With us, we have Ebrahim, who is the CEO now of the company. Welcome, Ebrahim. Thank you. Pleasure to be here. It's good to have you here, and we also have Marco joining us here in the digital studio. Welcome, Marco. Hello. I thought we could begin with some background of this sudden decision. I think there's nothing more normal that after a while, make the decision to focus more on some personal life, on the personal wellbeing, and personal projects. I think it's time to make this step, even if you are in the best environment, professional environment, like a White Pearl family is. For me, it is a big step. I know that, it is something normal for somebody like me with my age, I don't see any big problem in all this. Pretty much natural, I think. Ebrahim, would you like to fill in there, your perspective? Sure. I think this is a planned and constructive transition, I think it also reflects the next phase of our development. I think Marco has led the group through a very important period. WPTG, for me, has now moved from being a smaller, less visible company into a listed international technology player with a much broader platform, I think this is a significant achievement. For me, as founder, large shareholder, and strategic advisor, I've always been closely involved in the company strategy and long-term direction. I do believe that over time it's become clear that the next phase requires us to focus very strongly on integration, execution. I think this transition allows Marco to still continue contributing at board and strategic level with all the experience he has now of the company and beyond, while I then step in as the CEO to drive the operating agenda more directly. We'll talk about more how this will affect the White Pearl more on an operational level. Before we do that, we also have to consider that Marco has been CEO since 2019. That's five and a half years. Timing-wise, why is now the right time to do this change? A little bit more, 2019. It's really good. I spent a really interesting time, good time. Even if, as you know, in 2019, we also had the problem with the COVID-19 pandemic. All the growth in order to be a candidate to be a public company, when we applied, we achieved the start. I think during these years, we had a lot of achievements. I think it was a really nice and unique experience for a professional like me and the other colleagues in the senior management. Well. What would you say are the most important lessons and milestones you've achieved during your time as CEO? Well, I learned a lot about the resilience, about the fact that if we will apply in the right way, the professional rules, a company like us has no limits. We don't have any limit. We can go and go and grow without any problem. After the challenge of the COVID-19 and different other small challenges, I think today this company is able to definitely achieve every kind of target. This is what I understood, what I learned. Even individually, every professional person should understand, after this kind of experience, should understand that there is no limit in terms of growth. This is what I understood. You're not out of the company. We must remember that you remain on the board, and you also step into the role as Strategic Advisor. The title seems a little broad for those who might not understand it fully. What does a Strategic Advisor do, and how do you believe that you can add value to White Pearl from that position? I think no need to explain as board member, which kind of value and what is the work of the board member. As a Strategic Advisor, I think I definitely could provide, with my experience, a lot of support, especially to the CEO or the senior management in terms to adopting strategies or making a correction if required to specific strategies. I will be more focused on the strategy level of this activity, not really in a specific sector. Even if I have experience in different areas, such as in marketing strategy or in terms of evaluation of the acquisitions. There is a work. I'm available. I'm absolutely supporting and available, and I hope to stay for a long while in this area because I really care for this company. For me, it's like a family. That's very nicely put. Before Ebrahim became CEO, he was also the role of Strategic Advisor. How similar or how different can we expect your contributions to be? I think I've been deeply involved in White Pearl for many years, so I think the company's not new to me. What does change now, I believe, is the formal executive responsibility. As CEO now, I'm directly accountable for execution. For me, my priorities are very clear. First, integration. As you know, we've done many acquisitions through the years, and we must now make sure that the group operates more effectively as one platform. Secondly, from an AI perspective, we want to position White Pearl as an AI first technology platform company, not only as a traditional IT services company. Thirdly, operationally, cash and reporting discipline, we need faster monthly results. We need better internal visibility and stronger working capital management. Lastly, governance and compliance. As a listed international company, our governance must match our scale and ambition. I think that together with investor relations, is going to be my priority as CEO in the business. You said you want White Pearl to become an AI first technology platform. What does that truly mean in practice? Look, AI first means that AI becomes central to everything we do in White Pearl, whether we consult, we build, we deliver, how we operate internally. It does not mean, for me, that we abandon our existing strengths in IT services, software, managed services, all the digital transformation, all