The revenues of Icecat N.V. (ISIN: NL0012751226) have increased by 10% over the last six months of 2023 (H2-2023) to 6.8 million euro compared to the same period last year. The growth is still trending upward given that the order-intake during 2023 expanded by 12%.
Similarly, the gross profit increased over the same period by 11%. The operating expenses were stable at 74% of revenues. The profitability was 20% and EBT improved by 3% to 1.4 million euro for this period. These earnings contribute to the already very solid cash position.
We maintained the growth of the business, post-pandemic, and we strive to further improve growth during 2024. During 2023, Icecat weathered well the headwinds caused by the e-commerce correction after the COVID-19 years, and changes in purchase behaviour because of higher inflation affecting our clients. However, given the accelerated order-intake, we observe that these negative effects on the e-commerce market are gradually disappearing. On the other hand, the increasing interest rates might still continue to cause light recession effects in certain major Western markets. Taking this all into account, we believe that the outlook for our product information management services appears to remain solid.
In H2-2023, we completed the investment in a 9.99% stake in NPEX in subsequent tranches, totaling 670K euro. NPEX is a unique fintech running a licensed multilateral trade facility, which obtained a EU crowdfunding license.
We are continuously evaluating and negotiating other investment or divestment opportunities.
The number of product data sheet (PDS) downloads during H2-2023 increased by 80% to 14.6 billion compared to the same period one year earlier. Icecat’s data-sheet production increased by 7% to 1.5 million new product data-sheets, and the database contains now more than 16.5 million unique PDSs, each available in around 75 languages or locales. This implies that the relevance of Icecat has further increased.
During H2-2023, we signed or upgraded contracts with a large number of clients. Most notable are Amazon, Hasbro, Mattel (Barbie), Carrefour, Media Markt and Akzo Nobel.Further, we formed a local US sales team to support our new and existing US clients better.
Icecat became 8th in the Main Software 2023 edition as a SaaS player. Further, Icecat is the 11th fastest growing data science company in the Benelux.
The Icecat board adopted an ALL-AI (artificial intelligence) strategy, requiring all departments to include AI tools in their respective workflow. Also the roadmaps of Icecat include the adoption of both AI frameworks and generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs).
Our CCO steps down per January 1, 2024, and continues as Director Strategy to strengthen our investment focus (Icecat Capital). As CCO, he is replaced by the current managing director, who is already involved in daily sales operations as chief growth officer (CGO). All other board members remain in their posts.
Two entities within the group, Syndy BV and Icecat Nederland BV, both 100% daughter companies of Icecat NV, have been merged into Icecat Syndy BV. This simplifies our administrative processes. During 2024, we look into further simplifications of the group structure, which grew more complicated over the years due to acquisitions.
For its employee incentive plan, Icecat’s balance of purchased Depository Receipts of Icecat shares via NPEX is per June 30, 2023: 96,465, i.e. 73,890 DRs were purchased during H2-2023. We expect to continue to purchase DRs during 2024 as part of this incentive plan.
H2 2023 report Icecat NV (pdf)
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