Iress scares investors with big CY22 profit downgrade

Nick Sundich, September 29, 2022

Iress (ASX:IRE) shares fell more than 15% this morning thanks to the company downgrading its profit guidance. The company said it was primarily a timing issue, with expected FY22 revenues being delayed until FY23. But it seems investors suspect there are other issues.

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Iress downgrades its profit

Iress provides software to the financial services industry, including investment management and trading mechanisms. The company had forecast a full year Segment profit for FY22 (which for Iress is the calendar year) of $177m-$183m and an NPAT of $63m-$72m.

This morning it downgraded its Segment profit to $166-$170m and NPAT to $54m-$58m. The midpoints of the new guidance would be downgrades of 9% and 20% from the midpoints of the old guidance for Segment profit and NPAT respectively.

CEO Andrew Walsh asserted sales were still strong, but costs were higher than expected, including USD-priced technology and software. The timing delays meant some revenue would now be deferred into FY23.

Investors ignore the good news

The company’s shares dropped this morning even though there was some good news too.

IRESS (ASX:IRE) share price chart (Graph: TradingView)

Iress told investors it had been chosen by the Commonwealth Super Corporation (CSC), the provider of superannuation software to the public sector, to use IRESS software. The contract runs for an initial five years, but migration will be a more gradual process that will not be reflected in FY22. The first tranche of users will not have their migration completed until July next year.

This arguably explains why investors have seemingly ignored the good news.