Iress points to 50% lift in EBITDA

Leading financial advice software provider, Iress Limited, has pointed to an expected turnaround in its fortunes with a 50% lift in its first-half EBITDA.

The improvement is owed in part to the company’s recent asset sales.

Iress announced to the Australian Securities Exchange that its expectations for Adjusted EBITDA in the 1H24 period to be between $65 million and $67 million – up approximately 50% from $44 million in the prior corresponding period.

It noted that the material uplift in earnings came as Iress enters the final stages of its transformation program, which is on track to complete on 31 December.

“A disciplined approach to cost management and revenue in line with expectations have seen significant improvement in operating leverage through the period,” the Iress announcement said. “Earnings in Iress’ core businesses of Wealth and Trading & Market Data are expected to be materially higher on PCP, alongside UK Wealth which has continued to perform well under strengthening leadership.”

The ASX announcement said Iress had also made good progress in 1H24 on asset sales with the divestment of its Platforms business in April and Pulse portfolio management software in May.

It said the sale of the UK Mortgages business is also expected to complete on 1 August 2024 following the successful completion of all conditions precedent.

The ASX announcement said the net proceeds of all divestments had been used to retire debt.