the things we do. It means now that AI becomes that layer, which makes these capabilities more valuable and scalable to customers. In practice, we are building an AI consulting solution and delivery model that I believe includes things like model orchestration, AI governance, AI training, managed AI services. This allows us to help our customers move from talking about AI to actually implementing AI in their businesses, which results in improved productivity, automating workflows, enhancing customer service, strengthening decision-making. I think internally also as White Pearl, we are using more and more AI. This is, I think, very important. As an AI first company, we must apply AI to our own internal processes around reporting, finance, HR, operations, sales, customer delivery, as well as management processes, which we are doing. I think that's really what AI first means for me. Ebrahim, we will move on this interview to a one-on-one between just the two of us. Marco, thank you very much for also participating in this interview, and also good luck in your continued engagement in White Pearl. Thank you. Thank you so much. Ebrahim, you've set out a CEO manifesto for White Pearl. Could you tell us about the core messaging here that we should pick up on? Sure. Look, the core message is that White Pearl is now entering a new phase of disciplined value creation. The first phase was about building the company, expanding internationally, listing the business, growing through acquisitions. For me, the next phase now is about execution. The manifesto is built around one outcome, increasing long-term shareholder value. I want to be clear that the share price is the outcome, not the starting point. The starting point has to be stronger earnings, better cash generation, faster reporting, acquisition integration, cross-selling, upselling, governance, compliance, IR, and a very clear AI first strategy. For me, the manifesto is not just a slide, it's an operating agenda which we need to drive throughout the organization. It tells people in the organization what we must focus on, which is operating performance, strategic positioning, and capital market credibility. Something that's also important to you is integration. Could you tell us a bit more on that, why that is such a priority for you in this moment? Sure. Look, acquisitions for us only creates real value when they're properly integrated. As we know, White Pearl has acquired many businesses with strong people, customers, technical skills, local market positions. This is highly valuable. The next stage is to make sure these companies do not operate as separate islands or silos. Integration for us does not mean destroying entrepreneurship. I believe it means enhancing it, rather. Many of our companies are successful because of their local leadership, the entrepreneurs in the group, their customer relationships. We want to preserve that, we want to build on that. At a group level, we need common reporting, stronger governance, better compliance, cash discipline, shared KPIs, and most importantly, I believe more structured cross-selling and upselling. The real value in White Pearl is the platform. One company's customers should be able to benefit from another company's technology. One subsidiary's AI capability should be available across the group. I believe this is how we're going to create synergies and shareholder value. If I am getting this right, it is sort of sacrificing some sort of independence to your holding companies and then promoting instead unity and synergies. Absolutely. I think the focus is very much on operating as one unit, as the platform. I think this has been how we've built the platform through the acquisitions, through the discipline that we've built, through the culture we've built in the organization. What is the greatest challenge of achieving that? I think the greatest challenge is getting everybody to work together, to work off the same page, and hence we've now built a manifesto, which basically focuses on aligning people in our business towards a common goal. As you're focusing on this integration, how should shareholders see to that in terms of perhaps new acquisitions in the future? Is that a door that is now being shut or maybe closed a little further? No, not at all. I think what it means is that we'll be more disciplined when it comes to these acquisitions. Okay? We'll continue to look at acquisitions because M&A is part of our DNA, part of our growth model, but for me, the next phase is not about acquiring for headline revenue. It's really about acquiring companies that improve the quality of the group, i.e., the platform. The right acquisitions for us must add capability, customers, recurring revenue, AI expertise, geographic strength, or strategic value, and must also have a clear integration plan and a clear path to value creation. I believe integration does not stop acquisition. It rather improves acquisitions. It ensures that every acquisition is a key part of our platform and makes a meaningful contribution to earnings, cash flow, and strategic positioning. There is a question here from the chat already. It asks the following: when will the June preliminary revenue figure be disclosed? Yeah. I mean, I think we put out a press release in May saying that it will be published with our results. The results are planned, I think, for the 19th of August in terms of the H1 results. Should there be any material change, I know our accountants are currently looking at it, we will put out appropriate press releases to the community and the markets. Turning the focus to your manifesto, as we've covered before in this interview, you want to become an AI first platform. You can talk