Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Prime Financial Group Limited's FY 26 financial results. My name is Natalie Simmons, the Chief Operating Officer of Prime, and I'm joined today by Prime's Managing Director and Chairman Simon Madder, and Chief Financial Officer Sharon Papworth.

Before I hand over to Simon and Sharon for the formal presentation, I just wanted to remind everybody that this webinar is being recorded and there will be opportunities for Q&A at the end of the formal presentation. If you would like to submit some questions, you can do so via the Q&A tab at the bottom of your screen.

I would like now to hand over to Simon.

Right. Thanks, Nat.

Much appreciate. Welcome, everyone.

A really pleasing set of results again for FY 26, another significant step in our growth trajectory. Look forward to running you through all the key financial metrics and what's happening operationally.

Might jump onto the first slide if we can, please, Nat. A few of you won't be necessarily aware as to what we do, but I think the best way to describe our business is as a market-leading integrated advice and investment firm, intentionally for ambitious clients.

A lot of our clients operate their own business, or they have a particular wealth management need. I think where we do our best work is when we combine those two things together through our one business, which is our One Connected Prime philosophy.

We currently have about $1.9 billion of funds under management, 197 fantastic team members, and we have been in business for 28 years. Next slide, please, Nat.

Let's touch on some of the key and most important financial highlights. A really impressive increase in our revenue, up 22%, $60.5 million.

That really does go to that growth mandate that we've got and that trajectory. Impressively also, our team, from an FTE point of view, generated $276,000 per FTE, that's up 25%, which again is great.

It's showing that we are driving that efficiency, that productivity consideration and moving the business in the right direction. In terms of EBITDA margin, stable with the previous year, FY 25, we're looking to increase that through 27 and 28.

Underlying EBITDA again, whether it's reported or underlying EBITDA, up between 17 and 18%, again, really pleasing result there. Another mainstay of the considerations for us is operating cash flow.

Again, we were happy to see our operating cash flow improve, up 47% to $4.3 million for the year. Overall, a really good set of numbers in terms of that top line and that bottom line.

I'm going to hand over to Sharon who's going to touch on a few other items for us.

Thank you, Simon. Our profit measures require some context this year.

The decline in reported earnings was primarily tax-related, while the underlying adjusted earnings trajectory continues to improve year-on-year. Excluding the effect of the tax rate change, which changed from 25% last year to 30% this year, NPAT would have increased 11% to $5.1 million, NPATA would have increased 22% to $6.6 million, and reported earnings per share would have increased 5% to 1.96 cents per share.

This context provides a clearer view of the underlying operating performance of the business. Debt to underlying EBITDA was 1.5 times compared with 1.3 times in FY 25, reflecting acquisition payments and continued investment in growth.

Finally, it's a pleasure to confirm that the board has declared a fully franked dividend of .92 cents per share, bringing the fully franked dividend for the full year to 1.72 cents, an increase of 4% year-on-year.

Fantastic. Thank you, Sharon.

I'm now going to jump into some of the operational highlights if we can jump onto the next page, please, Nat. Really think about our business operationally across these four key sleeves.

Simplification, M&A and integration, growth, sales and ideal clients, and technology as an enabler. Simplification has probably been the biggest theme that we've been working to over the last 12 months and will be a continuing theme into FY 27.

That is about having fewer services available with greater concentration. Let's do more of the things that we're really good at and continue to drive that part of our business, and identify clients that really have a need for those services where we are experts.

We're also making sure that we have a very clear enterprise view of our customers through our enterprise CRM that has been deployed and the team are actively using now. We need to make sure that we've got complete visibility over our customer base and make sure that we're clear what they're buying from us, what they need, and what they might need for the future.

Another key measure of simplification is reducing the transactional revenue in our business. I was super impressed to see an increase in our recurring revenue to 85% from what was previously 70%.

That is a huge uptick. That's a 21% uptick over the course of the last 12 months, and goes to the discipline of that simplification process.

Another key consideration which kind of migrates between simplification and also some of the things that we've done from a divestiture point of view is, we did actually reduce our cost base because we have actually divested some clients that didn't meet our ideal client profile. You'll see when you receive the accounts and you have a good read of them that we divested about $4 million worth of revenue.

People ask, "What's an ideal client look like for us, and why were those clients non-ideal?" They're typically clients where we couldn't generate the margin that we're seeking to achieve and where they don't necessarily need multiple services.

Our ideal clients value what it is that we can do across the totality of our offering and we are able to then deliver to them at a margin that is appropriate for our business. When we did reduce our customer base and sell some of those clients to colleagues within the industry, we were able to reduce our cost base, and that particularly occurred within Q4.

Another key consideration for us has been on the recruitment front. We were rapt to bring into our team in the last 12 months two new leaders across both business and wealth that were able to bring with them $1.7 million in annualized revenue that contributed to FY 26 and that will be more in FY 27.

