LeadDesk as an investment

Thanks, Mainari, you already did my job here :smiley: same interpretation.

Perhaps a bit of background: LeadDesk’s sales investment payback started to weaken from about 2022 onwards, and additional investments were no longer justified after that → in value creation, it was justified to shift leverage from growth towards cash flow. So, in that sense, this has been necessary despite the needs of the M&A side.

For acquisitions, this has certainly been valuable, as with current valuations, there’s definitely no desire to excessively print new own shares as a means of payment → cash flow has become useful as a means of payment. One of the key reasons for LeadDesk’s listing was to promote market consolidation, meaning that there has almost continuously been a desire and opportunities to make acquisitions. In 2022-23, there were just problems with valuation levels as the private side was still living in 2020-21 multiples for a while, even though the listed market was already at a completely different level.

LeadDesk has actually been very disciplined in this M&A game and has certainly known how to play multiple arbitrage creatively to create value. LeadDesk printed shares for 50-100% of the purchase price when its own EV/S was 4.3-5.1x and acquisition targets’ EV/S was 0.6-2.7x, but used shares for 0-22% when its own EV/S was 1.3-1.7x and targets’ EV/S was 0.4-1.2x.

Image from the comprehensive report:
image

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New PRESS release from LeadDesk. :slight_smile:


LeadDesk and South Ostrobothnia Wellbeing Services County sign agreement – LeadDesk strengthens its position in the Nordic health and social care sector

LeadDesk Plc, Press Release September 2, 2025 at 2:00 PM.

LeadDesk Plc (“LeadDesk”) and the South Ostrobothnia Wellbeing Services County (“HyvaEP”) have signed a four-year agreement for the implementation of a cloud-based customer service system. The value of the agreement is approximately 600,000 euros. This is LeadDesk’s latest breakthrough in the social and health care sector, and the agreement strengthens the company’s position as a service provider for municipalities and wellbeing services counties in the Nordics.

The system is designed to improve both the customer experience and staff workflow. Efficient remote services are key to providing health services effectively and accessibly. The agreement serves nearly 200,000 residents of South Ostrobothnia.

“It is important to us that our solution genuinely serves people – both customers and staff. In Finland and the Nordics, the efficiency of healthcare relies heavily on digitalization, and remote services are a key foundation for this,” says Olli Nokso-Koivisto, CEO of LeadDesk.

LeadDesk has also strengthened its position in the health and social care (sote) sector through the Zisson acquisition. The company’s customers now include dozens of health and social care sector operators from various Nordic countries, such as health centers, wellbeing services counties, dental clinics, and ambulance services. Norway is LeadDesk’s largest operating country.

AI-powered solutions have grown in importance in LeadDesk’s services. Examples include the automation of supply orders based on voice AI and automatic call classification. Strong data security is at the core of LeadDesk’s solutions, as evidenced by the company being granted ISO 27001 and SOC2 data security certifications.

LeadDesk is a European pioneer in providing cloud-based contact center software. The company’s shares are listed on the Nasdaq First North Finland marketplace.

Further information

Olli Nokso-Koivisto, CEO, LeadDesk Plc

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Here are Luiro’s comments regarding that new contract. :slight_smile:

*LeadDesk announced on Tuesday that it had signed a new agreement on the implementation of a cloud-based customer service system in the South Ostrobothnia wellbeing services county. The four

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Apparently, those hpjn purchases are some kind of error on the ownership list, because it now appears almost every month as a new change.

I haven’t been very active here, but I definitely have skin in the game :sweat_smile: I mainly follow the news feed and the share ownership list, as there’s nothing else. The largest nominee owner exceeded 28%. It has moved there relatively slowly and steadily as the share price fell.

Waiting for the Q3 report →

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Here are Antti’s and Frans’s preliminary comments as LeadDesk publishes its Q3 business review on Friday. :slight_smile:

The period’s revenue continues strong growth driven by acquisitions, while we estimate organic growth to have been slightly positive, but still subdued following customer churn at the end of 2024. However, we expect profitability to have strengthened significantly, supported by cost discipline and acquisition synergies. From the report, we are again looking for an updated understanding of the company’s steps on the path of profitable growth strategy and the development of competitiveness as AI accelerates the pace of change in the customer communication software market.

