Truecaller AB: Strong growth of recurring revenues and underlying profit

STOCKHOLM, May 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ --

Interim report January-March 2025

Truecaller, the leading global platform for verifying contacts and blocking unwanted communication, is proud to report an increase in net sales with 16% to SEK 496.9 million (427.2). All income streams contributed to the growth and the recurring revenues, consumer subscription and Truecaller for Business, had a combined rate of 49%. EBITDA excluding incentive costs increased with 22% and the EBITDA margin was 40.0% (38.0%). The strong share price development during the latest 6 months increased incentive costs to SEK 50 million (11) up from SEK 30 million in the fourth quarter. EBITDA including costs for incentive programs decreased with 1% and the margin was 30.0% (35.4%). During the quarter average number of monthly active users grew with 12 million and daily active users grew with 14 million.

CEO Word:

"I'm happy to report that this is the third quarter in a row where we grew in multiple aspects of our business - active users, advertising revenues, Premium subscriptions and Truecaller for Business.

On April 1st, we surpassed a considerable milestone; 450 million people across the world now use Truecaller. In Q1, we added 12 million additional users from Q4 '24 and 53 million users compared to Q1 last year. The average MAU for Q1 was 412 million (excludes iOS from this quarter onwards), 15% higher than the same period last year.

Net sales increased 16% compared to Q1 last year, reaching almost half a billion SEK (497 m SEK vs. 427m SEK in Q1 last year). Advertising revenue continued to grow for the third quarter in a row, by 5% compared to the same quarter last year. Our strategy for Premium subscriptions and Truecaller For Business is panning out well, and these recurring revenue streams now account for almost one third of our revenues (32%) in Q1 2025, as opposed to a quarter of our revenues in Q1 2024. These recurring revenue streams grew at a combined rate of 49%.

We continue to be focused on growth. While growth-related spends increased and we also had higher marketing spends for our iOS product launch, our EBITDA excluding incentive costs increased by 22% to 199 million SEK (162), which is an EBITDA margin excluding incentive costs of 40% (38%). EBITDA including incentive costs decreased marginally by 1 percent to 149 (151) million SEK, equivalent to a 30% (35%) margin. The recent strong share price development increased our accrued incentive costs substantially to 50 (11) million SEK during the quarter, up from 30 million SEK in the fourth quarter.

Advertising revenue, our largest revenue stream, continued to grow, reaching 334 (318) million SEK, a growth rate of 5%. Our direct sales continue to be a focus for us and this stream grew on the back of the broader capabilities we have built over time. This also has a positive impact on the gross margin and our ambition is to further increase the share of direct sales. The Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament (partly Q1 and partly Q2) had lower cricket related advertiser demand than last year. In the first quarter, it was about 9 million SEK lower than last year and is expected to be at similar levels in Q2. In terms of geographies, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region continued to show good growth along with India, while other geographies showed lower revenues, partly due to the present international macro-economic uncertainties.

Subscription revenue continued to show solid growth of 40% reaching 82 (58) million SEK in Q1. We continue to see strong growth across all regions, increased conversion rates, and a higher average revenue per subscriber. The number of subscribers is now approaching 2.8 million which is an increase of 25 percent compared to last year. In late January, we launched our new iOS product, which is primarily a Premium offering. As mentioned previously, the revenue and subscriber growth from this launch should be expected gradually from Q2 onwards. In April, we gradually started to see a promising growth trend of more paying subscribers on iOS, adding almost 55,000 subscribers which is equivalent to a 6% month-over-month growth since the end of March. The strongest growth is so far coming from markets outside of India.

Revenue from Truecaller for Business grew by 60% to 79 (50) million SEK. Growth continues to be driven by strong performance for our entire product portfolio, our Customer Experience (CX) platform Verified Business, Business Messaging and our more recently launched risk products. We continue to see good customer intake as well as more of our existing customers upgrading to higher plans and utilizing more of our products. We are also starting to see growing traction in the Middle East and Africa. We continue to believe that we have only scratched the surface of the full potential of Truecaller in various business scenarios.

So far the only material effect from the various geopolitical situations is limited to FX, but we remain watchful as these situations continue to develop.

We're excited about our growth and our strategy for the years to come. We remain focused on solving mobile communication related problems for people globally. We have the people, the financial muscle, and the operational competence and we believe our strategy will continue to underpin good revenue growth for the foreseeable future, with continued strong profitability, says Rishit Jhunjhunwala CEO of Truecaller.

January-March 2025 (Q1)

Comparative figures refer to January-March 2024

• Net sales increased by 16 percent to SEK 496.9m (427.2).
• EBITDA excluding the costs of incentive programs increased by 22 percent to SEK 198.6m (162.3), equivalent to an EBITDA margin of 40.0 (38.0) percent.
• EBITDA including the costs of incentive programs decreased by 1% to SEK 149.0m (151.0), corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 30.0 (35.4) percent.
• Profit after tax was to SEK 101.7m (133.0).
• Basic earnings per share was SEK 0.30 (0.38) and diluted earnings per share were SEK 0.30 (0.38).
• The average number of active non-iOS users (MAU) increased by 52.9 million to approximately 411.9 million (359.0).
• Net sales increased by 14 percent in India, by 29 percent in the Middle East and Africa and by 19 percent in the rest of the world.

Presentation of the report

Rishit Jhunjhunwala, CEO and Odd Bolin, CFO presents the report and answers questions in a webcast and conference call on the 8^th of May at 13.00 CEST. The presentation will be held in English.

If you wish to participate via webcast please use the link below.

https://truecaller.events.inderes.com/q1-report-2025

If you wish to participate via teleconference please register on the link below. After registration you will be provided phone numbers and a conference ID to access the conference. You can ask questions verbally via the teleconference.

https://conference.inderes.com/teleconference/?id=50052351

For more information, please contact:

Odd Bolin, CFO
[email protected]

Andreas Frid, Head of IR & Communication
+46 705 29 08 00
[email protected]

This information is information that Truecaller is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at the time stated by the Company's news distributor, Cision, at the publication of this press release.

About Truecaller:
Truecaller (TRUE B) is the leading global platform for verifying contacts and blocking unwanted communication. We enable safe and relevant conversations between people and make it efficient for businesses to connect with consumers. Fraud and unwanted communication are endemic to digital economies. especially in emerging markets. We are on a mission to build trust in communication. Truecaller is an essential part of everyday communication for more than 450 million active users. Truecaller is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm since 8 October 2021. For more information. please visit corporate.truecaller.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/truecaller-ab/r/strong-growth-of-recurring-revenues-and-underlying-profit,c4147194

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SOURCE Truecaller AB