Iress Limited (IRE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Iress Limited 2024 full year financial results conference call. [Operator Instructions]. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Marcus Price, CEO. Please go ahead.

Thanks very much for the introduction. I'm joined today by our CFO, Cameron Williamson; and Deputy CEO, Harry Mitchell. They will be -- Cameron will be giving you a presentation of our financial results. Harry will also be available to answer questions at the end of the presentation. Before I kick off, I'd just like to say you're going to see some outstanding results today, which have been the results of a number of years of work. Our team here have really worked hard on these results from -- and I mean all team -- all members of the team, internal and external. I'd also like to pay credit to the support of the Board throughout this transformation process, and in particular, our Chairman, Roger Sharp, and especially, of course, my management team who have absolutely led the charge on what you're going to see today, which is a great set of results. We've been working on transformation for a while now, and we've achieved our key objectives. We're delivering record financial results ahead of guidance today. We've also embedded new management disciplines, which is crucial because those are the things that are going to be here to stay for Iress. This is a reset. We have reset our cost and asset base with the sale of nonstrategic businesses, and we've materially strengthened our balance sheet. This is enabling us to reinstate a final dividend of $0.10, which is balancing shareholder returns and the need to fund growth going forward and is a signal of confidence from the Iress Board. I think going forward we really are focused on accruing the simplicity dividend. We've made very clear strategic choices, and the focus for us is now on building growth and growth vectors in the company. Iress has delivered a really strong set of FY '24 financial results ahead of guidance. We have adjusted EBITDA up 25.2% to $132.8 million, underlying earnings per share up 72.4% at $0.343 per share. Very pleasingly, our balance sheet has strengthened with our leverage ratio now down to 1x, which was down from 2.5x at the start of the year. I guess we are focused very heavily on operating earnings and operating leverage, and you can see the EBITDA margin expanding there by 22% -- to 22%, sorry, 501 basis points expansion. NPATA is going to be a feature of our guidance going forward and one of the key metrics we use, that's up 192% to $30.1 million. And the final dividend we're reinstating today is at $0.10 per share. Iress' transformation program has delivered on key objectives. And the 3 of them really are financial discipline, performance and accountability and really focusing on core businesses. On the financial discipline side, this has been a cost base reset. But most importantly, it's embedded cost discipline throughout the group. So that's something which is going to be ongoing. We've revised our performance metrics so that internally, we're focused on the right things and on delivering value to shareholders. The divestment of nonstrategic assets has been as important about getting rid of distractions as it has been about getting -- about the assets being moved into other hands. And Cameron will take you through this, but we've refreshed the capital management plan so that we'll be predictable and reliable in how we deliver and manage capital in the future. On the performance and accountability side, we've got new P&L structures with business units driving accountability. Our P&L and our metrics go right through the organization now. We've got refreshed leadership, and I'm particularly delighted to be joined by Harry Mitchell, our Deputy CEO, who has been instrumental in building great momentum in the U.K. and the significant improvement in performance of the U.K., which now constitutes about 30% of our business. What is also important, what you don't see in results, I guess, is the execution of discipline and the cadence and governments -- governance that exists inside of the business. And we're very pleased to be able to see replicable, I guess, processes going on in the operating cadence of the business, which is designed to deliver future results. Focusing on the key businesses. We've had a significant improvement in customer sentiment throughout 2024, and we've been really delighted with that. That's a function of our work in product and work in -- with our customers getting closer to them. We've prioritized and made transparent our product road maps, which has been something we wanted to do for a long time, and we think we're seeing the benefits of that now. Most importantly, we've standardized pricing and discounting frameworks. We're trying to get, again, a bit more replicability in that. And we've uplifted UX and given significant upgrades to a number of our key products. So Iress' transformation has been across all of those objectives, and I think it's delivered in an outstanding fashion. I think this slide and this chart probably tells the story in some respects. Iress has sold nonstrategic assets and is now focused on driving growth in 2 core areas. You can see on the left side of the slide there, how we were and now how we are. We've basically got down to 2 businesses, Trading & Global Market data across the various divisions and Wealth Management. Those are the areas that we're going to be focused on in terms of driving growth, and those are the areas you'll be hearing about going forward. I'm now going to hand over to Cameron to take you through the financial results.

