IPH Limited (IPH) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the IPH Limited FY '26 Results Presentation. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Tony O'Malley, MD and CEO. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and welcome to the IPH results presentation for the year ended 30 June 2026. I'm Tony O'Malley, and I had the privilege of joining IPH as CEO on 1 July. We've been in blackout period since then, which means I haven't had the opportunity to meet shareholders, analysts and investors over that time. However, I look forward to meeting many of you over the coming days and weeks. Joining me for today's presentation is Brendan York, our Group CFO. I'll start by sharing some of my initial observations of the business gained over the past 7 weeks and provide an overview of the results. Brendan will then discuss the financials in greater detail, including our segment results. And then I'll conclude with an operational update and a summary of our priorities for FY '27. First, an overview on Slide 4 of the diversity and scale of IPH. Today, we have over 1,700 employees, servicing some 26 IP jurisdictions through 5 brands. You'll note the consolidation of part of our brand portfolio since the half year results. On 1 July, Pizzeys was integrated into Griffith Hack, combining the complementary strengths of both firms. Applied Marks was also integrated into Griffith Hack on 1 July, further strengthening our ability to support clients throughout the innovation life cycle. I will talk more about the benefits of our global network and scale shortly. Turning now to some initial observations on Slide 6. Since joining IPH, my immediate focus has been to listen and to learn, meeting with many of our people, clients and stakeholders to better understand the business before drawing conclusions. My initial impression of IPH is very positive. It's a business of real value. We have highly respected brands, deep technical expertise, long-standing clients and referral relationships and a unique presence across global IP markets. We also have a business model underpinned by enduring client relationships, recurring workflows and strong cash generation. That provides the capacity to continue delivering attractive returns to shareholders while investing in our people, technology and future growth. At the same time, the innovation landscape is changing rapidly. Clients are navigating increasingly complex global IP portfolios, seeking greater transparency and coordination across jurisdictions, while technology, data and AI are transforming the pace of innovation and the expectations placed on service providers. Within that environment, our focus needs to be on sharpening our execution and beginning the next phase of transformation. That means accelerating sustainable growth across the business, connecting clients more effectively across the IPH network, better coordination of business development, stronger use of CRM capability and over time, improved client-facing tools. It also means simplifying and scaling our platform. That includes further reducing complexity, improving efficiency, supporting more consistent processes and enabling better use of data. We'll also continue to have a clear focus on working capital management, cost savings and scale benefits from previous acquisitions. And it also means building our future capability. We will further embed AI tools and over time, AI agents within selected workflows where we can see clear benefits in productivity, consistency and client outcomes. That's not about pursuing technology for its own sake. It's about applying it thoughtfully in areas where it can improve quality, speed, efficiency and scalability. At the same time, we will continue to develop our long-term strategy and consider how IPH can create greater value through its international platform, technology capability and market positions. That requires us to think beyond individual firms and markets and to consider how IPH can best connect firms, clients, workflows and IP portfolios across the world's most important secondary IP markets. I'm excited by that challenge, and I very much look forward to sharing our progress with you in due course. Let me now provide an overview of the FY '26 results. Turning to Slide 9. IPH delivered a solid result with a 1.7% increase in underlying NPATA and a 5.5% lift in full year dividends. The Australian dollar increased against both the U.S. and Canadian dollar in FY '26, which impacted our underlying results. While underlying EBITDA was down slightly on a like-for-like basis, which adjusts for currency movement and acquisitions, underlying EBITDA increased by 2.9%. Our Canadian business continued its strong momentum with organic revenue growth, acquisition synergies and cost discipline driving an 11.8% increase in like-for-like earnings. We also had a pleasing return to like-for-like revenue growth in our Asian business. Our ANZ business remains impacted by the decline in U.S. PCT applications in recent years. However, both its filing and financial performance improved from the half year. IPH remains a highly cash-generative business with cash conversion remaining above 100%. That supported an increase in full year dividends, while the share buyback has also contributed to improved earnings per share. Brendan will provide more details on the financials shortly. Turning to Slide 10. As I mentioned earlier, IPH is truly a global leader with an extensive network and reach across IP secondary markets. The global scale provides resilience and diversity to our earnings base from having exposure to an increasing number of IP jurisdictions around the world. This diversity also mitigates periodic fluctuations in filings in certain markets. For example, while the ANZ market has been impacted by the recent decline in U.S. filings, it's important to note that nearly 60% of IPH Group earnings now come from outside ANZ. In just over 3 years, we built the market-leading IP business in Canada, which now accounts for over 1/3 of our earnings. That additional scale also provides increasing opportunities to connect clients, expertise and referrals across our network. And pleasingly, we've generated over 1,300 client referrals over the past 5 years. I'll now hand over to Brendan.

