ReadyTech Holdings Limited (RDY) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the ReadyTech Holdings Limited Annual General Meeting 2021. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Tony Faure, Chair. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. On behalf of the Board and entire ReadyTech team, I'm pleased to welcome you to ReadyTech's 2021 Annual General Meeting. My name is Tony Faure, and I'm Chair of ReadyTech Holdings Limited. In the spirit of reconciliation, ReadyTech acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. Today's AGM is being held virtually via the online meeting platform. We believe that in the current circumstances, this is in the best interest of everyone's health and safety. Details about how shareholders can participate in the meeting are set out in the Notice of Meeting and Online Guide, which are available on the ASX platform and our website. Both documents are also available to view and download at the bottom of your screen. It is now 11:00 a.m., the appointed time for holding the Annual General Meeting. I've been advised by the Company Secretary that the necessary quorum is present. I therefore have the pleasure of declaring the 2021 ReadyTech AGM open. I appreciate that some shareholders may have to leave before the conclusion of the meeting, and I, therefore, formally open the poll on all resolutions and encourage shareholders to submit written questions online now. Joining me for this AGM today via our online platform are our Director and Chief Executive Officer, Marc Washbourne; Non-Executive Directors, Elizabeth Crouch, Timothy Ebbeck and Tom Matthews; Chief Financial Officer and Joint Company Secretary, Nimesh Shah; and Joint Company Secretary, Melissa Jones. Joshua Tanchel, representative from our [ auditor ] Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is also attending the meeting via our online platform and will be available to answer questions from shareholders. I will now make some brief comments about the company's performance in FY '21 and so far in FY '22 before handing over to our CEO, Marc Washbourne, to take you through these matters in more detail. The last 12 months have been significant for the company with the acquisition of Open Office, forming our government and justice vertical and the execution of strategic initiatives driving strong organic growth and value creation. For those shareholders that are new to the story, ReadyTech is a provider of next-generation, mission-critical people-centric software. We serve 3 key verticals in education and work pathways, workforce solutions and government and justice, where we put the people served, students, employees, job seekers, apprentices and citizens at the heart of our products. Digital transformation accelerated in FY '21 as education providers, workplaces and governments adjusted to hybrid working, learning and operating environments. Against this backdrop and with focused execution of ReadyTech's enterprise sales strategy, we saw strong adoption of our cloud-based Software-as-a-Service solutions from new high-value customers, in addition to strong upsell and cross-sell into our existing customers. Financial highlights for FY '21 included 27.4% growth in revenue to $50 million, noting revenue growth, excluding Open Office, was 15.1%. 21.4% growth in underlying EBITDA to $18.9 million and 27% growth in underlying NPATA to $10.6 million and operating cash flow conversion of 113% of EBITDA. Importantly, we see the strong growth continuing in FY '22 and beyond. We have strong new client interest as supported by our high conviction $19 million pipeline and see a long runway ahead for increasing penetration in our target markets. With a track record of consistent delivery and a high level of confidence in ReadyTech's longer-term prospects, the Board was also comfortable with our long-term aspiration being provided to the market for the first time in August. To reiterate, ReadyTech's target is to organically grow revenue to over $125 million by FY '26. That's more than doubling revenue over the next 5 years. Post year-end, the company announced the acquisition of Avaxa, which is a great example of how we are expanding our presence in the enterprise education market. As shareholders will know, ReadyTech won a landmark contract with Bendigo Kangan Institute in 2020 and the software subscription has now commenced. Avaxa adds to our Victorian TAFE presence, with key clients, Chisholm Institute and Melbourne Polytechnic, with TAFE a key focus in the education vertical going forward. TAFE is just one area where we see significant enterprise opportunity. Workforce Solutions is well placed to address the needs of the standup economy with its all-in-one solution. Likewise, we expect government and justice will capitalize on its reputation and market position with medium to large councils in Australia and build on the Ministry of Justice contract recently awarded to us in the U.K. On behalf of the Board, I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the executive team and our staff for their tremendous efforts throughout the year and, of course, to you, our shareholders. We thank you for your ongoing support over the past 12 months and look forward to delivering sustainable returns into the future. I'll now hand over to Marc.

