Praemium has reported record funds under advice (FUA) growth of $49 billion, up 43% despite posting a net loss after tax of $2.6 million in the first half of the 2022 financial year.
In an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the platform provider said the sale of the international business to Morningstar continued operations of the Australian segment which included Australia, Armenia and, on a temporary basis, Shenzhen (temporarily increasing cost base without additional revenue).
Meanwhile, the Australian business saw revenue increase by 21% to $30.3 million on the first half of the 2021 financial year. Praemium reported $7.5 million in underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) in the first half of the 2022 financial year, an increase of 6% compared to the corresponding period in 2021.
Praemium chief executive, Anthony Wamsteker said the first half of the 2022 financial year saw continued growth in revenue, reflecting ongoing investment in people and technology including the recent acquisition of Powerwrap.
“We also believe that we are now at a scale threshold at which a significant percentage of revenue will convert to underlying EBITDA, especially since we essentially have a full complement of staff for the first time in the recent past,” he said.
“The sale of our international business segment to Morningstar should provide all our stakeholders with confidence in our ongoing strategy. It allows a dedicated focus on our home market in Australia whilst the quality of the acquirer ratifies our underlying platform and technology.
“The ability to now focus exclusively on the Australian platform market at a time of a major shift from incumbents to independent challengers and in the expectations of advisers and clients regarding the range of assets to be managed in one place, creates strong alignment between our strategy and our opportunity.
“These factors underlie our expectation for underlying EBITDA growth to exceed revenue growth from the half with full year underlying EBITDA guidance of between $16.5 million and $18.5 million.”
