Infomedia Ltd. Annual General Meeting
Sydney – 10:30 AM (AEST) Thursday 8 November 2012
I would also like to welcome our Shareholders, Colleagues and Guests to the 2012 Annual General Meeting of Infomedia, both those of you who are here in-person and those joining the meeting via Webinar.
Today, I’m going to depart from the usual approach I take and dispense with reading the Chairman’s Letter from the Annual Report. Of course, I’m happy to address any questions you may have about that letter, or any other aspect of your company, during question-time.
Instead, I’d like to use this time to share with you about Infomedia, not just as an investment, but Infomedia’s role in the business world, its contribution to its customers, and the Infomedia I see through my eyes of its founder.
On the journey this morning, we’re supported by company executives Andrew Pattinson, Jonathan Pollard, Karen Blunden and Nicolas Fogg. Each of us will contribute to sharing with you, part of the refreshed Infomedia story. Our goal is that by the end of today’s meeting, you will not only have attended to the business of this AGM, but you’ll know your company better, be better able to understand its place in the world today, and its potential for growth in the years ahead.
But first l do want to recap some of the highlights from last year.
Notwithstanding the challenging global economic environment, this has been a year of progress for our Company. our product-sales grew, our online delivery infrastructure and systems strengthened, and we galvanized our business with the acquisition of Different Aspect software in the UK, whose founder Jason Thorpe is here with us today. We also renewed major data license agreements, to make Microcat, for Hyundai, KIA and Ford dealers around the world.
Many of you are aware that I returned to an operational role in the Company in 2010, with the mission of turning around the Company’s fortunes, and get us reconnected with our destiny of strong growth that had epitomised Infomedia’s origins.
I set aside 24 months to achieve that result, and can say with pride, our team is accomplishing that mission.
In terms of FY-12 financial results, Jonathan Pollard will cover them in detail, a bit later. But I’d like to highlight a few of the important achievements.
The first is that our underlying sales grew by 8% over the prior year, with Superservice revenues growing by an outstanding 42%, year on year (23% from continuing operations, 19% from acquisition). Our total product subscriptions grew by 7.5% to nearly 71,000, an all-time record for the Company.
But despite that great organic performance, our old nemesis, the escalating Australian Dollar, resulted in reported net-profit declining by $1.6M; which I might add, we’re aiming to not repeat in the future.
Guidance for FY-13 is projecting not only underlying growth, but also reportable growth, as our product penetration deepens, and as our treasury policy gets ahead of the forex curve. The Board’s confidence in our future, is expressed in the 24th consecutive dividend declaration to shareholders. This year it was 2.4 cents per share.
I believe investors are once again beginning to recognise, the investment values inherent in Infomedia’s business, in its Intellectual Property assets, its management team and the overall IFM story. That resilience is even more evident now than it was 13 years ago when the Company first listed. We have withstood global economic downturns, a massive foreign exchange handicap, and even a few years of internal floundering. Yet, today we are stronger, brighter and better-placed than ever. We are ahead of our competitors in making the transition from disc to cloud-based computing. We are leading the way with Software as a Service (SaaS).
We’ve made the move from being single application providers, to being the-integrated-solution providers the industry now wants. And, the recurring, no-risk, subscription- revenue-model we pioneered 22 years ago, is the preferred software licensing model of the industry today.
Market analysts are also rediscovering that our business fundamentals are very good for a quality Australian Small Cap: We have no debt; we have a sticky recurring revenue model; there is year on year underlying sales growth; there is brand goodwill; a great workforce; tight cost controls; reliable dividends, free cash flow and the nous to recognise, acquire and absorb accretive acquisition when appropriate.
You know, there’s no telling when the Australian Dollar will peak, but when it does, the significant organic growth of the Company will not underlay the reported numbers, it will be the reported numbers.
22 years ago, the Company defined its mission as follows:
To establish and maintain a highly viable organisation which delivers solutions to assist individuals and corporations turn data into meaningful information.
In 1991, that was a farsighted mission which has only become more pertinent, more audacious, and more needed, with the passing of years.
We saw then, that data, itself, was meaningless, to someone who had limited time, and lots of pressure, to do a job well. More data alone, didn’t, make anyone happier, faster, or better off.
What we saw was, people needed to have data organised and turned into relevant information, in order for it to empower them. Data-in-formation, as it were. We’re all familiar with the saying, “Information is Power”, but you I’ve never heard the saying that Data is Power.
So turning Data into Information has been at the core of our product promise. It is our product promise.
Now don’t get me wrong about Data. I’m not dismissing it at all. In fact, data is getting bigger all the time. It’s called BIG DATA, and that will translate to bigger opportunities for the Company. Bigger opportunities, to make bigger Information, to make our users more powerful through productivity.
Infomedia’s investments in product and infrastructure development, in recent years, have all been done with our mission in mind – Turn Data into Meaningful Information for our clients.
Our products are not only internet ready’, they are also Big Data ready. On this, we are ahead of the curve, and ahead of the need.
You’ll hear and read about Superservice today. Superservice is more than a brand or a catchcry; it’s the future for us, for our clients and for the automotive field. Our new online Superservice products go further than ever before, not only turning data into information, but also collecting data; collecting it at a rate, and in an accessible way, not done before in this field. As we create new ways to capture and correlate that data, we will transform our field; empower our patrons, and monetise thin-air.
I can’t recall a more exciting time to be working at Infomedia. I can’t recall a time more full of economic potential.
Before I hand over to Karen Blunden, CEO of Infomedia North America and Director of Global Business Development, I want to genuinely thank all our shareholders for the trust in the Company, their investment implies.
I want you to know that, our personnel work each day to improve our product lines, strength our business, and increase the Company’s longevity.
On those facts you can count.
Thank you.
Richard Graham
Executive Chairman
Infomedia Ltd