the talk, how will you walk the walk? That's a very important question, right? AI can easily become a slogan if it is not connected to real business outcomes as we see in our industry. For White Pearl, practically AI means three things. One, we must offer customers practical AI solutions, be that AI readiness assessments, GenAI pilots, AI agents, RAG systems, AI governance, managed AI services. Those are the scope which we need to offer. Secondly, we must build reputable solutions and platforms, not only for once-off consulting projects. The goal rather is to create AI offerings that we can scale across customers, across industries, across geographies. White Pearl is now in 22 countries, we've got tremendous reach to be able to then take companies across. If we take the Aixia discussion that we currently have, that's on the table, our view is that we can extend Aixia into other continents where this AI technology is now being used. Thirdly, for me, we must use AI internally. I mentioned that, right? We are really focused on using AI in business execution. We use it in reporting, in finance, in HR, in customer support, in sales, in document processing. The test is really simple. Does AI improve customer outcomes, and does it improve our own productivity in terms of supporting better margins as well as recurring revenue? Concerning Aixia, what is the current status there? The offer opens up to the shareholders next week on the 13th with the offer closing in mid-August. We're super excited by the synergies which Aixia will bring to White Pearl should the deal be completed, as well as what White Pearl can do for Aixia. White Pearl can create this international platform. Our Middle Eastern customers, our customers in Africa and Asia are hungry to have first world AI solutions, what Aixia have now achieved in the Nordics in Sweden, we believe is highly transferable to the markets in which we operate. As a group, what is the biggest challenge in investing in AI, and of course also, and most importantly, making the right investments? Absolutely, Loke. I think the biggest challenge in AI is focus. AI is moving very fast, and there are many new technologies, platform vendors out there. A company must avoid investing in every trend, and we as White Pearl are too small in terms of doing that. We have to be very, very selective and disciplined in terms of where we're creating investments as well as in how we create value. The second challenge for us is choosing those solutions that are scalable across the group, across our businesses, and across the customers we serve. A good AI solution should not only work for one subsidiary or one customer, but ideally should be repeatable across multiple geographies and companies. The third challenge for me is governance. AI creates opportunities, but also risks around data privacy, security, accuracy, compliance, customer trust. This is why AI governance is such an important part of the offering from the beginning, and it's not something we're going to add later, but rather upfront. The last one is talent. AI requires the right combination of technical expertise, business understanding, change management, data. Okay? It's not enough for us to just build the model. We must actually do it in such a way that our customers are able to benefit from it. Our approach really will be practical and disciplined and highly selective in terms of what we invest in. Ebrahim, I move now to my final questions. As you take on now the CEO role, what is the next news or milestone from White Pearl Technology? Yeah, I mean, look, I think that the big milestone for us now is going to be execution, right? Markets often look for an announcement or something, but for me, really the real milestone now is going to be showing a more integrated, more disciplined, and more AI-first operating model. What does that mean? It means clearer reporting, faster communication to the market, stronger cash conversion, better integration of acquisitions, improved cross-selling, and a more visible AI strategy being executed across our subsidiaries. I think we are very focused on the Aixia transaction and the strategic opportunity it creates for White Pearl in AI infrastructure and applied AI. If completed, like I said, that combination will only strengthen our AI-first positioning and give us a more powerful platform in Sweden, in the Nordics, and internationally. Really the next phase is not just about news flow, it's about proving execution. My personal objective is that investors should see White Pearl become a stronger, more integrated cash-generative, AI-enabled platform company. That was my last question, I just came up with a follow-up one because you talked about investor relations and making transparency, news flows, et cetera. When investors look to White Pearl and look to this AI-first strategy and your implementation of it, what is the most important KPIs for them to follow to sort of measure that success? Yeah, look, I think that one of the key KPIs for us is going to be margin expansion. Okay? As we become more efficient, i.e., if we're implementing AI properly with our customers and internally, our cost of delivery should reduce, which means that our EBITDA margins should improve as well. I think that's a very simple one, and I think also as we start increasing our market share, we should see revenue improve as well. I think by and large, we should see critical growth happening on the key lines of our income statement, revenue, EBITDA, margin percentage, as well as then profits, which I mean, we're generating. Ebrahim Laher, CEO of White Pearl Technology. That was my final question. I wish to thank you for being here and answering ours. Thank you so much.