Thank you, Tony, and good morning, everyone. I will now take you through the operational highlights of FY '22 and end on the outlook for FY -- I'm just going to go back to say that I'll take you through the operational highlights for FY '21 and end on the outlook for FY '22 and beyond. I'd first like to take a moment to thank the entire ReadyTech team for their outstanding effort and contribution during the year. Our next-generation and cloud-based software has become the enabling platform for customers undertaking digital transformation agendas. From student experience uplift projects in education to employers' deepening engagement with their teams, from improving access to justice to supporting local government to enhance service delivery to citizens, we are helping customers transform the way they do business and adapt to a digital future. It was an incredibly busy year, both in terms of organic and inorganic growth, and these results are a testament to the dedication of our talented team of ReadyTech-ers. We saw strong growth and progression on all key metrics in FY '21. Revenue grew 27.5% to $50 million, including the initial Open Office contribution of $4.1 million. Excluding Open Office, revenue growth was a healthy 15.1%. Underlying EBITDA of $18.9 million, representing an EBITDA margin of 37.8% and underlying NPATA was $9.6 million. Similarly, our levels of recurring revenue, customer revenue retention, cash flow conversion and gross opportunity pipeline remains strong. Importantly, FY '21 added to our strong and sustained record of performance. We have consistently achieved outstanding growth in recurring revenue and strong EBITDA margins with a 20% CAGR in total revenue. A core part of our strategy has been to onboard higher value and enterprise customers. As a snapshot of our achievements in that -- across the segments over the year, we won 21 new high-value customers, each generating over $100,000 in annualized subscription and implementation value, equating to an aggregate annual value of $5 million. Following a period of strong conversion, we also maintained a high conviction pipeline of $19 million, including opportunities across tertiary education, local government, justice tech, state government as well as the standup economy for Workforce Solutions. During the year, we completed the acquisition of Open Office, which pleasingly achieved its first earnout in June ahead of expectations. This was driven by new local government wins, upsell of modules to existing customers and a successful rollout of the U.K. Ministry of Justice contracts. The key driver of new business as well as cross-sell and upsell has been our continued investment in sales and marketing, which represented 11% of revenue in FY '21, up from 9.6% in FY '20. In terms of strategic execution, ReadyTech delivers high value to its customers. And we reinvest for growth across 3 key verticals: education and work pathways, Workforce Solutions and our latest market entry, government and justice. We provide our clients with market-focused, mission-critical SaaS solutions. Our best practice SaaS platform is customer-centric based on strong usability and agility, which is configurable but not customized. We are harnessing 1 high-performing customer and future-focused culture, spanning all aspects of the business, from technology and product development through to sales and customer success. Growth investments have been across 3 key pillars. Firstly, with respect to product market fit in developing customer-centric software, we created 14 new R&D roles in FY '21 with research and development, representing 31% of revenue. The next pillar is go-to-market where we have grown sales and marketing to target higher-value customers. We added 7 new roles in FY '21, taking sales and marketing spend to 11% of revenue. And thirdly, scaling for efficient and streamlined operations to support accelerated growth, we added 7 new customer onboarding heads during the year and a range of initiatives to sustain our momentum. With respect to outlook, I am pleased to reaffirm the outlook provided to the market with the release of FY '21 results on 24th of August 2021. To reiterate, we expect FY '22 organic growth in the mid-teens. FY '22 EBITDA margin is expected to be in the range of 36% to 38%. Likewise, we maintain a high conviction gross opportunity pipeline of $19 million. The acquisition of Avaxa as announced to the market on the 27th of September 2021 will incrementally contribute revenue of $0.7 million at an EBITDA margin of 15% in FY '22. We are also delighted to reaffirm our longer-term target and that is ReadyTech targets organic revenue of over $120 million by FY '26. At ReadyTech, we are ready to meet the evolving needs of our customers and the huge opportunity enabled by ongoing digital transformation within the large and open markets in which we operate. We look forward to delivering this growth for the benefit of shareholders and keeping you updated on our progress. Thank you. That concludes my presentation. I'll now hand back to Tony for the formal agenda.

Thanks, Marc. The notice of meeting was distributed on the 14th of October 2021, which sets out the business and resolutions to be considered at this meeting, and I will take the notice of meeting as read. I will now briefly outline the procedures for today's meeting. [Operator Instructions] You may submit questions at any time. You do not need to wait until the relevant item of business. We encourage you to submit your questions as soon as possible. We will then seek to address your questions during the discussion on the appropriate item of business. We will endeavor to answer as many questions from shareholders as we can. Questions submitted via the online meeting platform will be moderated to avoid repetition. And if questions are particularly lengthy, we may need to summarize them in the interest of time. I ask that all questions be directed to me as Chair. We will first take questions received over the phone and then take questions from shareholders using the online platform. We will save asking each question until the relevant item of business. All resolutions to be considered at this meeting will be determined by a poll, which is now open. Shareholders were given the opportunity to appoint a proxy to vote on their behalf at this meeting. If you did not appoint a proxy prior to the meeting, you may cast a vote using the online platform. To vote online, simply click on the Get a Voting Card button at the top or bottom of your screen. This will provide the list of resolutions and present you with voting options. You may cast your live vote at any time during the meeting. Voting for all resolutions will remain open until 5 minutes after the meeting to provide eligible attending shareholders with sufficient time to cast their vote. At the conclusion of the AGM, you will see a red bar appear at the top of the online platform with a countdown timer of how long you have remaining to cast your vote. You must be logged in to the online platform to cast a live vote. You cannot cast a vote over the phone. I confirm that where undirected proxies have been given to me as Chair, I will vote in favor of the resolution to the extent permitted. During the meeting, we will display on the presentation slides the number of proxy votes received prior to the meeting on each resolution. The final outcome of each resolution will be released on the ASX and our investor website after the meeting. If you experience any difficulties using the online platform, a help line number is displayed at the top of the page. If we experience significant technical difficulties during the AGM, we will adjourn the meeting. If this does occur, a market announcement will be made and our website updated. Shareholders, proxy holders and guests who have registered to watch the meeting will be notified via text. Link Market Services is the returning officer for this meeting. We will now move to the items of business. Shareholders will be asked to consider the 3 resolutions set out in the Notice of Meeting. For each proposed resolution, I will introduce the resolution. There will be an opportunity for shareholders to ask questions. Those persons entitled to vote on the resolution may cast a vote on the resolution at any time before the close of the poll, and the results of the poll will be released on the ASX company announcements platform and made available on the company's website as soon as possible after the close of the meeting. The 2021 annual report contains the financial report, directors' report and the independent auditor's report. This item is the receipt and consideration of the reports of ReadyTech. This is not a resolution, and there is no vote on this matter. I will take the reports as read. At this time, I would like to invite shareholders to ask questions or make comments about the management of the company and to ask the auditor questions relevant to the conduct of the audit and the preparation and content of the auditor's report. Please keep questions about specific resolutions for the time we consider the resolution itself. We will first take telephone questions followed by written questions submitted via the virtual meeting platform. I'll now take questions received over the phone. Are there any questions over the phone?

