ReadyTech Holdings Limited

ReadyTech was founded in 1998 by Marc Washbourne, who remains with the company today. Its first product was JobReady, a product for employment providers, designed to support them to place and keep job seekers at work. Its second product was launched in 2001 and was similar to JobReady but aimed at apprenticeship support providers. The third helped GTOs manage their apprentices in a labour hire arrangement. The company’s first investment in cloud-based technology – and its key offering to this day – was JobReady which captures the student lifecycle to drive student outcomes for VET providers. In 2017, RDY bought HR3 which was a company with a payroll and HR administration system. This diversification allowed ReadyTech to capture a larger market share and build a strong reputation for providing mission-critical solutions. In 2019, ReadyTech made its debut on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), marking a significant milestone in its growth trajectory. The listing provided the company with additional capital to accelerate its expansion and enhance its product offerings. The company listed at $1.50 and traded above it for most of its listed life. But the past couple of years have proven difficult as top line growth slowed and investors paid more attention to the bottom line which was always in negative territory. At its FY24 results, the company set a target of $170m revenue and its ‘Cash EBITDA’ margin to be >20%. At that time, it delivered $113.8m annual revenue and a 17.8% ‘cash EBITDA’ margin. Its profit was $5.5m. FY25 saw just 7% revenue growth to $121.8m and it cut its FY27 guidance to $150-153m while guiding to $132-135m by FY26. Its NPAT was in the red by $16.1m, albeit with the majority attributable to $21.8m worth of impairments. In 1H26, it made $61.6m revenue, leading the company to update its revenue guidance to $125-127m and withdraw FY27 targets. Its ‘Cash EBITDA margin’ was guided to be in the low mid-teens. The company’s bottom line was negative but only by $1.4m.