Prime Financial Group Limited (PFG) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this Investor Webinar for Prime Financial Group's First Half Results. My name is Gabby, and I'm joined here this morning by Prime's Managing Director and Chairman, Simon Madder. Good morning, Simon.

Good morning, Gabby.

Before I hand over to Simon for the formal presentation, just a reminder that this webinar is being recorded. And also, there will be the opportunity after the presentation for Q&A. If you like to ask Simon a question, please do so by Q&A function at the bottom of your screen. Okay. Over to you, Simon. Share my screen.

Thanks, Gabby. And welcome, everyone, to this half year results update. What I'm going to do is I'm going to start by just giving a little bit of background on the business for those of you that haven't actually heard the Prime story before, and then I'll jump into all the key details of the result. So first slide, please, Gabby. So in terms of who we are. So Prime is an advice capital and asset management group, very much founded around this principle of delivering our clients a connected advice experience. Our key clients are typically emerging businesses, founders and high net worth investors, and we very much believe in untapped opportunities, and that is what is driving the growth of our business and also for the benefit of our clients. We currently look after $1.3 billion of funds under management. We have 189 team members that are spotted across the globe; 4 key service lines, which I'll touch on in a moment, and we've been doing this for 26 years. Next slide, please, Gabby. I thought it would be worthwhile just touching on what our clients are dealing with us for. And this slide, I think, represents it very well. So over the last 26 years, we've looked after about 5,000 clients for their wealth management and SMSF needs. There's over 2,000 businesses that we have helped and continue to help. There's 1,000 clients that we have assisted for innovation and new product development and finding funding typically through R&D. There's 100 SMEs that have been invested in by our alternative asset funds management division, and that's just in the last 5 years. There's over 500 clients that we assist with growth, transition and succession, which is a big theme for the future. And it's not just Prime that delivers these services to our clients in our own right. We actually work with other professional advice firms, around 250 of them to support them in their endeavors of delivering client services to their client base. Next slide, please. So in terms of what we do. So our business is split into 2 key segments. We have the Business segment, which covers our accounting and business advisory, and that makes up about 30% of our group revenue. And we also have our Corporate Finance or Capital and Corporate Advisory division that makes up about 17% of group revenue. So combined, it's almost 50% of total revenue. We then also have the Wealth segment, the Wealth Management division along with the alternative asset funds management division. We look after $1.3 billion, as I said there. That's 41% of group revenue. And then we have our SMSF division, which is made up of about 12% of group revenue and 37 team members. Importantly, what we've been developing over the last few years is a very strong centralized and shared services model that allows us across finance, IT, HR, marketing and operations to deliver the integration required for the acquisitions that we're doing and to drive that organic growth as well. Next slide, please. So in terms of how we go about doing this. So I talked about at the start this concept of connected advice experiences. So we're absolutely building the scale of our organization, the capability of what we can do, both organically through new services, but also through acquisition. And we're very much trying to bring this together across both Business and Wealth. So our clients will enter our business for one particular need, and it could be any one of those things that are listed there. And then what we endeavor to do is to get a really crisp understanding of what their goals and objectives are for the longer term and then deliver them more value and more value than they can actually achieve elsewhere. Next slide, please. So let's jump into the details of the results. So as the slide said there, we've had very strong revenue growth in the Business and overall a fantastic performance. Well and truly on track to achieve our guidance for the year. So revenue was up 25% to $22.9 million. Reported EBITDA was up 102%, underlying EBITDA up 8% and margin was slightly down 18%, but that will correct itself over the full year. Interim dividend was up 3%, so continuing improvement there and reported EPS of $0.46 per share. So just a reminder, we are heavily weighted to the second half of the year as has been the case for the last 4 to 5 years, but we're really pleased with how the first half has shaped up, and we've got good momentum going into the second half. Next slide, please. So some of the highlights operationally. So I think I'm going to point you to that right-hand side of the slide there. So the Business segment was very strong at 12%, but Wealth really outperformed. The Wealth revenue or the Wealth segment revenue was up 41%. Now really, that's been a combination of both organic growth and also the acquisitions that have been undertaken. And we're really pleased to see the Altor Capital, the alternative asset funds management business that we acquired achieved its 3-year earnout in the first 12 months. That was achieved by virtue of working really closely with other divisions and particularly around this OneConnected model that we've got, where we're trying to do more for our clients. So really impressive how that business has been integrated into the firm and very confident that we'll continue to be able to drive great results from that, but also from the other acquisition we did, which was EPM, which is the Remuneration Services and Employee Share Plan management business. So again, that sets us up well for continued momentum throughout the full financial year. Next slide, please, Gabby. This is simply a reflection of what we've pretty much already covered. So you're seeing there, again, the revenue up 25%, the underlying EBITDA up 8% and the reported up 102%. So again, everything is pretty much tracking in line with what our expectations were. We've got expenses within the range of what we want them to be. So we're very happy with how the sort of first half has played out. This, I think, is a good representation of how our business has been developing over the halves. Now one thing I would really like to point out is that we are lucky in the sense that we do have a business with about 70% of our revenue being recurring in nature. That said, we are still continuing to try to drive that up to 75% and 80% in the near term. But if you look at each one of those first halves in comparison, you can see that things have been absolutely moving in the right direction. And that's pretty much been the case when you look at the bottom part of that diagram, which really shows Wealth up 56% this