Value creation

A large digital services Company with a strong market positioning

Digitalisation is the key to maintaining business. SMEs are increasingly aware of the importance of being visible and of offering their customers alternatives (communicating, providing online quotes, organising click & collect services, and so on).

In 2022, 81% of the VSEs/SMEs surveyed consider that digital will represent a real advantage for their company, compared with 78% in 2021 and 68% in 2020; 71% of them have digital skills.

For more than 60% of e-buyers who ordered online from a local retailer, this is a way to show support for local businesses, and for 57% à of them, a more “practical” way to shop. Source: FEVAD/Médiamétrie barometer, 2022

With €400 million consolidated revenues, we are France's 3rd player in the digital marketing sector

We have a strong and solid positioning on those markets with high potential growth :

o A unique range of digital services

o Rich and relevant local content with 4.3 million businesses listed on PagesJaunes, with strategic partnerships with all the GAFAM giants, a vast audience: 1.5 b il l i o n s e a r c h e s o n PagesJaunes in 2022 & an exclusive proprietary purchase-driven & geolocated data.

o A differentiating proximity and customer culture

A unique positioning combining rich local content, powerful data, local coverage and strong partnerships

We are the only player on the French market to offer customers a complete range of services that addresses all their digital needs through a one-stop shop

Our ability to deliver value for our customers lies in the richness of our data, which enables us to carry out effective and highly targeted advertising campaigns

These rich and relevant data enable us to enter partnership agreements with major global Internet players (Google, Apple, Facebook and Bing (Microsoft)) by providing them our local content

Those partnerships with the GAFAMs, which generate today the biggest part of the growth of the Internet ecosystem, contribute to the growth of our media traffic. The deported audience, generated by those platforms, therefore contributes to the reinforcement of our customers’ digital presence.

Our local presence and our omnichannel sale approach are key differentiating factors in our relationship with local customers; they represent a real barrier preventing our competitors and partners to enter our markets

Mutually beneficial partnerships with major global Internet players

In addition to the agreements with the GAFAM mentioned above around local content, local search and campaigns on social media, we have developed partnerships to leverage our partners’ technologies (Google AdWords, BingAds, Facebook Ads) by integrating them in our packaged offerings

We bring value to those digital solutions and to our customers by leveraging on our cutting-edge expertise developed by Solocal: algorithm optimisation and real-time selection of key words, pricing tools…

These strong and mutually beneficial partnerships are an asset for Solocal in the sector in which we operate and represent a significant competitive advantage

High scalable technology platforms

- Another asset of Solocal lies on our ability to grow on a large scale our product offering, while meeting the specific needs of each customer, from large accounts to smaller businesses, thanks to the quality of our platforms, internally developed or integrated into a SaaS mode

- Our customers benefit from a wide range of programmatic tools developed by Solocal used to implement advanced visibility solutions, performance solutions and digital advertising on our proprietary media, on our partners’ media (GAFAMs) or on the local media

- Our customers also have access to a full range of ranking tools, a strong expertise of Solocal, allowing businesses to appear ahead of their competitors on digital media

- Our cloud integration capabilities enable us to further leverage our technology platforms and their scalability

A business generating recurring revenues

Solocal benefits from a virtuous business model, which results from the transition to a subscription model, and the development of a single platform benefitting from powerful network effects.

By exploiting the unique nature of this platform model, Solocal is turning into a "one-stop-shop" for local businesses of all sizes and for consumers, by offering a range of digital services allowing:

- to help professionals to develop and manage their activity through a B2B Solocal Manager platform;

- accelerate interactions between professional and consumers, particularly through a B2C PagesJaunes platform

This platform model combines with an internal innovation approach, enables the rapid rollout of new high-margin solutions on an industrial scale, thus generating profitable growth.

Solocal is developing a unique system of digital services for local businesses of all sizes, brought together within a single interface, Solocal Manager, which enables professional to develop and manage their activity efficiently.

2023 outlook : prudence in a uncertain economic environment

In a context of early 2023, which is marked by inflationary pressures and difficulties in retaining VSE/SME customers in an uncertain environment, the Group expects revenue in the coming quarters to be in line with the revenue of the first quarter of 2023 (€93.3 million), below 2022.

In 2023, the group will continue cost control efforts to maintain an EBITDA margin between 20% & 25%. Beyond market conditions, the Group will be impacted by the full-year effect of the sales force increase implemented in 2022, the impact of the communication campaign broadcast in 2023 and an expected slightly unfavorable product mix

. Finally, the group will focus on productivity of the sales force and improving customer satisfaction in order to limit the churn.

An experienced management team with a recognised know-how and a digital expertise

The company is led by a management team that was partially renewed during 2022 and composed of internal talents and recognised market experts whose interest are fully aligned with those of all stakeholders.

The expertise brought to the table by new members of the team, with recognised skills in the digital field, complements the experience of longstanding members of senior management.

Strengthened by the its new recruits, Solocal's management team is well placed to further enhance the Company's products and services and thus improve its competitive position and earnings.