Not at this time, sir.

Are there any further questions?

There are no questions on the online platform.

As there are no further questions, we will now move to the next item of business, and that is the reelection of Mr. Tom Matthews. So moving on to the first resolution, I'll now ask Tom to say a few words about himself and the skills and experience he brings to the ReadyTech board.

Thank you, Tony, and good morning, everyone. I'm Tom Matthews, one of ReadyTech's nonexecutive directors. And I've had the pleasure of being part of ReadyTech's development and growth since 2016. I have over 18 years of experience in private equity, investment banking, corporate advisory and valuations in both Australia and the U.K. I'm a partner at Pemba, a leading growth investor where I've led several of Pemba's major investments, for example, in ReadyTech, Mark Group, Oncall, RxMx and Vet Central, to name a few. Prior to joining Pemba, I held a variety of senior roles, including at private equity firms, Sovereign Capital Partners, in the U.K., the U.K. Investment Banking Group of Macquarie Bank and Deloitte Corporate Finance in both Sydney and London. My expertise in finance, mergers and acquisitions and technology has proven to be an asset to ReadyTech to which I'm fully committed. I'm very excited to be part of its ongoing journey and would be honored to continue to support the company and serve you as a member of the Board.

Thanks, Tom. I will now take any questions relating to this item of business. We'll first take telephone questions followed by written questions submitted via the virtual meeting platform. I'll now take questions received over the phone. Are there any questions?

There are no audio questions, sir.

Are there any further questions, Melissa?

There are no questions on the online platform.

Okay. If there's no further discussion, I will now put to the meeting resolution 1. Detailed on the slide are the proxy votes for this item submitted prior to the meeting. Thank you. Now please select either for, against or abstain for resolution 1 on your electronic voting card. [Voting]

Moving on to the second resolution relating to the adoption of the remuneration report. I will now take any questions relating to this item of business. Again, I'll first take any telephone questions followed by written questions submitted via the virtual meeting platform. I'll now take questions received over the phone. Are there any questions?

There are no telephone questions, sir.

Are there any further online questions?

There are no online questions.

If there's no further discussion, I now put to the meeting resolution 2. Again, detailed on the slide are the proxy votes for this item submitted prior to the meeting. Thank you. Please now select either for, against or abstain for resolution 2 on your electronic voting card. [Voting]

Moving on to the third resolution relating to the issue of performance rights to Marc Washbourne. I will now take any questions relating to this item of business. Let me, first of all, take any questions received over the phone.

There are no questions on the phone, sir.

Are there any questions submitted online?

There are no online questions.

If that's the case, and there's no further discussion, I will now put to the meeting resolution 3. And once more detailed on the slide are the proxy votes for this item submitted prior to the meeting. Please select either for, against or abstain for resolution 3 on your electronic voting card. [Voting]

I'll now take any questions received on any other business brought before the meeting. First, we will take telephone questions followed by written questions. Are there any telephone questions?

There are no telephone questions, sir.

Are there any questions submitted via the online platform?

There are no online questions.

In which case, there is no other business for the meeting, and there are no further questions, I declare the 2021 Annual General Meeting for ReadyTech closed. If you've not already done so, then please pick up your voting card and vote on the resolutions by clicking on the Get a Voting Card box on your screen. Shareholders and proxy holders will have 5 minutes from now to submit their live votes via the online platform. A countdown timer will appear at the top of the screen in the online platform. The results of today's AGM will be released to the market and made available on the ReadyTech website as soon as possible, which should be later this afternoon. Once again, thank you for participating and for your support of ReadyTech.

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