Thank you, Marcus, and welcome, everybody. Happy to take you through what is an exceptionally strong financial result for 2024, where we've got improved metrics across the group in virtually all areas. These results really demonstrate all the hard work, as Marcus has alluded to, the momentum that we've generated in the business and a highlight really being the expansion that we've seen in our operating leverage up more than 500 basis points this year. The balance sheet has improved materially. We're generating more free cash flow, asset sales really being used to delever the business over the course of the last 12 months. And in the last 2 months, we've managed to refinance our debt arrangements with our banks as well, which going out for another 4 or 5 years. So we've rightsized those limits for the size of Iress today. Importantly, we have reinstated our dividend. Dividend was on pause for a period of time as we focused on the balance sheet and the reparation around that, and we're very, very comfortable in reinstating the dividend. We now have the flexibility to reinvest in the business going forward and reward shareholders with ongoing dividends. 2024 has seen a big focus on improving the organic growth of the business. We've got increased profits, improved operating leverage. We've strengthened our balance sheet. All the while we've been reorganizing our portfolio of businesses to focus on our core assets to drive Iress forward. In the last 18 months, we've sold 4 assets with another 1 in train, representing approximately $80 million in annualized revenue. At the same time, we've managed to grow earnings materially despite that, really highlighting the diligent capital allocation processes that we've got on board. The presentation today breaks out the impact of these asset sales on the business to help show Iress and its continuing business going forward. You'll note in the appendices, there's more detailed analysis around this to help you understand what those businesses look like. In terms of the results at the headline level, adjusted EBITDA up 25%. It does include asset sales in that stronger growth on a continuing business level and that's materially up from the guidance that we provided the market with 12 months ago. So very, very pleasing in terms of how that 2024 played out. Revenue itself was down 3.4%, however, has been impacted by the divestments that we've talked about on a continuing business level, up 4%. I'll touch on that shortly. We did see particular improvement across the board in terms of the U.K. business and the implementation revenue -- project-related revenue in our Super business in the back end of the year as well. Our operating costs are down 9%. It is the most significant impact in terms of our result this year. Headcount reduced 15% over the course of the year. We now have approximately 1,500 in head count. That's down from a high of more than 2,600 18 months ago. And despite the inflationary environment, non-staff costs were also lower. So after years of material cost growth, we've managed to arrest that cost momentum and this remains a dedicated focus for us as we head into 2025. As I've said, highlight being the margin itself, the EBITDA margin is up 500 basis points. Our UPAT and EPS also both materially higher than last year, up more than 70%. So very, very happy with the improved performance across the business in 2024. Touching on the revenue. On a continuing business basis, revenue was up 4% from 2023. About 1% of that came from favorable currency as the Australian dollar devalued over the course of the year. The most significant growth came via the U.K. You have heard that we have had leadership changes over the last 12 to 18 months in that part of our business with increased autonomy and the ability to deliver end product solutions to clients really driving that business forward. Very, very happy with the way that business is going. We did see growth over the course of the year in our Super business in the back end of the year, largely project-driven and other parts of the portfolio, in particular, Canada and South Africa also seeing growth. I will just call out our APAC Wealth business. Broadly flat in terms of revenue over the course of the year, impacted by a number of structural changes that we've seen in the Australian wealth market at the enterprise level, finding its way into the mid-market and we have -- that has been impacted. But we are at the tail end of that, and that's starting to level out. Turning to our costs on Slide 12. Operating costs down 2% at a continuing business level, substantially driven by lower staff costs. Our nonstaff costs were broadly flat. Our cost of sales or our input costs that go into delivering product were about $3 million higher than last year and that was impacted by currency. Again, a number of these input costs are in U.S. dollars. And as the Australian has devalued against the U.S. dollar that is finding its way into our cost of sales. But the tech CPI that we were seeing 12, 18 months ago has been arrested. Our non-wage OpEx also lower, approximately $3.5 million this year, where we've got some lower occupancy, insurance and travel and marketing-related spend versus what we had last year. So holistically, operating cost trending down slightly. It does remain a dedicated focus for 2025, including stranded costs and resizing the corporate functional areas following asset sales, and we'll have more to say about that in the middle of the year. Just looking at our adjusted EBITDA and the movements that we've seen there. As we've highlighted, the headline for adjusted EBITDA this year of $132.8 million, it's 25% higher than last year at a continuing business level, up a more impressive 39%. The growth has really come from 3 key areas: the U.K. business, which we've touched on. When we say U.K. business, we are talking about the wealth and sourcing businesses in the U.K., up $12.3 million in terms of adjusted EBITDA. That is growth of more than 170% this year. very, very strong growth coming out of that part of our business. Our trading TGMD, Trading & Global Market Data business, up $12.1 million. That's 38% growth on the 2023. And despite the revenue challenges, our APAC Wealth business was up $5.3 million, up 13%, very much focused on its cost base and rightsizing its cost base for its needs going forward. So very, very pleasing to see growth coming out of our core franchises and driving our operating profit further. Just touching on our NPAT result, our statutory result and NPATA. As Marcus has said, NPATA is a greater focus for us going forward. This year, it was $30.1 million. It's materially higher than what we had last year. It is a good proxy for our operating cash flows. Hence, it's linked to the dividend, and I'll touch on that shortly. In reconciling and highlighting the items below our adjusted EBITDA line, there are 2 main items that are excluded from our cost base, what we class as below-the-line items. These are in relation to our M&A-related costs and our transformation-related costs. It's very prescriptive about what we exclude. We highlighted these 12 months ago. They're not seen as part of the ongoing operations. This year, these costs increased $7 million to $42.6 million this year, largely coming from the M&A side of things where we had 3 transactions completed and another one in process. So we've been very active on the M&A front. Our transformation-related costs are broadly flat versus last year as well. Both of these items are expected to materially decline in 2025. At the same time, our net interest costs are $5 million lower than 2023 as gearing -- our lower level of gearing has fed its way into the P&L. And we expect to see that trend lower again in 2025 as our net debt levels continue to decline, all of which is leading to a material uplift in our NPATA expectations going forward. And I'll touch on that in a minute with our guidance. Just turning to cash flow and our balance sheet. Our free cash flow has improved notably in 2024, in particular, in the second half of the year. Our net debt and leverage levels have declined, materially come down as announced in the capital plan earlier this year, we expected that to happen. Net debt itself declined more than $200 million as asset sale proceeds and our retained free cash flow has allowed us to retire debt. Our leverage finished this year at 1x EBITDA and at the bottom end of our target range, which we established 12 months ago. It's fair to say that we are ahead of schedule in this regard. So we're very pleased with how quickly we have achieved that. And the balance sheet itself is in a much stronger position now with improved free cash flow and provides great optionality for the business in terms of taking it forward. Just looking at our capital settings as at today and where we see them going as part of our capital plan announced at the beginning of this year with regard to leverage, our R&D and our dividend. We have seen our leverage decline materially to 1x, as I've just touched on. It is at the lower end of our range that we established. We are reaffirming today that we are comfortable with that range. Our business is highly cash generative, and it can sustain a level of leverage, and we're very, very comfortable within that range. However, we do expect to see that leverage level decline further into 2025 with regards to further asset sales, which are in train. Our capital plan also provides capacity to reinvest back into the business and drive new revenue streams. 12 months ago, we stated we wanted to increase that to a target level of 5% to 7% of revenue over the medium term as our product road maps were developed further. We've made notable progress on these road maps, but we'll have more to say about them in 6 months' time. 2024 saw our R&D CapEx at 2.3% of revenue. It is at a lower level. But as those road maps are being firmed up, we do expect to see that increase over the course of 2025 and probably more hit that range that we are stating in 2026. It is probably more of a 2026 target than a 2025 as at this point. The dividend itself was on pause. Until the target leverage ratio was achieved, I'm pleased to announce that we are reinstating the dividend for the final 2024 dividend, which is $0.10 per share, 25% franked. It represents a payout ratio of 60% of our 2024 NPATA. And going forward, we are today establishing stated dividend payout ratio target of 50% to 70% of our NPATA. We think this balances reward for shareholders in the form of dividends, but also capacity to reinvest back into the business going forward. So in summary, Slide 17, a very, very strong 2024 with improved performance across the business, very pleasing to see that. Our cost discipline has been embedded. We are in control of our costs and that is important. We got a very focused approach to capital allocation that is driving our margin expansion. We got a significantly stronger balance sheet, providing the business with greater flexibility going forward and allows a reinstatement of dividends and the business does continue to simplify. The portfolio itself is now consisting of a wealth business and trading business, as Marcus has just taken you through. In terms of guidance for 2025, we are looking at NPATA somewhere in the region of $54 million to $62 million. That's materially up on what we've seen in 2024, somewhere in the region of 80% to 106% does drive the dividend. So you should expect to see a growing dividend in 2025 and our adjusted EBITDA of $127 million to $135 million represents a 6% to 12% growth on the continuing business in 2024. With that, I'll hand it back to Marcus, who can take you through the rest of the presentation.

