CEO's review 2023

Overview

2023 has been an exceptionally eventful year. Following the end of the Finnish Food Authority´s cattle register contract, we continued to face additional investment and change requirements throughout the year, which challenged both our finances and operations. However, we are pleased to report that we have largely succeeded in restoring our service levels to their previous high standards. This has required ongoing development work in conjunction with the Finnish Food Authority.

During the year, the company refreshed its strategy to focus on developing modern digital solutions across the extended ‘farm to fork’ ecosystem. As society strives for overall sustainability, Mtech is committed to developing new solutions that reduce the environmental impact of food, improve cost efficiency and drive systemic change towards the food system of the future. Our investment in product development led to the release of new digital productised solutions during the year.

Mtech Productivity System (MPS)solutions, based on the MyFarm platform, improve crop yields and environmental efficiency through technologies such as precision farming. The portfolio also includes solutions for livestock and farm financial management.

The Mtech Supply Chain Integrator (MSCI)
solution is an innovative integration system that supports primary production entrepreneurs and their commercial partners, providing a simple and scalable way to integrate, for example, primary production contract producers with suppliers of products and services or buyers of production.

Mtech Core System (MCS) solutions are designed to meet the needs of different food system stakeholders, such as retail and industry consortia, public and private sector organisations. We offer both off-the-shelf solutions and customised options to meet specific customer needs. These solutions optimise our customers’ business processes and integrate different information systems, improving organisational management and the ability to provide data-driven services.

The company sees significant commercial potential for these solutions both domestically and internationally. By investing in these solutions, we are part of a systemic shift towards a sustainable food system.

In 2023, the company achieved significant success in customer satisfaction: 98% of business customers and 84% of end users say they are at least satisfied with our operations, and many are willing to recommend our services and products. This is an excellent result in a challenging year. The Board and Management would like to thank the Company’s employees and partners for the past year.

Company financials

Revenue for 2023 continues to decline, primarily due to the end of the Finnish Food Authority´s cattle register contract. The comparable period in 2022 included four months of revenue and income from this contract. The company’s ongoing business actually grew by around 1.5%, despite the overall decline in revenue for the reasons outlined above. The operating result remained negative, but improved on the previous year thanks to cost-cutting measures. Net profit was impacted by one-off write-downs related to the valuation of the company’s investments.

Turnover amounted to 11 251 242.86 euros, a decrease of 4.96% compared to the previous year (11 837 907,86 euros). The operating profit was -51 316,52 € (previous year -120 002,32€) and the net result was -254 993,56€ (previous year – 42 618,06€).
The company’s balance sheet remained strong and liquidity excellent. The equity ratio was 60,60% (previous year 65,21%) and the equity was 4 444 994,55€ (previous year 4 919 988,11€).

Measured in full-time equivalents, the company employed an average of 111 people, a decrease of 4 people from the previous year.

Outlook for the coming year

The outlook for 2024 is very positive. Our business has made significant improvements in financial efficiency and we expect promising revenue growth. The budget and early financial indicators point to significant revenue growth and a return to positive operating and net income.

In 2023, we have refreshed our strategy to focus on solving our customers’ challenges in key macro trends, such as the reduction of carbon emissions and the growing consumer interest in sustainable food options. Our strategy supports our position as a leading provider of digital solutions in the extended ‘farm to fork’ ecosystem. We have already achieved several commercial successes both domestically and in international markets, with key components of our strategy being the previously launched Mtech Supply Chain Integrator (MSCI) and Mtech Core Solutions (MCS), which can be read more about on our company website.

The minunmaatilani.fi -platform and farm entrepreneurs are also at the core of our new strategy. In 2023, we launched Maito Pro, Emo Pro, and Liha Pro products aimed at cattle management, which have been positively received. In 2024, we will release the advanced Minun Maatilani Wisu Pro version, which will be commercially available in 2025. We will also continue the development of WebWakka and WebWakka Pro programmes on the minunmaatilani.fi platform. Our goal is to offer a domestically and internationally unparalleled management software solution for farms and the businesses that support them.

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