LeadDesk Plc's press release 24 April 2026 at 9.10 am EET. Unofficial translation of the company release published on 24 April 2026, 9.05 am EET. In case the document differs from the original, the Finnish version prevails.
LeadDesk Plc Q1/2026: A solid start to the year, driven by progress with AI and improved profitability
January-March 2026
- Revenue EUR 9,633 (9,388) thousand, growth 2.6% (22.2%)
- Revenue growth on a comparable currency basis was 1.2% (19.0%)
- Annual recurring revenue (ARR) EUR 32,884 (32,235) thousand, growth 3.0% (30.8%)
- Annual recurring revenue (ARR) growth on a comparable currency basis 2.0% (30.9%)
- EBITDA EUR 1,346 (1,250) thousand, 14.0% (13.3%) of revenue
Figures in parentheses refer to the equivalent period in the previous year unless otherwise stated. Figures presented in this press release are unaudited. Comparable figures have been calculated by translating foreign currency figures into euros using the average exchange rate of the equivalent period in the previous year.
Effective from Q1/2026, LeadDesk Plc replaces annual recurring revenue contract base metric with annual recurring revenue that is calculated as the last three months' average annual recurring revenue and thus better describes actual performance in the period.
CEO Olli Nokso-Koivisto:
The first quarter of the year started in line with our expectations. Revenue growth was a modest 3%, driven by growth in customer service and AI products, as well as the final tailwinds from the Zisson acquisition. Profitability improved in line with our expectations, with the reported EBITDA at 14.0% (13.3%), increasing our last twelve months' EBITDA to 17.0%.
All in on AI
AI is reshaping customer communication, and we are well positioned to lead that shift. Customer communication is becoming increasingly intelligent, automated, and multilingual, and we believe LeadDesk has a unique opportunity to be at the center of this transformation. We already understand the complexity of customer communication and have the platform, expertise, and customer base to bring AI into real-world use. This creates exciting new opportunities for us and for our customers. Fundamentally, we are building the machine behind the future of AI-driven customer communication in Europe.
Our main theme for the first quarter has been "All in on AI". This focus is visible both in our internal operations and in our product portfolio. While still comparatively small, revenue from our new AI solutions grew by 26% year-on-year, led by customers upgrading their conversation transcription and analysis capabilities.
In February, we acquired Fluentic in an asset deal. The acquisition strengthens LeadDesk's multilingual customer support offering by adding Fluentic's AI-powered translation and automation solutions. These capabilities enable customers to deliver consistent service across multiple languages with improved efficiency. One particularly exciting opportunity is further development of Fluentic's experimental live voice-to-voice translation technology, enabling seamless communication over the phone across a wide range of languages.
We also continued developing our AI product offering during the quarter. We launched AI Insights for general availability and brought our Voicebot platform into production, further reinforcing LeadDesk's position as a leader in AI-powered customer communication solutions. Leveraging our deep-tech telecom infrastructure, we can now connect the world's leading large language models directly to the telephone network with high quality and ease. The production use case is now serving Finnish taxi customers.
At the same time, internal AI adoption keeps increasing at a fast base. AI tools are available across the company, bringing efficiency gain across the organization. In the mid-term we target fully agentic workflows in parts of the organization.
Focus on customer service solutions
In our Nordic home market, growth was driven by customer service solutions. Revenue from customer service solutions has now surpassed the revenue from sales enablement. We remain focused on growing in this segment and on expanding our customer service offering further into the Continental European market.
In 2026 Q1, we saw the strongest organic growth in Norway. In the Continental market, revenue was lower than in Q1 last year due to weak second half of 2025, driven by changes in the regulatory environment. However, we have now seen a clear turnaround in the Benelux market.
Demand for secure, sovereign European solutions continues to grow. We are progressing with determination toward our objective of becoming Europe's leading provider of customer service and sales enablement software.
Strong strategy execution
Our work to improve profitability continued during the quarter. In addition to the progress already reflected in our Q1 result, we planned and implemented new levers to improve cost efficiency and further increase our EBITDA margin. In the first quarter, the impact was offset by one-time costs of EUR 0,3 million.
We initiated a review of our product portfolio strategy during the quarter, with an aim to sharpen strategic focus. The work includes evaluation of actions related to less profitable customers and products and will form the basis for our plan when later moving into the accelerated growth phase.
We have been gradually shifting towards more profitable customers. During this quarter, we cleaned up circa EUR 1 million from the ARR contract base, consisting of low-margin telecom revenue as well as a resale contract for third-party software. The impact on our EBITDA is limited.
Progress on M&A integration has been rapid. The Zisson integration has now been finalized, and Fluentic integration is approximately 80% complete. Cross-sales activities are already ongoing across multiple large customers, supporting the commercial potential of the acquisition. The market remains highly fragmented, and industry consolidation is still firmly on our agenda.
I would like to warmly thank our employees and customers for their commitment to making this quarter a success. Together, we are taking European customer communication into the age of AI.
Guidance for 2026 (unchanged)
The company expects its EBITDA margin to be 15-20% in 2026.
Topics impacting revenue growth and profitability
Based on its strategy, LeadDesk continues to execute actions aimed at improving its profitability and aims to reach 20.0 % EBITDA margin in the short term. The actions, including continuing on the rationalization work related to acquisitions, may entail giving up less profitable customers and products and thus may impact negatively on its revenue development. Therefore, the company does not guide on revenue development in 2026.
In longer term, LeadDesk sees opportunities to grow its business organically both in the Nordics and in Continental Europe, driven by its customers' AI investments. LeadDesk has invested in AI product portfolio since 2023 and brought in total 8 AI products to the market. In addition, current market fragmentation provides LeadDesk with opportunities for further acquisitions.
Financial reporting in 2026
The company will release the following financial reports in 2026:
- Half Year Review January-June 2026: 14 August 2026
- Business Review January-September 2026: 23 October 2026
LeadDesk Plc
Board of Directors
More information
Olli Nokso-Koivisto, CEO, LeadDesk Plc
+358 44 066 5765
olli.nokso-koivisto@leaddesk.com
Certified advisor:
Oaklins Finland Ltd, tel. +358 9 6129 670
Distribution
Nasdaq Helsinki
Relevant media
http://www.leaddesk.com
LeadDesk Plc in brief
LeadDesk is a leading European provider of cloud-based sales enablement and customer service software (CCaaS). LeadDesk cloud software, powered by artificial intelligence, improve customer experience and sales productivity. Over 30,000 customer service and sales professionals work more efficiently with LeadDesk's software products weekly. In 2025, the Group's revenue was EUR 39.4 million, most of which came from outside Finland. The Group has offices in eight European countries. LeadDesk Plc's shares are traded on the Nasdaq First North Finland marketplace under the ticker LEADD. www.leaddesk.com