Thanks very much, Cameron, and thank you for a comprehensive update. Transformation for Iress is not done. We are continuing on with the disciplines internally. And what's really important is the management disciplines and the processes that have been established over the last 2 years will continue to deliver dividends. And in particular, we see a pathway to deliver momentum in earnings for the next few years at least. I'm focused, particularly and the team is focused on how we'll drive revenue and new revenue streams throughout the Group. And the first cab off the rank, of course, is Trading & Market Data. The biggest single priority for us this year is the buy-side EMS application, which is the uplift, and it's an upgrade, a significant upgrade in response to the ASX' single open objective. Single open, of course, is a global standard and Australia is moving to it. And I'm very pleased that we're participating in that. It's the single biggest thing we've done in trading for many years, and we're very focused on it. It is our major piece of work this year. We're also expanding our global FIX Hub, which has been tremendously successful over the last few years and will continue to be. I think it's leading the pack in terms of FIX. And we're excited to see that continued growth. We do believe throughout the Group actually that data and particularly data and AI applications have application for Iress, and we've got a major piece of strategic work focusing on trading data insights and building new data products, some of which relate to traders and some of which are to other industries. So it's interesting for us to be able to build new product and new customers through the trading data sets. We are working with enhanced APIs and interoperability. What that means is we're wanting to expand Iress' network and the ecosystem around our businesses to include other parties and working more collaboratively with them to deliver solutions for clients. On balance, we see a good bunch of initiatives in the Trading & Market Data business globally, and we expect to see improved performance from it. In the wealth management area, obviously, I think Cameron mentioned, it's been an industry that's had a lot of restructuring over the last few years, reorganization. Obviously, a lot of regulatory work as well. You can't sort of ignore the backdrop for this industry in Australia, at least when you're talking about it. But globally and domestically, it's an industry with massive tailwinds, massive tailwinds. Huge numbers of people coming back into wealth products. We do need more wealth -- we need more advisers in this country and the government is very focused on doing that. Those wealth effects exist in our other markets as well, and we're seeing good growth in the U.K. market as well. So an industry with tailwinds. We see quite a lot of initiatives for us here. One we've mentioned previously, but is continuing to gain momentum is digital advice and superannuation. We're working with our partner, Hostplus in that. That has delivered -- the early results of that have been outstanding. We're seeing many more advice journeys than we thought would be delivered -- being delivered and great feedback from customers. It's a new frontier for wealth, right? Digital advice and superannuation is a new frontier. And we're right in there, and we're enjoying our relationship with Hostplus, who I have to say, have been an outstanding partner. So thank you to them as well. We continue to standardize our pricing and discounting frameworks to create more reliability in the market. We do have -- as we have in the Trading & Market Data business, a large number of initiatives in data and AI. We're already delivering AI products for advisers, but we do believe there's another generation of data products that we can build. And we are -- it is our #1 strategic priority this year in the strategy team to look at data and AI. We are intending to expand our Xplan capabilities. And again, interestingly enough, in partnership with other parties, introducing retirement income into Xplan, which is another good initiative. And we've got strategic partnerships and integrations coming out of our community. Now we haven't spoken much about this previously, but in the U.S. and most of the wealth businesses around the world, they're very focused on building ecosystems around their platforms as in partnerships and bringing advisers closer to the -- to one another. We're doing that through our advisory platform, which has more than 9,000 advisers on it now, which is most of the industry. But what we're doing that for is to help advisers provide them with new channels, provide us with new channels for new products and really build an ecosystem around the Xplan suite. So we're very excited by that product and what it can do. And I think if you look at other wealth companies and other markets, it's one of their core focuses as well. Getting back to where we are, which was the final slide, which is we are going to continue to focus on maintaining our cost disciplines and driving operating leverage. Those 2 things will deliver earnings momentum for this company for a number of years. In the meantime, we're also working on the product road maps. It takes longer to stoke revenue, particularly when you're building new revenue lines. Our NPATA guidance, which is our key focus this year is $54 million to $62 million, but that will also enable us to invest for future growth in those new product areas. So on balance, we're pretty excited about where we're at. It's been a great year in 2024. And I think this company is well poised for its future growth over the next few years. Now I think we're turning over for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Nick McGarrigle from Barrenjoey.

