Bravura climbs to ‘top of the tree’ on digital advice
Bravura’s chief executive, Andrew Russell, believes the tech firm is at the “top of the tree” when it comes to digital advice, having already signed a deal with AMP.
Last week, AMP announced it would be launching a digital advice service for members of its AMP Super Fund to receive retirement advice. Super fund members will be able to personalise their desired retirement income goal and compare it with benchmarks such as the age pension and model different scenarios.
Bravura's selection as the partner beat out competition from rival providers such as GBST, Advice Intelligence and Otivo.
AMP said it is also planning further solutions in the coming months covering pre-retirement and post-retirement strategies.
Commenting on this on a results webinar after announcing the firm’s half-year results, Russell discussed the firm’s priority in digital advice.
Russell was appointed chief executive in July 2023 and has been actively undergoing a transformation strategy which aims to reset and energise the business, as well as accelerate financial performance via rebuilding client trust and shareholder reputation, building a product-focused capability, and delivering a lower cost to serve.
He said: “The team is doing a great job, the proposition is standing up in the market as being a leader and there have been some announcements recently in terms of clients we are working with. We believe there is further customisation work that those clients want for their individual customer journeys and the RFPs [requests for proposals] that are coming to market, we are considered at the top of the tree in terms of consideration.
“This has been our strategy given the importance of advice in this marketplace. We are building relationships with key players in the APAC market, and that puts us in a good position if a registry decision may come.”
Neil Montford, chief financial officer, added: “In APAC, we have a number of customers and potential ones [in digital advice]. We are building out our ability to implement those customers. It is a key area we are investing in to assist with our revenue growth in the future and also delivering currently.”
In terms of its half-year results, the firm upgraded its guidance for FY25 from revenue of $241–245 million to $248–252 million. Revenue during the half was $127.5 million, up 0.4 per cent versus the prior corresponding period, and underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) was $11.3 million.
It also announced it will recommence dividend payments and pay a special dividend of $40 million, 8.92 cents per share, in relation to the NPAT on the sale of the licence to Fidelity, and an interim dividend for the half year at $7.2 million, 1.6 cents per share.
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Laura Dew
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