Iress bullish on Xplan and growth strategy

Major publicly-listed financial planning software group, Iress has expressed confidence in the Australian wealth industry and the dominance of Xplan notwithstanding a 25% decline in half-year net profit after tax to $30.6 million.

The company also reported a 29% increase in underlying net profit to $31.8 million.

The company is forecasting a 7% to 10% increase in full-year profit within a range of $177 million to $183 million.

Iress chief executive, Andrew Walsh cited one-off earn-out payments for the company’s QuantHouse and BC Gateway acquisitions.

He said the company was on track to transition to a platform-based architecture and operating model to drive faster speed to market, operating leverage and scale.

“It is pleasing to see our core business in Australia deliver another strong performance, with financial advice and trading & market data revenue growing by 8% on the prior corresponding period,” Walsh said. “Recurring revenue grew by 9% on pcp for trading & market data and 8% for financial advice.”

“We have a positive view on the outlook for the Australian wealth industry with Xplan continuing to be the advice software of choice for advisers, while the broad trend towards digitisation and the demand for greater efficiency continues to unlock opportunities for advisers’ profitability.”

Walsh said the company was on track for the commercial launch of its new, integrated investment infrastructure offer in November this year with pilot trials having successfully demonstrated the efficiency gains of the offer.