I just wanted to ask about the guidance and if you can step into what the kind of revenue and cost inputs to that process are and I guess, the underlying drivers of those assumptions.

Nick. Yes, look, we're looking at revenue guidance similar to this year, maybe slightly higher, not too dissimilar to what we saw in 2024. As we said, we had 4% growth on a continuing business level. What we do have is our arms around the cost base. So we do see some element of cost contraction, probably across the board in some areas, but we're also making some investments that are needed to drive those new revenue streams. So when you look at it holistically, probably looking at somewhere between 4% and 5% on the revenue growth level and probably 3% to 5% on the cost growth, but we do see margin expansion off the back of that.

Okay. Cool. And then just to clarify because I've had a few questions about it. Just the guidance that you've given is for NPATA, which includes some of the final transformation and maybe some M&A-related costs in FY '25. Is that right?

That's correct, Nick. It's not an underlying number. We've got some assumptions there about the completion of those transactions as well as the end of the program -- transformation program.

Cool. And then maybe given you've -- I think there's a bunch of cost initiatives that are fairly defined, if you wanted to touch on those, but the areas potentially that you're going to look to reinvest those savings in, just give some context around what that -- what the initiatives and the priorities of that reinvestment are given, obviously, market is obviously hungry for more cost out, but I think reinvesting in the business is important given underlying volume growth has been tough.

Thanks, Nick. It's Marcus here. Look, obviously, the single open project, the trading platform is the #1 this year in terms of investment. But don't underestimate also the work we're putting into wealth. We're certainly looking at wealth platforms and wealth solutions, particularly in the U.K. We've got a significant investment in our data and AI, our strategy this year on looking at how we can partner, and we're looking at that in partnership with AWS and others who work closely with us. So there's quite -- I've sort of outlined the areas where we're focusing on. The good thing about Iress, I guess, in the leaner Iress is we're very focused on investing into the core businesses in areas where we know there's opportunity to expand our revenues and obviously deliver further earnings.

And maybe the U.K. business seem to fare pretty well. I'm not sure if Harry is available just to comment on some of the on-the-ground initiatives there and what that looks like carrying '25 and potentially earnings for the Aussie business.

