ASX-listed investment administration firm, Bravura, booked a slight year-on-year gain in revenue for final half of 2023 with its NZ arm the fastest-growing segment.
According to the Bravura half-year results released last week, the NZ division saw top-line income grow from A$5.7 million in the last six months of 2022 to more than A$8.8 million for the same period last year.
The NZ growth-rate of 53 per cent dwarfs the wider Bravura business, which reported a 7.5 per cent increase in revenue over the six-month period to A$127 million (A$118 million in 2022).
Forced into an emergency A$80 million capital-raise last March, the back-office software specialist narrowed operating losses from A$14.2 million in the last half of 2022 to A$1.6 million for the corresponding period in 2023.
However, Bravura recorded a total loss of A$190 million for the six months to December 2022 after copping a A$175 million ‘impairment’ charge – almost all goodwill.
In a statement, Bravura chief, Andrew Russell, said the business returned to an operating profit (of about A$200,000) during final half of last year on the back of higher revenue and slashing costs by some A$27 million.
The group has forecast a “cost out” of A$40 million for the full financial year ending on June 30.
“We are making good progress on resetting the business and right-sizing our cost base…,” Russell said.
Bravura has struggled of late, particularly in the UK where its operations reported a small decline in revenue for the six months to December 2023 against the same period in the previous year.
The UK still generated the most top-line income for Bravura over the half-year of A$56.7 million – but only just, as the Australian arm pulled in almost A$54.9 million for the same period, up from A$48.6 million in 2022.
In NZ, the company now attributes all revenue to the wealth management sector – the only region in the group with no fund administration income. The NZ Bravura accounts previously attributed wholesale registry work for UK clients under fund admin.
During the last half of 2022, Bravura NZ, reported A$325,000 of fund admin revenue.
In its investor presentation, Bravura claims an almost 40 per cent market share of the KiwiSaver back-office market “based on account volumes”. The Bravura Sonata system serves as the administration engine for Trustees Executors, which counts Fisher Funds (but not its recently acquired Kiwi Wealth business) as a client, and for parts of the ASB and Westpac KiwiSaver and investment operations.
Sonata is also used by two of the “top 4 life insurers in NZ”, the Bravura presentation says, including Partners Life and Chubb.
Appointed last July as permanent CEO after a brief interim stint, Russell was the fourth Bravura chief since long-time leader, Tony Klim, resigned late in 2021. Andrew Parsons, who replaced Klim in September 2021, stepped down the following year while his successor, Libby Roy, departed just 10 months into the job.
The Bravura share price jumped about 25 per cent on the latest news to close at A$1.24, about six-times the March 2023 low of just over A$0.2 recorded post capital-raise.