period, SMSF back into the growth territory that we're looking for, our Accounting division up 10%, and also the Capital division up 17%. So really pretty much whatever we're doing across that spectrum is heading in the right direction. And things have tended to accelerate pretty well over the last 5 years. Remembering this is all in the context of us wanting to double our revenue from FY '22, which was $26 million to $50 million of revenue in FY '25, which we believe we will achieve quite easily. That's all in the context of wanting to build and double again to $100 million of revenue within 3 to 5 years. Next slide, please, Gabby. So here gives an indication of how our halves are split and how they've been split over the last 5 years. Encouragingly, you'll see the second half in FY '24 was strong. We expect the second half in FY '25 to be even stronger than FY '24. Margin is down slightly in this first half, and that's partly because of the investment we've made in that centralized services structure to also be able to consume the acquisitions that we've currently got within our pipeline. So we expect our margin will get back to that 25%, 26% by the time we get to the end of this full financial year. Next slide, please. In terms of the overall balance sheet and cash flow of the business, it was pleasing to have a new facility signed with Westpac last year, and that's allowed us to increase our capacity there from what was $24 million to $41 million. We've got $30 million that is unused within that facility. We'll use it prudently for working capital and also for acquisitions, but we have plenty of capacity. Debt is pretty much where it was previously, it's at 1.1x underlying EBITDA. Cash flow was a little bit weaker this first half than the previous corresponding period, but we expect, again, the second half to be even stronger than what it was in FY '24. Next slide, please. Importantly, we've been able to continue to increase our dividends for our clients -- sorry, for our shareholders, I should say. And that's allowed us to increase our dividend for this interim period, up 3%. We are continuing to have the Dividend Reinvestment Plan and the payment date for the dividend is the 26th of March. So in terms of the outlook, again, we really think about our business across 4 key pillars. So the Prime place to be is really about having a fantastic environment for our talent and making sure that they can grow within our business and make sure we're supporting them. We've also got a very strong focus on making sure our clients are compelled to want to do more things with us. And that's because we've ideally got the best offering in the market. We want to keep on simplifying the business. We don't want to do things at a subscale, and we want to make sure that we reduce key person risk and we continue to grow in the right way in the majority of areas where our clients require service. Growing revenue is a key part of what we're doing. But clearly, we're also very focused on making sure that as much as possible drops to the bottom line. Next slide, please, Gabby. So part of the reason why we've been able to grow the way we have over the past 3 to 4 years is because we are operating in attractive markets, and that's across both Wealth and Business. What this slide is representing is essentially how significant the Wealth is of Australians that we're focused on servicing. And what you see here is that high net worth investors or clients have increased significantly over the last 12 months. This is a report from Praemium that we're referencing here. And that's gone from 635,000 high net worth to 690,000 just over the last 12 months. And the assets that they have that are available to invest have also increased from $3 trillion to $3.4 trillion. So we're in a growing market where also what's highlighted on the right-hand side there, there is a growing need for advice. And this is in the backdrop or off the backdrop of what will be one of the greatest wealth transfers that we've ever seen. Succession issues within business are significant. You've got aging owners that need to think about what they're going to do with their business and an aging demographic where assets will be passed down to family beneficiaries. We're in a unique position to assist clients across both their business and also their wealth management needs. So we really like the segment that we're playing in. Obviously, the SME part of the Australian economy is significant. And we believe that, that will continue to offer us great opportunities to add value for clients and continue to grow our business overall. What you're seeing on the right-hand side there is just probably that the key point is the unmet advice needs and how we are positioned to assist in that and what some of those top advice needs are, along with saying that portfolio growth has been pretty significant over the last 12 months as well. Next slide, please, Gabby. Okay. I've already referenced this slide, but this really does go to our growth ambitions and how we're seeking to do that. So again, our target is to make sure that we hit $50 million of revenue in FY '25. That will be a doubling from FY '22. And then again, trying to double and get to $100 million of revenue by FY '30 at the very latest. We're going to do this from an organic growth point of view, which is what we're doing now. So that's about making sure that the services that we have continue to grow, that we cross-sell more services to our existing clients, and we recruit people that have existing customer bases that want to join us and offer more value to their clients. From an inorganic or acquisition point of view, we've been pretty active as far back as October 2022 when we acquired the SMSF business Intello, then into Altor, the Alternative Asset Management business and into EPM most recently in June. I would also highlight that we do have currently a Non-Binding Indicative Offer on our Wealth business, which generated about $11.4 million of revenue last financial year. Things are progressing there, but it's not complete. I'll continue to update our shareholders as we progress that deal. Next slide, please. So in terms of our outlook, we are very positive. We're very happy with the first half and how the business is tracking. We'll continue to drive our organic growth. The accretive acquisitions will continue to integrate and make sure that we cross-sell and deliver value for clients, but also grow the firm. We'll make sure we continue to scale what we're already doing. We are looking at the sort of technology infrastructure we require for the future. Technology will play an increasingly important part as to how we develop the business. And again, we will continue to drive and we are maintaining our outlook for the first -- or for this FY '25 period. We expect revenue and underlying EBITDA to be up 15% to 20%, and dividends up 3% to 5%. So really happy with the first half. I think the team have done a great job. We very much appreciate the support of our partners, our clients and obviously, our shareholders as well. Gabby, I might throw back to you now just in case there's some questions that anyone would like to me to answer.