Yes. Thanks, Nick. Certainly, the U.K. has got some good momentum, clearly a bigger market and the CAGRs over there in terms of growth of the target addressable markets are very, very positive. We've got a fairly unique and distinct advantage over others in our data migration capability, and we're able to leverage that as the PE ownership of the big wealth companies and gain speed. We're there to enable their transition and their migration on to consolidated wealth businesses, and we're leveraging that currently. In terms of bringing stuff back to the Australian market, we've done a lot of work there in terms of co-designing future tech stacks with customers. So that's something we look to leverage in the Aussie market as these businesses start to reconfigure as they move from big enterprise institutional ownership into more mid-market type businesses.

Okay. And then maybe just a final question. Any potential update on divestment plans with QuantHouse? And then maybe just any rough expectation on timing regarding Super?

Yes. I'm not sure who -- I'm not aware that's a part of the -- question in 2 parts there. I think we're looking at -- QuantHouse in a process at present. We expect that in the first quarter to be able to say more about that. Superannuation is a more complex business, obviously. We've got external issues there with FIRB and so forth as well. So it's hard to predict the timing of that particular closure, but it's probably around midyear, I think, Nick.

The next question is from Cameron Halkett from Wilsons Advisory.

Do you mind if I just build on Nick's question previously, just around the guidance looking into '25. Since that includes a full 12-month contribution from the Super business, Cameron, does this include an expectation that the Super business keeps its second-half run rate profitability? Is it a small loss? How should we think about it as it feeds into the broader FY '25 guidance?

So we've got Super in there in our guidance numbers for the full 12 months. Obviously, you can't time when the asset sale will take place, and we'll obviously adjust guidance accordingly. It did have a better second half of the year, and some of that came really from some project work that went on in regards to a couple of clients that had that in the pipeline, which was very encouraging. We expect to see some of that continue, not all of it, but some of the implementation revenue is going to feed into 2025. I guess the big area and the variability that we have seen in our Super business over the last 18 months is on the cost base and the remediation work that goes on with some of the administration side of that business. Now there's still a bit to play out in that. As you know, some of that is in the public domain. So fast forwarding that as to what that looks like for Super, obviously, is something that is more variable than the revenue predictability that I've just alluded to. So I would expect to see somewhere in between the first half and the second half in terms of the profitability that's fed into our guidance number for 2025. So you'll expect to see that.

It's not hugely material to that forecast is, I think, the net summary.

Yes. Fair enough. Just sort of trying to think about the timing of asset sales versus the full 12 months that you're baking into your guidance. If we just, I suppose, turn to pricing increases for the forthcoming year. So obviously been a bit of media around sort of concerns, let's say, by some customers within the Trading & Market Data side of the business. So I suppose what can we think about in terms of price increases being pinned through for this coming year and then perhaps the same on the wealth side that would be helpful.

Well, firstly, not all clients -- we're getting quite a lot of support for the process as well with single open. It's a big project initiated by the ASX in response to industry concerns about us lagging the rest of the world in the way we operate our trading markets here. So it is a big shift. It is a step. We had to decide whether we were going to be transparent about that cost or push it into pricing increases over many years, and we just thought it was better to do it the latter way, which is to actually put it out there and say this is the contribution. The contributions we're asking from clients in that platform is really only their implementation costs. It's not the actual raw development costs. And so yes, look, we are getting a lot of support for that. I appreciate no one likes to pay for the increased cost of infrastructure, but it is what it is. And I think we're trying to be as fair and reasonable as we can in that and be as transparent as well. You might recall at the start of this process, we made a commitment to transparency and accountability, and we flow through our whole business, including this pricing arrangement.

And Cameron, are you able just to quantify those percentage price increases that we should think across wealth and T&D?

Yes. So in terms of the pricing arrangements, they have been rolled out more recently for the coming 12 months. Similar levels to last year. They're not inconsistent with what we did too far variance from what we had in 2024. So yes, that's been rolled out alongside the extra fee that Mark has just talked about in regards to the single open on the trading side.

The next question is from Scott Hudson from MST.

Can I just understand that single open implementation, does that give you any, I guess, efficiency or revenue opportunities further down the line? Or is it just implementation costs that you can recover and now sort of back to business as usual thereafter?

Yes, that's a really good question. It is an uplift in the platform, and we are deploying some quite new technology behind the scenes whilst trying to minimize the disruption to clients. And that's initially our first inclination is to try to keep -- get through single open, provide the same services and so forth. But down the track that new technology does allow us to do more for clients. And so we do anticipate some product road map coming off the back of that, but that's probably going to be more likely '26 and '27. So it does give us the ability to do new things and to provide new services and things perhaps our clients haven't seen before. So we are quite -- it is not just about -- for us, it's mainly about getting through single open, of course, initially, but of course, down the track, we see opportunities there as well.

And the implementation cost, is it just a one-off cost [indiscernible] this year?

Yes, totally one-off. It's about moving your data, about getting your training in place, getting all the systems and infrastructure in place around being ready for single open.

