The Iress Ltd (ASX: IRE) share price will be on watch this morning after the company provided a market update.
At Monday's market close, the financial software company's shares finished the day at $9.93.
Let's take a look and see what Iress announced in yesterday's late market release.
Iress highlights progress on executing growth strategies
Iress shares could be on the move today after the company reported a number of positive updates.
In its announcement, Iress advised that the acquisition payments to the vendors of QuantHouse have now been completed. Approximately 8 months ahead of schedule, the company will now focus on integrating its teams and business strategy.
In addition, the deployment of Automated Super Administration is on track, with two clients scheduled to go live this year.
Iress noted that in Australia, 66% of services under its cloud transition program have now moved to the cloud. Year to date, global services migration has increased by 33% when compared to the 2020 financial year.
Two lenders are expected to go live in 2021 with the company's mortgage lending software, MSO. Project activity and sales pipeline in the United Kingdom market is growing, further building on revenue and margin.
OneVue's corporate and functional integration met all milestones in the quarter. Iress now plans to release the combined OneVue and Xplan offering in Q3 FY21.
Upgraded FY21 guidance
In further news that could boost Iress shares today, the company revised its net profit after tax (NPAT) guidance for FY21.
Due to the one-off provision release of QuantHouse earnout arrangements, NPAT is expected to exceed guidance by $14 million. As a result, FY21 NPAT in constant currency is forecast to be in the range of $70 million to $77 million. This is a significant uplift when compared to the previous projection in February of $56 million to $63 million.
Year-to-date performance up to 31 March 2020 is in line with current estimates. Iress revealed that pro forma segment profit is up by 2% against the prior corresponding period in constant currency. Pro forma NPAT is recording an 11% jump against the same time frame.
Iress chief executive Andrew Walsh commented on the company's outlook, saying:
2021 promises to be a productive year for Iress as we implement major client projects, integrate OneVue with Xplan and increase our revenue and margin in the UK as the market continues to recover.
Our focus is clear. We continue to grow a highly competitive business with scale in key markets to drive margin expansion and increased returns on invested capital. We look forward to delivering on expectations as the year progresses.
Iress share price summary
The Iress share price has fallen by around 4.5% over the past 12 months. Year-to-date, the company's shares have fared even worse, sitting around 7% down.
Based on the current share price, Iress presides a market capitalisation of roughly $1.9 billion, with 193.3 million shares outstanding.