That's part of our acqui-hire growth model, which I'll talk to in a little bit more detail later on. Another key consideration for us around M&A and integration and deep integration has been around the Lincoln Indicators business that we acquired back in May 2025.

That was our largest acquisition that we have done in the last six, and I'm pleased to say that is deeply sitting in the middle of our wealth segment and we are actively delivering additional value and services to that customer base. In terms of growing our business, sales, account management, the thing that we were really rapt about in terms of this year that's just gone is in three core growth areas across wealth, SMSF, and accounting.

These are impressive numbers. Those areas grew somewhere between 14 and 44% for the year.

That includes acquisitions, but importantly it shows that when we do focus on those key things that our clients need and where we can grow, we can deliver some fantastic outcomes. That bodes really well for FY 27, 28, and through to 30, and our goal of getting to $100 million of revenue by FY 28 to 30.

We are very much obsessed with making sure that we do deal with what we consider those ideal client profiles. When we are focused on that, it means that our sales, account management, and servicing procedures are better, more defined, and we can deliver more value for our customers.

Part of that customer journey is making sure that we do enable technology. I've said this before: we're not first off the bench to launch into technology, but we are making steps forward.

We do have a fantastic team internally that are partnering up with external providers in partnership to make sure that we are enabling and simplifying our business so that we can scale and deliver better customer service. A key component of our technology strategy is making sure that we have got our data consolidated.

Data is king in terms of what we do, and being able to manage our business efficiently and to be able to achieve that roadmap of growth that we desire. Data consolidation is important to make sure that we can manage our workflows, we can introduce AI in a very acceptable and risk-governed manner.

We've got a lot of work that's going on around data consolidation. Thanks, Nat.

What are the key themes that continue to drive our business forward? Firstly, M&A and business succession.

Whether it's occurring in our own industry, and our industry is very active at the moment across professional and financial services, almost a month doesn't go by without seeing some sort of M&A, whether it's in accounting, whether it's in wealth or asset management. It's a very active space where private equity are playing an increasingly large role.

One thing I'd just highlight is that in the US recently, BDO Thornton, one of the larger accounting firms, actually spent over $5 billion buying what was the largest listed accounting firm in the US. Things are active.

We're in the right space at the right time, and we think we have a really important role to play in what takes place over the next 3 to 5 years. M&A and business succession in our own industry and for our clients is super important.

That plays to part of that intergenerational wealth transfer conversation. It is increasingly on the radar for our clients, and we are lucky that we can deliver more value under the one roof for a lot of our clients, whether that's passing on portfolios or other assets, and making sure that it's structured correctly and that there's a trusted advisor that can support, or whether or not it's selling a business and that what that succession might look like.

Where we're positioning ourselves and our ideal client profile and brand is in that mid-market opportunity. That's why we're precise about ideal clients, about the clients that we might otherwise divest that we respect, but to other participants in the industry.

A really key theme that we've seen play out post-budget is the need for advice. Clients have needed advice all the way through, but probably even more so in the next 12 months than ever before across accounting, structuring, wealth management.

There are a lot of conversations and a great deal of need that we look forward to supporting our clients with over the next 12, 24, and 36 months. There's some of the key themes driving our growth.

Now just going to touch on a few other things in relation to our financials, might just jump onto the next slide if we can. I'm not going to dive into detail that either myself or Sharon have already covered.

I'd just highlight probably the two top points: the revenue of the wealth segment and the revenue of the business segment. Yes, impressive that to see the wealth segment up 37%, but we're probably doing the business segment a bit of a disservice there by suggesting it's only up 2%.

The business segment combines both what we do in accounting and also in capital or corporate finance, which is what we're deemphasizing, the capital and the corporate finance part of what we do. That was down.

It's not a focus for us. We will do that for particular instances for clients, but that's probably muted some of the fantastic results of that business segment, which has included our accounting operations being up 25%, which was, a really impressive outcome.

We might jump onto the next slide and I can dive into a little bit more detail if we can. Total revenue for the year, as suggested, $60.5 million, up 22%.

In terms of our contracts with customers, up 20%. I'm going to keep restating this: have a look at that bottom left-hand corner of this slide.

Wealth up 44%, and a really positive trajectory that seems pretty consistent. SMSF up 14%, and accounting up 25%.

We're going to do more of this. This will be a focus for our M&A, for our acqui-hire.

Acqui-hire is simply M&A by a different term. It's when someone or a group of people join you with a client base, but not the legacy of the structure that might otherwise come through an acquisition.

We'll focus our attention in those three key areas. As I said, capital is important, but it's transactional revenue and not an area that we want to focus.