And then I guess in terms of the revenue headwinds that you referenced in relation to APAC Wealth, could you maybe just give us, I guess, an understanding of how that flows into FY '25 and what sort of headwind that could have on your price increases that you've scheduled for this year?

Yes, I'm going to ask -- Harry Mitchell runs the APAC Wealth business, I'm going to ask him to respond to that.

Yes. Thanks, Scott. The revenue headwinds are generally driven by structure. You're seeing a reformation of the industry that's moving from very large institutional ownership into more mid-market companies. You're also seeing the retiral of a number of remediation programs that were cutting across the industry post-Royal Commission. And so we're also strategically looking at our standardization and transparency around our pricing and discount models, which have been a bit convoluted through history to get us to today. The pricing will be multifaceted across multiple years as major sort of contracts roll from year to year. They've got different sort of start and end periods, and there will be direct negotiations with each of those customers as we work through that. And there are a number of combination of factors that will drive the pricing strategy as we go forward.

That's helpful. So I guess my understanding is that the enterprise customers probably had better pricing than maybe some of the mid-market customers previously. So I guess more customers moving to the mid-market that I would have thought that would be revenue accretive as opposed to the other way around.

Yes, absolutely. Revenue accretive over time is quite -- it's very inconsistent, and it's been like that for a number of years. So one of the overarching pricing strategies we're trying to do is get not only transparency for customers but better standardization in terms of not only how we price, but also how we discount, so sharing that value. And a lot of the pricing does underpin the evolution of our product road maps. So for example, last year, Wealth APAC delivered a product road map, 93% of features were delivered on time as described and 7% were either deferred or redesigned into the future road maps, very different to what Iress has done previously.

Just in terms of, I guess, the implicit 6% to 12% growth on the EBITDA guidance. Cameron, can you give us a sense of what pushes it towards the upper end and what keeps it at the lower end of the guidance range?

I mean I think some of the new revenue, I mean we've got some pretty aggressive internal targets around new revenue streams this year. And where we sit within that range really will be dependent upon the success of generating that revenue. I think some of the stranded costs that we're looking at in the first half of this year, stranded costs really are looked at in 3 phases where when you dispose businesses, when TSAs roll off as well as redesigning some of the corporate functional areas to deal with a slower -- smaller business. Some of that work and the pace at which we work and get those costs out of the business will also feed into where we sit within that range. So we'll have a greater line of sight of that by the middle of the year. So those would be the 2 areas that I would say are the biggest swing factors in our range.

The next question is from Jack Daley from Shaw and Partners.

Just first one for me, just on the Trading & Global Market Data. I guess you speak to kind of the Iress strategic priorities around the enhanced APIs and interoperability. I guess, especially given your market position in Australia, how do you balance, I guess, being a walled garden and then I guess, open up -- opening up these APIs? And I guess, how do you see the value accrual for Iress moving forward?

We certainly want to make sure that we are more open for integration for other parties where we're not delivering functionality, it should be seamless for clients to be able to use it. And we partner in that and do basically share in the value that we create for clients. So the idea with the APIs and interoperability is to be able to bring more products to market by partnering and sharing in the value that we create for customers. It's as simple as that really.

Okay. Got It. And then I guess just on the revenue guidance into FY '25, you spoke to 4% to 5% for the continuing business. And I guess you mentioned there's some things in the pipeline there. How should we be thinking about contribution from, I guess, existing customers versus new in that 4% to 5% range? and I guess how pricing factored into that as well?

Yes. I mean it's pretty well balanced. When we think of budgeting, we work with our commercial teams to work through what extra cross-sell opportunities exist within the business, what upsell in terms of other functions that clients may not have taken on that they're not aware of, but also generating new logos as well forms part of our strategy. So when we look at all of that, all of which forms part of our budgeting process. And then we do risk weight the new versus the existing, right? So we get a bit of a balanced view as to where that looks. In terms of the numbers that I'm talking about, the bulk of it would be coming through existing clients taking on some more, but we do also have some new clients coming into the mix as a result of that.

Great. And maybe just last one for me, just on the cost side, I guess. You spoke to 15% head count reduction year-on-year, about 9% OpEx reduction. Because when we think about, I guess, firstly, just when will kind of the bulk of those heads coming out of the business, roughly speaking?

So head count reduction is occurring across all areas. As we look at greater efficiencies, we're looking at ways of working, right? So last year, I mean, the bulk of the reductions were done last year where in 2023, I think we took out 350 head count outside of disposed businesses. This year, it was somewhere in the region of 90. A lot of it is around efficiencies that certain functional areas are looking at different ways in which they're working. A lot of it's coming out of the technology area, the product and tech team, where we are reconfiguring the way that, that team is working in different parts of the Group, but all areas are affected.

Got it. And then I guess when we just think about you kind of mentioned 3% to 4% cost growth moving forward, would we expect -- are we expecting more heads coming out? Or is that kind of inflation from the current employee base? Or how should we be thinking about that the head count requirement for the business?

