Bravura has deferred announcing its half-year results but confirmed it is awaiting the outcome of a “potential capital raising”.
The technology provider, which underpins adviser platforms Nucleus, Fidelity, and M&G Wealth, asked the Australian Stock Exchange to suspend its shares today (February 28), after halting trading yesterday.
Initially, the plan was to lift the suspension today following the announcement of its half-year results.
But Bravura has now deferred the planned announcement, with no rescheduled date confirmed.
“At the company’s request the ASX has placed Bravura into a period of voluntary suspension,” the firm said in a notice.
“Bravura takes its continuous disclosure obligations seriously and is unable to participate in briefing the market at this time.”
The ASX-listed company has seen its share price fall nearly 50 per cent over the past year, prompting rumours it could be a takeover target - especially after SS&C and FNZ lost out on GBST.
In recent months, Bravura’s share price has begun to recover, rising from 34 pence (AUD 0.60) in November to 48 pence (AUD 0.85) at market close on Friday.
Today, Bravura also announced a series of board changes. This saw the departure of Edinburgh-based Alexa Henderson, who also sits on boards for Abrdn and JPMorgan trusts.
It also saw Andrew Russell and Russell Baskerville join the board.
Russell was formerly chief executive of software firm Class Limited, which delisted last year after it was bought by Hub24 Limited.
Baskerville has a similar background, having founded Empired Limited, another technology provider which was acquired back in 2021 by Capgemini.
Bravura's chair, Neil Broekhuizen, said: “They not only bring extensive technology knowledge but also change management, transactional and governance capabilities along with an entrepreneurial spirit.
“Their expertise will be most valuable as we implement our restructuring programme to set the business up for a return to profitable growth.”
Strategic review
Back in November, the firm’s share price more than halved following an update which suggested performance in its 2023 financial year - which spans July 2022 to June 2023 - will be “below market expectation” before a return to revenue growth in 2024.
The half-year results meant to be announced today would have covered the first part of this period, from July to December 2022.
The technology provider initiated a strategic review of the business back in August, when new chief executive Libby Roy joined.
The review was kicked off in an effort to scale Bravura’s products and revamp its technology stack.
Meanwhile, operating costs have continued to rise due to what the company has dubbed a “competitive labour market”.
Progress of the review was shared in November, prompting a steep drop in the firm’s share price and a re-evaluation by analysts.
An analyst note from MST Emerging estimated a 20 per cent increase in operating costs for the provider, coupled with a “sharp decline” in high margin licence revenue, and a “slower than expected” transition to microservices.
Following the November update, some analysts were left worrying that if one of Bravura’s clients was not comfortable with the state of the group’s balance sheet, this would then require the provider to raise money from existing shareholders.
This, one analyst told FTAdviser, could be a concern for some of Bravura’s clients given the ‘mission critical’ nature of the software that Bravura provides.
ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