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January-September 2025

• Revenue EUR 29,319 (23,207) thousand, growth 26.3%

• Revenue growth in comparable currencies was 25.9%

• Recurring annual billing contract base EUR 33,561 (26,903) thousand, growth 24.7%

• Recurring annual billing contract base growth in comparable currencies was 23.7%

• EBITDA EUR 4,690 (3,444) thousand, 16.0% (14.8%) of revenue

Revenue fell short of Inderes’ expectations, EBITDA in absolute and relative terms roughly in line with expectations

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Luiro interviewed @Olli_Nokso-Koivisto after the Q3 earnings release. :slight_smile:

Topics:

00:00 Introduction
00:14 Q3 Highlights
02:08 Revenue Development
03:41 One-off Costs in Q3
05:12 Status of Integrations
06:30 Both Big Risks and Opportunities in Acquiring AI Companies
08:30 Organic AI Development
10:33 LeadDesk’s Competitive Advantage in AI Offering
11:44 Role of OpenAI and Partners in the Market
15:33 Strategy Progress
17:08 Growth Opportunities in the Market

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Antti and Frans have prepared a new company report on LeadDesk after Q3 :slight_smile:

LeadDesk, a developer of customer communication software, grew its Q3 revenue through acquisitions and its profit through cost control. The pick-up in organic growth, which we consider important for long-term value creation, fell short of our expectations, and we slightly lowered our forecasts, desiring improved visibility into growth. The company continues to create value, and in light of its product development, it remains abreast of the AI disruption. In our view, this provides sufficient support for staying with the stock (2026 EV/EBITA 15x), considering the moderate profitability relative to its potential.

Quoted from the report:

LeadDesk’s growth is currently moderate, but its profit is already reasonable and on an improving trend, so the earnings multiples offer a clear reference point for the stock’s valuation. The 2025-26 EV/EBITA multiples are 19-15x. The company’s capital-light business model relies on continuous, predictable, and high-margin revenue streams. Considering this and the outlook for earnings growth, the multiples are acceptable and quickly become attractive (2027-28: 12-10x) if our forecasted earnings trend continues.

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A small follow-up comment on the report for those interested :backhand_index_pointing_down:

Indeed, no major surprises emerged from Q3, meaning LeadDesk’s earnings growth is strong, especially supported by the Zisson acquisition and general cost discipline. Organic growth, in turn, was predictably weak, as the company’s investments in growth are still moderate.

However, the organic development of revenue was weaker than our expectations, and according to our estimate, it will be negative for the full year 2025. On this front, forecast calculations were made, which naturally flowed into the earnings forecasts.

A bit of a stream of thought behind this lowering of expectations.

The weakness in 2025 growth is also due to one-off drivers: at the end of last year, there was a churn of less profitable customer accounts, and large project revenues in Q4 last year make the comparison period difficult. There were also regulatory changes in Spain & the Netherlands that weighed on Q3 growth. And of course, LeadDesk’s focus in 2025 is not yet on growth, so the expectation level is also lower.

However, in recent years, various, in themselves one-off, growth inhibitors have regularly emerged (e.g., slowing purchasing decisions of large customers and a decrease in project revenue, churn of ‘temporary’ corona customers, shift in sales focus from fast SME business towards large accounts with longer sales cycles, weakening of crowns, churn of less profitable customer accounts, regulatory changes…), so it is necessary to leave room for small unexpected headwinds in the forecasts. In this lower growth phase, this has more significance than in a rising market, as their relative importance is slightly greater.

Another perspective is the prerequisites for growth to pick up. Fundamentally, I would think that before increasing growth investments externally, some early signs of organic growth picking up would be visible. This would indicate that a somewhat tested recipe for strengthening growth has been found, which could be reinforced by increasing investments in sales and marketing. Currently, there are no clear signs of this, meaning it is unclear how effectively increasing growth investments will take hold. Against this background, I believe it is good to keep expectations moderate. Olli did comment in the interview that investment targets have started to form, which is of course a good sign, although in my opinion, a better picture of their effectiveness will only be obtained once more time has been invested in them.