Sure, Simon. Thank you. [Operator Instructions] We've already got a few questions in. The first question, Simon; EPS per share looks like it's below DPS, how is the dividend being funded?

Yes. So it is slightly below that is correct. But we do have and generally speaking, have a second half so that we expect it to be very strong. So we're funding it generally speaking, out of operating cash flow. But yes, maybe part of the facility is being slightly used as well.

Okay. Next question is, can you give some color, Simon? Obviously, margins are down. How do you plan to return margins to that target range?

Yes. So typically, our second half, and this has been the case for the last 5 years is stronger than our first half. Yet our cost base doesn't grow at the same pace in the second half, generally speaking. So we'd expect our revenue to truly outstrip from a growth point of view, our cost base increases. So that will drive increased EPS in the second half. So that's pretty much the way we've done in the past and what we'd expect to happen now. We have the majority of the work that we need to get done in the second half already engaged. So it's a matter of essentially getting that out the door and completing it.

All right. Next question from Stephen Scott from Veritas. Slide 16. How do you plan to get -- that was the Wealth with the unmet need side, the premium side?

Yes.

How do you plan to get into the unmet needs part of the market?

Yes. So a really key thing that we've been doing is we've been, I guess, marketing ourselves pretty strongly in the first half of this year, we've actually had 50 events where we've been showcasing what we can do for not just our existing clients but more broadly as well. So I think part of the message is about getting out to our existing clients that we know even in their own right, probably have some unmet needs and trying to bring that forward. But also making sure that we are a destination for clients that we can look after everything across both the Business and the Wealth spectrum. So I think making sure we're positioning our brand, we're getting ourselves out there. All of our partners in our business and key account managers are having the right conversations with the existing customer base, but we continue to promote this clear point of difference that we can offer around connected advice. So it's been fantastic to see through those events growth in what we do in the Wealth segment, which you see has been up over 50% for the half, and we're really starting to get this message out around intergenerational wealth transfer and to really encourage people to start to think about what the future looks like there from both a business and a portfolio point of view. So there's a pretty strong marketing push within our business at the moment.

Okay. Simon, there are a few questions on the NBIO just that it's been the timing and it's obviously been advised to the market for some time now.

Right.

Can you shed any color at all on your confidence, probability and the [ spaces ] that are...