Our focus is on recurring revenue, and as I said before, that's up 21% for the year to 85% of our total revenue. We will continue to hone in on that target that we gave 3 or 4 years ago, which was to get to 100 mil.

I think when we gave that target, we're at circa $25 million of revenue. Our business is very much growth-minded, but we are focused for the majority of the time not just on the revenue, but the quality of the earnings that comes from that revenue and the margin that we can actually achieve from it.

Overall you're seeing there some focus areas, some deemphasis. If you look at the top part of that graph, you can see a real consistency on how we've grown our business.

We believe we can continue to scale and to do that increasingly at better margins with improving operating cash flow. On that note, I'm going to hand over to Sharon who's going to touch on some of the margin-related issues.

Thanks, Simon. Our underlying EBITDA to members increased from $7.8 million in FY 22 to $13.9 million in FY 26, and includes year-on-year growth of 18%.

The growth has been achieved while reducing reliance on transactional revenue, as Simon discussed. The FY 26 underlying EBITDA margin, while it remained at 24% and consistent with last year, was really driven through acquisition integration activity, investment in technology and systems, and organizational changes undertaken during the year.

During the fourth quarter, Prime accelerated its focus on operational efficiency and cost base reduction. Those actions, together with workflow improvement, automation, and data consolidation, are expected to support future margin improvement and operating leverage.

The strategic priority for us in FY 27 is to convert the additional scale already achieved into ongoing top-line growth and improved earnings conversion. Thank you, Nat.

Our balance sheet remains positioned to support Prime's growth strategy. Net assets increased to $61.2 million at June.

Acquisition payments largely contributed to the increase in net debt of $20.6 million, which is up from $14.9 million last year. This was also reflected in an increase in net debt to underlying EBITDA to members, which increased to 1.5 times, however continues to be well below our banking covenant requirements.

Pleasingly, our operating cash flow increased 47% to $4.3 million, and this improvement is really important because it does demonstrate stronger conversion of earnings into cash flow. Prime also has access to Westpac facilities of approximately $42.6 million, of which $21.6 million was drawn down at year-end.

This provides us with the capacity to support working capital, existing commitments, and disciplined strategic growth. Our approach remains to balance investment and shareholder returns with prudent leverage and active cash management.

Thank you, Nat. As mentioned earlier, the board has declared a fully franked final dividend of .92 cents per share.

Together with the interim dividend of .8 cents per share, this brings the FY 26 full-year fully franked dividend to 1.72 cents per share, an increase of 4% over last year, and a substantial increase from 1.1 cents per share in FY 22. The final dividend record date is the 3rd of September, with payment scheduled on the 28th of September.

I can also confirm that the dividend reinvestment plan is available for the final dividend. The dividend increase reflects the board's confidence in Prime's underlying business while maintaining an appropriate balance between shareholder distributions, debt management, and reinvestment in growth.

Thank you, Nat.

Thanks, Nat. We'll jump into strategy and the focus for FY 27.

Intentionally simple, and from a growth point of view, organic growth across those three key areas I've already touched on, that 14 to 44% growth comparing across wealth, accounting, SMSF. We're going to do more of it.

We believe we can scale it and scale that efficiently. That cross-sell program for value for our customers will continue through our one connected mindset, and that will absolutely complement what we're doing in our core growth areas.

Acqui-hire, I touched on. I think we can accelerate that.

We're in market talking to lots of people to make sure we find those people that want to be part of that multiple service journey for their clients, but also to have an equity interest in our business. Just as a reminder, 44% of Prime is actually owned by the team, and that's a really important alignment consideration for us to marry up between external shareholders and internal shareholders to drive the right behaviors and the right level of continuity.

Finding people, whether it's through acqui-hire, internal promotion, and also selective acquisition will all form part of what we would do for the future. That's that bridge between $60 million of revenue to around about $100 million of revenue.

That's how we continue to grow our business by not doing anything outstandingly different, but to continue to do it better. Part of that better process for us is around productivity and technology.

That's a core focus for us into FY 27. Those efficiency improvements that Sharon spoken to, whether it's workflow automation, AI, making sure that you're developing your team internally, are all really important to allow us to achieve our objectives, but most importantly also for our clients.

Those ideal clients remain a focus for us, and we'll continue to consolidate our existing capabilities and keep on simplifying our business. One final word would simply be really proud of the team and what they've developed over the course of the last 12 months in terms of our business model, our target operating model, and the results that have been achieved.

We've got a wonderful team that works really hard to deliver value for customers, but also for shareholders. I absolutely want to thank them as I do want to thank shareholders for their continued support.

For now, that's probably enough from myself and Sharon, and probably hand back to you, Nat.

Thank you, Simon. Thank you, Sharon.

Probably just a few questions. Firstly, Prime recently exited an NBIO that was in place.

Can you share what was the reasoning behind the exit?

Absolutely. Thanks, Nat.

