Brigitte de Vet: Yes. So I think the — there’s a couple of strategies or reflections that we’ve seen have led to success in the medical market that we’ll seek to apply in the other markets as well. I mean, the additive manufacturing is a growth segment still and selecting carefully where we play and how we play with a deliberate market strategy is — in setting continuously setting the right priorities, focusing our efforts there where we see we have the price changes of a return on our investment. That’s what we’ve done in the medical market, making clear choices about what are the markets we want to serve and how do we want to serve them and focus. I think that is certainly an effort — obviously a reflection that we want to apply to other markets as well.
Operator: [Operator Instructions]. Our next question comes from the line of Alexander Craeymeersch of Kepler Cheuvreux.
Alexander Craeymeersch: Just maybe one more question on the CO-AM platform. So that was back in time, a significant investment also on the back of an acquisition. So could you maybe just give us an indication where that stands today, how that — the demand is moving? Were you able to increase the prices? Because if I look at the Q1 where it was not exceptionally as far as I understood it in 2023. So I just see a 8% decrease in sales. So yes, I see there that the subscription fees rose by 4%. Does that then imply that basically the volumes are down? Or how do I need to see this?
Brigitte de Vet: No, I don’t think you can conclude that from the numbers. So let me talk to CO-AM and the in the strategic importance of that. And you’re absolutely right, we have invested a lot in CO-AM in the past, and it is an absolutely critical driver of our growth going forward. Why? Because I’m — I talked a lot about that shift in the market from prototyping to end-use products. And that’s the shift that we want to tap into with our software unit. And CO-AM plays a major role in that because CO-AM is one of the vehicles that we can use to cater the needs of those customers that are additively manufacturing end-use products. And that needs to scale, they need offerings and systems that help them to do this efficiently and effectively and CO-AM is the vehicle to do that.
In my remarks, I mentioned one of the functionalities that we brought out now in the first quarter that is based on CO-AM and list the QPC modules to the quality and process control functionality, which does exactly that. It helps customers that really want to scale in the production of end-use products and then they need to have better tools to monitor to quality, monitor their process and capture that data to scale efficiently and provide the Aero products at an appropriate market — I don’t know, the appropriate cost to their markets. So CO-AM stays an absolutely critical element in our strategy to tap into that market where we see growth and it is the perfect vehicle. Now we did an acquisition to at least get the basis of this vehicle in-house, but obviously, we continue to develop further on that vehicle.
And on that basis, which again is what is reflected in our 16% R&D spend. Does that answer your question?
Alexander Craeymeersch: But — yes, but why are the sales down? Why are clients less interested in your software — but at least that’s the impression that the numbers in Medical [indiscernible].
Koen Berges: No. Maybe what I can add to it, Alexander is if you look at the number at a 4% increase that we’ve mentioned for recurring revenue that includes far more than just only our CO-AM platform, there is growth mainly on 2 components within recurring revenue that is first on CO-AM. Secondly, also on the switch to annual licenses. On the other hand, we see a decline, of course, if we do the switch from perpetual to annual licenses with regards to maintenance contracts. And maintenance contracts go down. And historically, there has been a large bulk. So when we do the transition from perpetual to annual, that component goes down. So if you take the bulk of the 3, then overall, there is still an increase of about 4%, but there is various components within that. And also in the first quarter, we can confirm that CO-AM continued to grow even if the project has more functionality is being added to it.
Operator: Thank you. I’m showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Brigitte de Vet, CEO, for closing remarks.
Brigitte de Vet: Well, thanks again for joining us today. We look forward to continuing our dialogue with all of you through investor conferences or in one-on-one virtual meetings or calls. And as you know, you can always reach out to us if you have any questions or you need further clarification. Thank you, and goodbye for now.
Operator: Thank you for your participation in today’s conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.