Thanks, Tony. Good morning, everyone. Starting on Slide 12, I will first provide an overview of the financial results and key metrics. Revenue of $712.8 million was up slightly on the prior year, including the incremental 3 months revenue from Bereskin & Parr and organic growth in Canada, partially offset by a decline in ANZ. Underlying EBITDA of $205.9 million was slightly below the prior year and primarily relates to the negative currency impact of the higher Australian dollar against the U.S. dollar and other key currencies at 30 June 2026 relative to 30 June 2025. On a like-for-like basis, underlying EBITDA was up 2.9%. Slide 30 detailing FX impacts is included in the appendix to the investor presentation. The impact of foreign currency was greater in the second half of the year with the average Aussie dollar to [indiscernible] dollar climbing from $0.655 at the half year to $0.679 at the end of the financial year. Underlying NPATA, which is underlying NPAT adjusted to exclude the income tax affected noncash amortization of acquired intangible assets, increased by 1.7% to $122.7 million. Underlying basic EPSA increased by 4.2%, which reflects improved profitability, coupled with the 6.3 million decrease in the weighted average number of shares on issue following the share buyback. Statutory net profit after tax was up 16.9%. This reflects the marginal decline in underlying earnings, offset by the significant reduction in non-underlying costs compared to the prior year. Statutory basic EPS was up 19.7%. This has supported continuing strong dividends to shareholders with a final dividend of $0.195 per share, consistent with the prior corresponding half, bringing FY '26 total dividends to $0.385 per share, up 5.5% on FY '25. The final dividend will be paid on 22 September. Looking at the financials in a bit more detail. As I mentioned, the 0.4% increase in revenue included the incremental 3 months contribution from Bereskin & Parr in FY '26 and solid organic revenue growth in Canada. This was partially offset by a minor reduction in reported Asian revenue and the decline in ANZ. The increase in agent fee expenses is offset by increases in recoverable disbursements, which are included in revenue. The 1.2% increase in employee benefits expense primarily reflects the impact of the Bereskin & Parr acquisition, while the benefit of the FY '25 cost reduction program has offset any inflationary cost increases. The decrease in depreciation and amortization relates to certain customer relationships in ANZ, which were fully amortized in FY '26, which outweighed the increased amortization of the full year impact of the Bereskin & Parr acquisition. Non-underlying expenses, net of income tax impacts reduced significantly from the prior year and this year related primarily to transformation project costs and IT SaaS implementation costs. These are detailed in the appendix as well. The underlying effective income tax rate, excluding the income tax impact of non-underlying expenses, declined from 25.7% to 24.5%, reflecting the change in the Group's taxable income mix in FY '26. Slide 14 is our balance sheet. IPH maintains a robust balance sheet. Trade and other receivables decreased by $6.1 million from 30 June 2025, representing improved collections and continued improvement in the overall receivables aging profile. The decrease in intangible assets of $114.7 million reflects amortization of acquired customer relationships and other intangible assets of $51.4 million in addition to foreign exchange translation impacts of $61.9 million. The key movements in equity included the share buyback of $18.7 million and the foreign currency translation reserve from the translation of overseas subsidiaries, which due to the higher [ AUD ] in FY '26, reduced by $43.3 million from the prior year. Our cash flow and working capital is on Slide 15. The group continues to generate strong cash flow with cash conversion of 110% and free cash flow up 18.3% for the year. The $17.6 million reduction in net working capital balances in FY '26 is a result of the strong focus on working capital management, which will continue this year to further unlock cash. IPH is a capital-light business with CapEx of just $2.9 million for the year with further office consolidation actions. Turning now to capital management on Slide 16. Net debt at 30 June 2026 was down 9.4% or $39 million from 30 June 2025. We