If you're happy for me to take this, Sharon. Firstly, a non-binding indicative offer is exactly that.

It's an intention to do something together. We've obviously done some due diligence, and we're keen to see whether or not the businesses can fit together.

Firstly, we have the utmost respect for anyone that's willing to entertain a conversation about what the future of their business might look like, particularly in that partnership model that we work we work to. The the respect remains even though we didn't proceed with this particular transaction, but things changed.

The business looked different, there was a different risk profile, and we couldn't justify the valuation on that business based on the circumstances that were presenting to us. Unfortunately we couldn't proceed with it.

It was a long journey. We spent many months and almost a year in discussions, we didn't make any decision lightly.

I believe we've made the right decision. We are very protective of investor capital and we want to make sure that we deploy that to the best possible opportunity.

We thank the founder of that business, who we really do respect, for taking the time to spend it with us, but it just wasn't going to work out for the future.

Thank you, Simon. Another question is around the you spoke about the divestiture of some clients.

Can you just explain a little bit more about what makes an ideal or a non-ideal client?

Yeah. Firstly on the ideal client front, we have been really explicit that our model and probably our key point of difference is the ability to work with clients over an extended period of time across both business and wealth.

Within that business and wealth, those two core segments, there's multiple different service lines that we can actually deliver to clients. Our most ideal clients are ones that typically are pretty ambitious, that want to do things, that want to actually head in the right direction, and they need support to achieve their goals and objectives.

It's usually a multiple-service provision that they're looking for. Clearly they're more often than not larger clients, and that's why we're focused on that mid-market.

Where there are clients that probably have an isolated need or a one-off need, they're probably less appropriate for us unless there is a pathway to doing more for them. Without sounding sort of too mercenary about it, we've got to be able to make money on the service that we deliver to clients, and in some cases the equation just doesn't work out.

When there are those occasions, and that will come up from time to time, we will respectfully work out scenarios to pass those clients on to other industry participants, people that we trust, and provide them the opportunity to service the clients and do it the right way. That's where we will divest, we will realize capital, and then we will reinvest that capital into activities that fit the profile of our strategy.

Thank you. You also spoke about some cost savings in the last quarter of FY 26.

Can you explain how that will play into FY 27?

Yeah. I think probably that key item I covered around the operational highlights of simplification.

Firstly, we have deemphasized what we do in capital. That has meant that we've reshaped our headcount in the capital division and our requirements for the future, so that obviously has an impact in terms of reducing the cost base as it relates to that, because that service line is not a focus for us.

Operationally with a simpler business, you're very much more careful about where you spend your money, the types of team members that you recruit, where you do the work, whether it's in Australia, offshore, and what you actually get in terms of technology enablement and the steps that you're taking to be more productive. With a simpler and clearer vision about how we can execute to that growth milestone of 100 mil at a increasingly higher margin, we're pretty picky about what we do, how we resource, and where we spend our capital and our time and our efforts.

That will mean that when we're not looking after certain clients that might consume too many resources, then we're more focused on doing the things that more of our ideal customers might value.

Perfect. The next question is really around you speak about targeting between FY 28 and FY 30 up to $100 million.

It's a bit of a double-header of a question. What are the drivers of that, and will you also be providing a guidance for FY 27?

The simplicity of our strategy of what we've been able to do well and that we think that we can do increasingly well is in those areas that have driven our business from $25 million of turnover to 60 mil, but for that small caveat around a small amount of divested clients. We think we've got this right.

We think that we are accelerating with a simplified model, and that model includes organic growth, appropriate prices for the work that you do, it includes finding more people that believe in the vision and the journey, the multiple-service journey for customers, and acquiring businesses that fill out the family portrait in key locations where we can do more of the good work that we want to do. It is an absolute repeat of scaling more of what we've already got as opposed to starting new journeys in particular.

It's a consolidation, it's a focus. When you do consolidate and you simplify and you reduce that surface area, all the work that you do around workflow, AI, technology, etc., becomes simpler because you are just getting more leverage off the back of the work that you're doing.

You get a better return on investment. In terms of that focus, that's what we'll do.

We'll keep doing what we do well. In terms of guidance, we never really give guidance until we sort of get to the AGM.

At the moment, the best guidance I can give is we're a group of people that are very growth-minded. We own part of the business that all of you co-own.

We want to create shareholder value. We know what is a more precise way to do that, and we are targeting that FY 28 to 30 goal of 100 mil.

Each one of the goals we've set in the last 3 years we have achieved. We feel confident that on our trajectory to 28 to 30, we've got the right moving parts and we'll continue to focus on that.

Perfect. That brings us to the end of today's presentation.

Thank you to everybody that's joined us. Thank you, Simon.

Thank you, Sharon. We wish you all a great rest of the day.

All right. Thanks, Nat.