Yes. So we are cognizant, we've had this NBIO signed for a good period of time. And I think what you're seeing here is just making sure that both parties are completely comfortable that this is the right fit. The last thing you want to do is have a transaction that doesn't work out. So if that means it takes a little bit longer, then we're very disciplined about the process that we go through. And what that typically means is that we've got to make sure that we're completely aligned about not just today, but what the future looks like. So we have taken our time. We've been very careful to work out how it's going to fit into our business. We know that if you get it right from the start, then you'll get fantastic momentum, which has been exhibited with what occurred with Altor achieving their 3-year target in the first 12 months. So it has taken time, but you need to make sure that you're respectful of the founders that you're dealing with in that transaction. I'm far more confident today than what I would have been 3 months ago, but a deal is not done until it's signed. But I have a huge degree of respect for the founder in that business. And I think combined, we'll have a very strong business together. So I look forward to completing it, but I'd say it's over 90%, but that 10% also still has to be closed out. But really encouraged by the conversations we're having and the time frame with which we're seeking to execute now, which is absolutely sooner rather than later.

Next question, Simon, is on organic growth. The question is, does the 10% organic growth in the first half reflect the organic growth over the past few years? And do you expect something similar in the next 5 years?

Yes. So typically, the organic growth we look for is at least sort of 10% to 15%. I expect to see that step up in the second half. Over the last sort of 4 to 5 years, that has been generally our experience. Occasionally, it can get sort of 15% to 20%. But when we're thinking about the year ahead, we're always targeting to try to get to about 15% from an organic growth point of view. It's a pretty bulky target to be straightforward about that. Industry norms are well below that. And even with our margin of 18% to 20%, say, in the first half, that's actually quite well above what the industry norms are as well. So we have actually a very profitable business, which has quite solid and surprisingly good growth, and we expect to be able to continue to do that predominantly because of our OneConnected model. When you've got a client that's only currently buying, let's say, 1 or 2 of your total 4 services, there's always an opportunity to go back to that existing client base and make sure that you are offering more of the value that you can deliver as a firm. So what we make sure that we don't do, and this has played out in even how we think about acquisitions is we make sure that we've got clients that are consuming, that we're gaining more clients that want to consume the things that we can do where we are best in market. So we see organic growth coming from not just our partners going out there and getting new clients, but in fact, making sure that we are cross delivering more services. So it's almost -- it's more of a 2-pronged approach rather than just going out and having everyone trying to get one new client in their particular division. It's very deliberate. It's a key point of difference, and it's how we've been able to drive above market organic growth.

The next question, Simon refers to the case study in the appendices on Slide 23. Can you talk about how much of your growth comes from cross-selling between SME business services and Wealth Management?

Yes. So I won't take you too far back in history, but Prime actually started its life as a Wealth business that used to joint venture with accounting firms. And most of the accounting firms we used to partner with were, say, 3 to 6 partner accounting firms, of which the majority of their clients probably fit that SME bucket. So from the very start of when we build our business, which was predicated around offering wealth management to the clients of those firms, there was a strong and deep connection between SME and Wealth Management. So that continues today as part of what we do with our own firm plus also still partnering with other firms, as I mentioned. But we think that there is a material opportunity to cross-sell more into that business SME client base. And particularly now that there's such an aging demographic in so many of those SMEs, and it's actually quite surprising. I don't have the numbers directly at hand now, but the amount -- the number of businesses that will need to either transition and sell, and the number of family members that don't want to take those assets for the future that the kids don't necessarily want them. That transition of wealth is going to be material. So it's presenting an opportunity to provide a really combined solution around the business, plus also obviously other parts of the wealth transition. So that's a core part about how we think about the future of that SME market. It's also where we have been investing capital for the last 5 years for our Alternative Asset Management business, which is quite unique. We have a credit function in there where we can lend money to SMEs, and we have an equity function where we can invest for the future as well. So that's done through the Alternative Asset Management business, Altor that we acquired 12 months ago. I hope that answers the question, Gabby.

[Operator Instructions] Next question is relates to cost versus revenue, Simon. So obviously, costs are -- revenue is going up, but costs are still going up, which is impacting the bottom line. Can you make sort of any comments on this going forward?

Yes. And probably the key area to focus on here is that it's -- we've made a really, I think, material investment, an important investment in that centralized services/shared services model. We've got 34 team members that are operating across all those areas of Marketing, the M&A, the IT, the Finance, the Operations all of those areas. And we've built that up from probably, let's say, 22 or 24, 12, 18 months ago. We've had to make that investment in order to accommodate our future acquisitions that we're undertaking and to also be able to cost out of those acquisitions when we do acquire them. The good part about that is at 34 team members now, that number shouldn't grow significantly from here in order for us to move from $50 million of revenue to $100 million of revenue. So we will absolutely start to get some economies of scale that will keep on driving the organic growth, but it will mean that each acquisition from here on forward will be even more EPS accretive than what they have been in the past. That's been the majority of the movement in the cost.

