North America was driven by underlying market growth versus you taking share? And roughly, where do you see North America organic for the rest of the year?" Bernd, welcome to the team. It's great to have you on board as the new analyst for Barclays, so we're delighted to have you. Now, moving on to your question, how much of North American growth was driven by market growth versus taking market share? Now, the market data on podcasting is not perfect. It's still a medium that is in its early stages of development, I would say, even in North America when it comes to the ad potential. So there isn't perfect data. The market, the general ad market in the U.S. is very well documented, and it is growing. I would hazard a guess that podcasting is growing faster than the overall ad market, but I would also say that Acast is continuing to take market share. When it comes to growth for North America for the rest of the year, we typically don't give a specific guidance, but what I would expect is that, what we've seen in the first half of the year, in other words, North America growing faster than, the Acast group, I would expect that to be reflected, in the full year numbers, as well overall. But, of course, we had our easiest, comp in North America in Q1, so that's important to remember. Another question from Bernd: "Can you give us a sense of Q3 ad trends so far in the UK, US, Sweden, and other markets, please?" Of course. So, it's hard to predict the specifics of Q3. I'll give you some reflections on what we have seen in Q2 so far when it comes to the different markets. Clearly, strong growth in North America, but Europe saw a step-up in growth compared to Q1. Now, it's a similar picture, similar to the one that we reported on in Q1 within Europe, and that is that the UK has had a tougher macroeconomic climate when I look at the portfolio of markets that constitute our European segment. However, we have been fortunate enough to see strong growth from some of the smaller and medium-sized markets in continental Europe. So here I'd highlight France and Germany. So that has been wonderful to see. And also our Swedish market, which it was a tough market in Sweden last year, you will recall, for the full year when we split out those numbers. But Sweden has seen a good step forward this year as well. So overall, in Europe, U.K. has had the toughest macroeconomic climate, and we in our markets have seen stronger growth in continental Europe and in Sweden and Nordics. When it comes to other markets, these are mainly made up by Australia, New Zealand, and then our international segment. They grew by 10% in this quarter. It contributes a smaller overall revenue line, but that blended performance has been somewhat slower than the growth in North America and Europe. Another question from Bernd. "Listens declined 15% due to the measurement changes from iOS 17. Can we get a sense of what underlying growth of listens, ex-iOS 17 was?" It was stable. And also from Bernd: "Finally, what steps are you taking to increase your sell-through rate?" You know, this is multifaceted, and the answer here, I think, you know, it depends by market and market maturity. I think, you know, the mature markets, when we continue to lead from the front, attracting new brands to the space, and thus increasing sell-through as podcasting becomes more and more popular. I think studies like the ROAS study we did with OMD out of Sweden really helped signify that and brings new advertisers into the space, as well as increasing spend from existing advertisers. And then I think also, if you look at our progress we're making in markets we're investing like America. You know, we're becoming more and more prevalent on the ground there, and more and more mature, and that, again, helps our sell-through rates. You know, I think trading deals, we have a large number of trading deals with major agencies as well. That also increases and helps our sell-through rate. So it's kind of multifaceted in the answer there, but very impressed with our sell-through rate. We move on to some questions from Derek at ABG. "So, firstly, what were the main drivers of the strong growth in Europe, UK versus Nordics and other European markets?" When it comes to Europe, we just mentioned that the contribution, a strong contribution from continental Europe, so from Germany and Sweden or Nordics, and a tougher climate in the UK this year. But I think if we have some nuance, then feel free to chip in, Ross, if there's something to add. I think in some of our markets that have been smaller, it's nice to get to a point of having some critical mass in the likes of France and Germany, and steady delivery, optimism, and positive ambition from those teams, as we have across the board. But critical mass helps, of course. The growth in the Nordics, we have a strong market position and are well-regarded, and here we are also getting some tailwinds from market growth, looking at the easier comps that we had from last year. If there's anything to add, Ross, feel free. It's all good. Very good. Also from Derek, he'd like to know about trends in the other region. Well, the other region, it's mainly Australia, New Zealand, and we've seen the macroeconomic climate affect this part of the world in a different way compared to Europe and North America. But, it also includes our international team, which has seen good progress and that operates on a global basis to support our markets where we do not have boots on the ground. Another question from Derek: "You haven't talked much about M&A of late. Is this something you're exploring much currently, and what types of targets are you potentially considering?" Thanks, Derek, for that question. I mean, we're always looking at M&A, and we're also always keeping our ear close to the ground. We have a strong balance sheet, and we have the opportunity to do M&A, should we want to. Of course, it depends on the size of any target. So it's business as usual for us when it comes to reviewing the market and seeing if there aren't any potential M&A targets out there. As you've seen in the past, we've done a few acquisitions. The most recent one, Podchaser, that we did almost exactly two years ago, on the 1st of August of 2022. And we've been delighted with their contribution and the synergies that were being realized so far. Also from Derek: "Regarding the OpEx increase in Q2, how much of this do you expect will follow through to H2?" I mean, OpEx, there is much that we control in OpEx, so much of the OpEx is related to staff cost, but there are also some areas that we do not have full control over. For example, I mentioned the OpEx increase related to the share price movement that we saw in Q2. We also have OpEx movements on a consolidated basis that are impacted by our foreign currency OpEx, such as USD and pounds. So at a consolidated level, we don't control the totality of our OpEx, but those things that we do control, we have the same message to the market as we've had previously, which is, we are firmly committed to deliver on our profitability target, but we will also continue to make measured investments where we see the opportunity and where we are expecting a return on investment on those themselves. We have a question from Max-Philip Stenberg: "How does the ad market look compared to previous quarters?" I think, you know, it's if you look at the macroeconomic, you know, we see certain positive signals in some markets, but it's kind of too early to tell on the whole. But, you know, between Q2 and Q1, we've seen some positive signs of recovery in certain areas. But like I said, too early to tell as a whole. Additionally, from Max, "Could you explain what a favorable product mix means?" When we talk about a favorable product mix in the context of how it impacts our gross margin, it means the ad products that we sell. You might recall that when we sell host-read sponsorships, so those are the ad products where the podcast hosts themselves will read and deliver the ad message, they typically have a split that is more favorable to the podcaster, compared to a pre-recorded brand ad, where the podcaster is not themselves involved in the production. When we sell more brand ads that have higher splits, typically 50/50, compared to host-read sponsorships, which typically have a split of 70/30 in favor of the podcaster, that impacts our gross margin. We have a question from Johannes. Apologies if I mispronounced that. "Sales and marketing costs appear to increase in tandem with the revenues. Is it reasonable to assume that there is a scalability here, i.e., that the sales and marketing costs as a percentage of revenues will decrease as you increase revenues?" I'm expecting all parts of our organization to be able to scale as we.. And deliver scalability as we move towards our path, or as we are on our path to profitability and beyond. But I would also recall, looking back holistically, over the last five or six quarters, our total OpEx has been largely flat in the five quarters preceding this Q2. So the increase overall that we're seeing now of 11% for total OpEx follows a time where OpEx has been relatively flat, while we have grown our revenue, revenues. But to recap your question, yes, we're expecting scalability from sales and marketing, as we are from other areas as well. That concludes the Q&A. Back to you, Ross. Great. Thanks to everyone who's listened in. The report for the third quarter will be released on 5th of November. You're welcome to join us for that presentation as well. Don't forget to follow us on investors.acast.com, our Acast blog, or listen to our financial results, of course, as a podcast. You can also visit our investor relations website to sign up for press releases, news, and financial reports. Thank you, and goodbye.