repaid debt of $12.9 million during the year, and the remaining reduction in debt was due to FX translation of our Canadian denominated debt from the higher Aussie dollar. The leverage ratio at 30 June was 1.8x. That's down slightly from 1.9x at 30 June 2025 and remains within the company's maximum target ratio of up to 2.0x. In December 2025, the group refinanced $210 million of its syndicated debt facilities agreement on improved pricing terms. Maturity dates for all facilities are in FY '28 and FY '29. The group had total undrawn financing facilities of $104.7 million as at 30 June. As mentioned previously, the final dividend of $0.195 per share franked 30% at the corporate tax rate, was consistent with the prior year final dividend. FY '26 total dividends of $0.385 per share represents a payout ratio of 84% of cash adjusted NPAT. The Board has reviewed the dividend policy and determined that a dividend payout range of 70% to 90% of statutory EPSA will be adopted for FY '27 and beyond. This change allows for more flexibility in dividend payouts and also provides a consistent statutory measure to determine dividends at each half year. Turning to our segment like-for-like performance on Slide 17. The like-for-like basis eliminates the impact of acquisitions and foreign exchange movements, which can create variability in IPH's reported results. I will discuss this briefly given we will provide more detailed commentary on each segment in the next section. Looking first at Canada. This represents the continued strong recovery in performance with organic revenue growth assisted by acquisition synergies and cost discipline, driving an 11.8% increase in like-for-like underlying EBITDA. The ANZ business continues to be impacted by lower patent filings in recent periods, partially offset by reduced employee benefits expense. Pleasingly, like-for-like revenue returned to growth in the Asian business for the first time since 2023. At a group level, like-for-like revenue was up 1.6% with a 2.9% increase in like-for-like underlying EBITDA on an improved like-for-like underlying EBITDA margin of 0.4 percentage points. On Slide 18, I will now provide some further commentary on each of our operating segments. Turning to Canada. Our Canadian business continued its strong recovery in FY '26. The underlying results include the incremental 3 months contribution from Bereskin & Parr. On a like-for-like basis, revenue was up 5.8%, reflecting solid organic growth and the harmonization of member firm pricing during the year. While the CIPO disruption eased somewhat, we have not seen a meaningful recovery in the patent workflow backlog. Strong organic revenue growth, the cost synergies achieved from the Bereskin & Parr acquisition, together with ongoing cost discipline helped deliver an 11.8% uplift in like-for-like underlying EBITDA. This is also reflected in the increased like-for-like underlying EBITDA margin, which was up 1.4 percentage points. Next, Australia and New Zealand on Slide 20. It's important to note here that the underlying result includes a negative impact of the higher AUD in FY '26. Our ANZ business was impacted by the decline in U.S. PCT filings in recent years with IPH member firms disproportionately affected by our larger exposure to U.S. clients relative to the market. Given prevailing market conditions, we continue to align our cost base with activity levels while maintaining our focus on business development, client retention and operational discipline. FY '26 like-for-like revenue was 4.2% below the prior year, with underlying EBITDA down 7.2%. However, this represented an improvement from the first half of FY '26, where like-for-like revenue had declined 6.1% with underlying EBITDA down 10.6%. We secured 5,674 case transfers during the period, including cases registered and in prosecution. These include over 4,500 trademarks in addition to 900-plus patents and 150-plus designs, supporting future revenue. In terms of patent filings, excluding self-filed provisional applications, the Australian patent market increased by 2.1% in FY '26 with IPH Group filings declining by 2.9% for the same period. This 5.1 percentage point gap in IPH filings relative to the market has narrowed from 6.7 percentage points in the first half. More recently, we have seen a slight improvement in the trajectory of U.S. PCT applications. This increase over the period provides