The next question is on the SMSF division, Simon. So obviously, compared to the other divisions, it grew, but it was not as strong as the other divisions. Can you provide any color on that?

Yes. I've mentioned this previously. I think the integration there probably took longer than we expected, and probably more disruptive than what we would have anticipated. So this was really the first acquisition that we had done really probably for 3 years. And this was back in October [ 2022 ]. So it's taken a little bit longer than what we would have expected to fully integrate and start to get the benefits. But now the team are doing a really good job at thinking about the key account management, the firms that we're providing B2B services to and there. And we're expecting to see that growth start to accelerate from here. So I think we had a tough year last year within the SMSF division, and we've now started to get a little bit of growth. And I think that will be more substantial in the second half.

Next question is with your future acquisitions, I mean, obviously, there's a focus on Business and Wealth, but are you looking at other areas for inorganic growth and to drive your growth profile?

Look, very much everything will sit within that Business and Wealth segment. And we've got a pretty basic principle here in that we don't sort of start doing something unless we think it can get to $3 million to $5 million of revenue within 3 to 5 years. So what we don't want to have is key person risk in any part of what we do. So we're trying to scale more of what we've currently got than we are looking to roll out a whole host of new services. The reality is it can take 2 to 3 years for a new service to start to generate a positive outcome for the firm. And we think we've got a pretty comprehensive offering now. So when we look at these acquisitions in the future, most of them are going to fit quite nicely, into what we're already doing and will give us additional scale, synergies and growth potential.

And just one final question. What are some of the learnings from -- or actually 2 final questions. First one, what have been some of the learnings from M&A that you've done so far?

People. It's people, people, people. I don't want to sound too try about that. But if you get the people piece right, the respect, they respect the founders, the connection and the opportunity, then transactions will go really well. And we talk to everyone that we consider doing a transaction with, and we talk very candidly and say we have to feel like collectively, we're going to be better off together than we are apart. And we aren't typically looking to acquire businesses that are looking for their own succession plan. We're looking for businesses that are great in their own right, but they think they could be better if we're able to be -- to put this together in a more complementary way. I won't shy away, Prime is very ambitious, but we need to have -- fantastic group of founders within this business that are interested in continuing to grow. So if you get the people piece right, then I think a lot of everything else flows. And it's also that philosophy about wanting to do more for your client and being really candid with whoever you're talking to about what is their key area of interest and expertise. So if we all play to our strengths, then collectively, clients get a great experience, and we're able to grow the business better together than the counterparts. So we're just very focused on the people piece and increasingly making sure that there's complementary technology that will enhance the direction that we're trying to go.

Last question on outlook. As we enter the second half and FY '26, what are the 5 key things that you want investors to take away from this session looking at your outlook?

Track record is probably the starting point, Gabby. We're very deliberate about how we've built this business over the last 4 to 5 years. We've seen a consistency between the difference between H1 and H2. H2 is always stronger in terms of what we do. Our focus and our -- probably our execution is getting better in terms of that OneConnected model and making sure that we are looking for every opportunity. We're marketing to that opportunity. We're getting our messaging better. We're training our leaders and our middle management far better through emerging leaders programs and various other things. So very strong in the marketing, sales, cross-sell and people education piece. That's a real focus. The other key thing is making sure that we continue to integrate the acquisitions. The integration piece doesn't end after 12 months just because someone hits an EBITDA target. The integration is ongoing, and it's always fascinating to -- to see what some of the connections are in the client base and with the people side of things and just making sure that we continue to leverage that, put things in channel -- that channels have a very clear level of responsibility and accountability, but most importantly, work together as a team. I'd also like to see us turn some of our working capital positions into an improved position to obviously enhance operating cash flow in H2, and just make sure that we continue to have those conversations with acquisition targets in a really direct and fair manner. The more we get ourselves out in the market, the more people see that we've been able to deliver on what we said we were going to do. It's enhancing the types of conversations we can have. So at the moment, there's over $75 million of prospective revenue that's in the target bucket in terms of people we're having conversations with. So making sure that both parties pick and make an informed decision about coming together is important. So again, they're probably the 5 things that we're most focused on within our business. And to be honest, they are the things that we talk about every week at our senior leadership team meetings.

Okay. Thanks very much, Simon, and thanks for your time today. Thank you to everyone who's joined us this morning. Have a good day, everyone. Thank you.

Thanks very much, Gabby.