So we do expect head count and our staff cost to be broadly flat this year. So factoring in salary increases and the like feeding into it, we expect some further reduction in head count over the course of the next 12 months. But again, it's about the ways of working. It's about doing things differently. It's about people departing the business, finding different ways of working that replace the way in which the current working streams exist within Iress, and that forms part of our stranded cost out that we're looking at.

The next question is from Simon Fitzgerald from Jefferies.

Just a note on your indirect expenses. It looks like it's gone up by about $11 million, $12 million, around about that sort of level. And maybe that's got something to do with the fact that you now have a TSA agreement with the U.K. division that was sold that may have been in an operating expense beforehand. But I'm wondering if you could sort of give us some insights there in terms of why the indirect expenses have gone up by about 11%. And I'm comparing that, by the way, to the published FY '23 documents. So maybe you've done a recap of what those indirect expenses are. And then also just on that as well, it looks like APAC Wealth has gone up by $4.3 million compared to the previous one and about $8.6 million for APAC Trading & Data. Just wondering if you could give us some insights there.

Simon. Yes, a number of areas within Iress in terms of the corporate functionalities that form part of that cost base were built in the back end of '23. So when I think about it, we increased our InfoSec area. We increased our risk area. We increased our strategy team, and they've been quite heightened areas over the last 12 months. Quite significantly, our InfoSec and strategy areas have formed the bulk of that indirect allocation uplift that you're referring to. So when we look at all of that, we allocate those costs holistically based on a combination of revenue and profit drivers. It's not a bottom-up saying you're only using that head count or not. It is a broader reallocation at a macro level as opposed to a micro level. So the absorption is felt across those businesses that remain within the group. And obviously, as that's declined in terms of the broader entities that sit within the group, it's absorbed by those remaining.

Okay. That's very clear, Cameron. Just another question maybe for Marcus this time on AU Trading & Data and AU Wealth. You did talk about some time ago of having modular value-added services that would form part of that revenue growth rate. I'm wondering how that strategy is even going with potentially some of your customers doing it tough and looking to cut their own costs as well?

We're still underway in that process, both in wealth and trading. Certainly, the interoperability and API strategy I spoke about, that's for us as well. So we can plug modules into our own APIs and provide them as separate services, and that's actually what we're trying to do. And in wealth, we're also looking at more modularity using components. Harry described a few moments ago how we're doing that in the U.K., working with clients more directly and participating differently in the wealth stacks, particularly of the very large private clients.

That was very helpful. And then, sorry, just one on CapEx. R&D CapEx as a percentage of revenue now to sort of 5% to 7% of revenue over the medium term. When we think about that CapEx, that's all expensed, would it be?

No, that's building new revenue streams, Simon. So that is all about our product road maps and what we're building off the back of it. So that would be capitalized and then amortized depending on the nature of the asset and what it gets taken over. So yes, it's not an OpEx. It's a capital item.

The next question is from Olivier Coulon from E&P Financial.

Just a question on that APAC Wealth step down that you saw in the second half, and it sounds like in revenue, I think about $2 million half-on-half and it sounds like that might be an annualization or continued headwind in FY '25. Like when can we expect the exits of some of those larger legacy players to stop having a bearing on top line revenue in that division?

There was a one-off particular event in the year, which drove that second half change. I think we foreshadowed it at the half year. We said it was going to happen. We told the market about it. We knew exactly what the quantum of it was. So that is a one-off event. There is a little bit more. I think we're kind of at the end of that phase of structural readjustment in the industry. There's been a runoff, and I think Harry mentioned it earlier of, I guess, mitigation costs or remediation costs in the industry as major wealth players left. There's been restructuring of contracts. The Groups have changed around. Banks have exited, I mean, over the number of years. You can't think of an industry that's gone through more really. It's kind of done now. It's re-baselined itself. I think we're at the bottom end of the cycle for advisers. You can see everyone in the industry is trying to get it back into advice far from where they were 3 or 4 years ago. So I believe that we've got sort of hit the -- I do think it's a sort of an inflection and that the last half of '24 probably was the last of the major resets. We don't see anything in our big contracts going forward to give us any suggestion that, that's going to be repeated. So it was a one-off. We talked about a reset, a rebaselining of the business. I think that's occurred in wealth as well.

Yes. I appreciate that. And then just the step-up in, I guess, operational D&A, a fairly large step-up in the second half. What's the driver of that? Was there any kind of acceleration or change of use of life kind of assumptions?

There's 2 reasons, Olivier, actually to do with property footprint. So we've exited -- we're moving property in Sydney and London, both of which had a sort of an onerous lease -- accelerated amortization of those leases. So they -- while we're moving into more favorable terms in terms of the new property, we do have an adverse effect on our amortization at this time around. So that's about $5 million in the number that you're seeing.

Okay. So hence, I guess, the delta between the adjusted EBITDA guidance for FY '25 and maybe NPATA is not as significant as -- based on the '24 number.