According to our view, the valuation is at a reasonable (2026e EV/EBIT 15x) or even very attractive level (DCF 9e/share vs. share price 6.9e/share), if the moderate organic growth pick-up to approximately 5% per year, as per our current forecasts, can be achieved. And on top of this, in my opinion, the company can be expected to make value-creating acquisitions, which are not yet included in the forecasts.

However, the brakes on our view are the currently weak visibility into the level of organic growth going forward (will acceleration succeed and how well), and on the other hand, the still low peer valuations, within which there are fewer upside drivers for the valuation.

If you have any further questions on other topics, please feel free to ask :+1:

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100,000 unit deal

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Proprius Partners Micro Finland bought and S-Bank Fenno Equity Fund sold.

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I’m not at all surprised that Proprius has taken a position in Leaddesk. The company’s share price is below its IPO price. Revenue has grown from 11 million euros in 2018 to nearly 40 million euros this year (CAGR 20%), and EBITDA is over 6 million euros. EV/SALES is hovering around one. The company’s main market is no longer even Finland; growth comes from international markets. Unfortunately, the trading volume of the company’s stock is very low. Even though the company has grown mainly through acquisitions, the low valuation of the stock is still puzzling. However, the company has made its acquisitions mainly with debt financing, and its own shares have only been used, if I recall correctly, when share prices were high during the boom years.

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@Olli_Nokso-Koivisto’s interview was in Kauppalehti today. The article discusses, among other things, the AI disruption and market consolidation :backhand_index_pointing_down:

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That was a good article! Now just to execute the next growth leap and bring growth figures to investors!

At the end of the article, Olli lamented the low trading volume of the stock and the scarcity of small investors, as according to him, the stock is mainly bought by nominee-registered entities.

Yesterday, due to the attention generated by the article, the trading volume was a delightful 130,176 shares. Excluding the block trade in October, there hasn’t been a single full month this year where the trading volume was higher than yesterday’s daily volume. At the same time, according to Nordnet, approximately +110 new shareholders emerged.

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No niin… tulipa myöhään aika mielenkiintoinen tiedote! :slight_smile:

LeadDesk Plc Company Announcement 19.11.2025 at 10:30 p.m.

Change in LeadDesk Plc’s Management Team

LeadDesk Plc (“LeadDesk”) has appointed Samuel Lehtonen (Master of Science in Economics) as Vice President of Operations and a member of the Group’s Management Team, effective January 5, 2026. Samuel Lehtonen will report to CEO Olli Nokso-Koivisto.

Samuel Lehtonen joins LeadDesk from McKinsey & Company, where he served as Engagement Manager. He has extensive experience in strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and transformations across various industries, including private equity, consumer goods, construction, energy, and logistics.

Prior to McKinsey, Samuel worked at Deloitte, EY, and Capgemini Invent, where he focused on financial advisory, operational development, and strategic consulting.

As Vice President of Operations, he will be responsible for the following tasks:

  • Developing and harmonizing operational processes across different markets
  • Promoting the efficiency and scalability of LeadDesk’s growth operations
  • Advancing strategy implementation and profitability improvement.

CEO Olli Nokso-Koivisto:

“Samuel Lehtonen brings a strong combination of analytical rigor and execution capability. As we transition from integration and profitability improvement towards new growth, his experience in leading complex transformations will strengthen our operational expertise and scalability.”

Samuel Lehtonen:

“LeadDesk has built a strong position in Europe and an innovation culture. I am excited to join the team at this pivotal stage – to strengthen our operational foundation and help achieve sustainable, profitable growth.”

LeadDesk’s Management Team from January 5, 2026:

  • Olli Nokso-Koivisto, CEO
  • Teemu Rautiainen, CFO
  • Michael Ramm Østgaard, Chief Revenue Officer
  • Jarno Tenni, VP of Engineering
  • Samuel Lehtonen, VP of Operations
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