some optimism for improved national phase entry volumes in the coming periods. In Asia, similar to the ANZ segment, reported results for Asia included the negative impact of currency in FY '26. We had a pleasing return to like-for-like revenue growth in our Asian business for the first time since FY '23, 2.6% of the -- ahead of the prior year, reflecting focused business development activity, client transfers and client IP portfolio consolidation. Like-for-like underlying EBITDA decreased marginally by 1.3%, reflecting inflationary cost impacts on the cost base across served Asian markets. IPH secured 3,242 case transfers in FY '26, including cases registered and in prosecution. Of these transfers, more than 2,000 were trademarks in addition to 900-plus patents and 200-plus designs. Many of these transfers consolidate client portfolios within IPH and support future revenue growth. Excluding self provisional applications, the Singapore patent filing market declined by 0.6% in FY '26, with IPH Group filings declining by 12.6% for the same period. This was partly driven by lower filing volumes from a significant existing IPH client during the year. IPH maintained its #1 market share position in Singapore in FY '26, and we continue to act for a number of the most significant filers in that market. Filing patterns for these clients can vary year-on-year, which impacts IPH and market growth. IPH Asian filings, excluding Singapore, declined by 4.3% in FY '26 compared to a very strong year the prior year, where filings had increased 16.5%. IPH is now the largest filer in both Indonesia and the Philippines. I will now hand back to Tony.

Thanks, Brendan. Over the next 2 slides, I'll make some brief comments on our operations, including how we're leveraging AI across our network and our ongoing commitment to sustainability. Turning to Slide 23. Across IPH, we're further embedding AI into our core operations from patent drafting and prosecution to administrative functions, both to streamline workflows and reduce costs. This is helping to drive improved productivity and consistency. We're scaling up AI automation, including a virtual AI agent to automate high-volume inbound instructions. In one of our recent test cases, we achieved a 75% efficiency gain through this process, which is encouraging. We also see opportunities for AI to enhance client service, improve visibility across IP portfolios and support stronger collaboration across our network. Meanwhile, we maintain strong governance standards surrounding the use of AI across the business, including human accountability over decision-making. On Slide 24, we are committed to operating as a sustainable business and remain focused on our sustainability priorities, including strong governance, exceptional client service, diversity, equity and inclusion, education and training and employee well-being and flexibility. I don't propose to go through each of these in today's presentation. They are detailed in our sustainability report, which this year is presented to comply with the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards, including climate-related disclosures. They are also included in the additional sustainability-related information, which is included in our annual report released today. I'll conclude with a summary of our priorities for this year, FY '27, on Slide 25. We are focused on driving sustainable organic growth through deeper client engagement, expanded service offerings and by better leveraging our client relationships. We will leverage the scale of our platform to increase client work and referral activity while strengthening connections across our firms clients and markets. We'll continue to invest in the development of our people and capabilities while harnessing technology, data and AI to improve productivity, consistency and client outcomes. And finally, we will focus on improved operating efficiency, strengthen working capital and cost discipline as we continue to build a more connected, resilient and efficient international IP advisory platform. That concludes today's presentation. Brendan and I are happy to answer your questions.

[Operator Instructions] There are no further phone questions at this time. I would like to hand back to Tony O'Malley, MD and CEO, for closing remarks.

Thank you, everybody, for your time today.

That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.