[indiscernible] leases. Yes.

Yes. No, that's handy. I appreciate that. And then, yes, just the stranded costs, you mentioned that's part of your 3% to 4% OpEx growth assumption. The potential to kind of do a little bit better than you're hoping for or you're guiding to at the moment. What is the expectation? What are you building in on taking down those stranded costs? In particular, I suppose you got a fair bit in Super there for better part of $9 million, which isn't, I suppose, in the guidance because you're assuming Super stays in the numbers. But yes, how do we -- how should we think about stranded costs and the cadence there?

Yes. I think the bulk of the benefits that you're going to see out of stranded costs are '26, '27 thing, Olivier. So we do have a minor benefit baked into our guidance for this year. One of the areas that we're trying to highlight is the fact that despite you're selling businesses, you've still got a lot of transitions that go on. We've got 4 asset sales that are out there that have got transitional services going out until the end of 2026. And what that requires is still people around to offboard those assets and run those assets in a way to put them into different ownership. At the end of those, then obviously, you can get further stranded costs out. And some of it requires further redesign around our corporate functionality, both systems, people, processes, and we're doing a whole body of work around that in the next couple of months. So we'll have more to say around that in the middle of this year. But I look at that as a '26, '27 benefit. There will be certain things that can -- will get near-term benefits, but the bulk of them, I think, are really '26, '27 from a rightsizing perspective.

The next question is a follow-up from Cameron Halkett from Wilsons Advisory.

If I can just go back, Marcus, to your comments around digital advice you made earlier in your remarks. I suppose any comments you can make around how Iress is tracking beyond Hostplus with potential contract wins, just reflecting on the shape of the industry landscape? Certainly, it seems a bit of a land grab at the moment given there are very small number of very large funds out there. So just an update would be great on that front.

Yes. Look, there's a lot of interest in that area, absolutely. And we're in -- there's RFPs usually active at any given moment with some of the larger funds. So it's a very active landscape. I guess I think it's even more active in a sense that no one's really quite cracked the model yet and working with clients is the best way to do that. This is a new frontier for advice. It's a new class of advice. It's got issues associated with it, and it's also got opportunities associated with it. And we're stepping into that with our clients and working through that. So there's not -- it's not a replica of traditional financial advice. It's a new class of advice. And I think we're right at the forefront of it with our clients. So we're pleased to be part of that. We think there'll be other channels for us. We've got other clients we'll be able to work with that advice. So it's an area of focus for us.

Are you seeing any, I suppose, sort of delays to procurement with a potential upcoming election, labor's policy around sort of building better financial futures is pretty well understood, but in coalition, not so much or it's just kind of ticking along as usual?

I think there's going to be regulatory support for the industry no matter what. I mean -- and what's driving that is there's a need for more advice. There's a huge number of people who can't get advice. Firms can't meet demand. I mean it is literally, I mean I wouldn't use too strong of word being crisis, but it's getting to the point where we need to find solutions and the government is trying and we'll keep trying. Whoever is in power will continue to work with the industry to try to expand the availability of affordable advice.

And I suppose, Cameron, when we think about the guidance and talking about revenue, you sort of mentioned there that you've got pretty aggressive revenue growth goals out there for the company this coming year. I suppose does some of that aggression center around digital advice wins, just also recognizing Iress is sort of north of 500-plus revenue business today. So just how does, I suppose, Digi Advice feed into your revenue guidance?

Yes. I don't think we're overly aggressive in terms of what we're aiming for at the revenue level. 4% to 5%, I think, is a slight uptick on what we've done this year. And I think digital advice forms part of our goals for the coming year. But when we sit there and we work out what can be delivered, I think we're quite measured in terms of the delivery of existing -- to the existing client base as well as winning new money, which we think on balance gives us -- we're a mid-single-digit revenue growth business where we are at the moment. As we develop new revenue streams and our product development evolves over the coming 12 months, we may get more aggressive around that. But where we sit today, I don't think we're being overly aggressive in terms of our revenue growth targets for this year.

There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. Price for closing remarks.

Thanks very much. Thanks for your time today. I appreciate the questions. We have the opportunity now with Iress to really restoke our revenue growth. We've got the opportunity and the capital and the structure to deliver on a bunch of new growth vectors. I'll take a little time to stoke up, but we can see the ability to maintain and grow our earnings while we do it, which is a fabulous place for any company to be. Our guidance is to almost double NPATA, for example, and that reflects those ambitions. Growth is our priority, growing organically, products and revenues, tapping into new revenue streams, particularly in the data and AI areas as well as from our existing powerful incumbencies. And we want to focus more on customer experience, building powerful -- building on the powerful franchises that we have. I'm really, frankly, pleased to be able to share these results. It's been a great year, a reflection of a great amount of work that's gone on from the team, and we'll continue to reap the benefits of the work that's gone on well into the future. I look forward to seeing many of you on the road show, and that will be it. Thank you very much for your attention.

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