This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
DIGITAL property exchange network PEXA (ASX: PXA) reported a strong period of growth, as the group launched PEXA Exchange into the ACT and more than doubled transaction volumes in Queensland.
PEXA delivered a 27% boost to revenue for the year ended 30 June 2022, at $279.8 million on FY21’s $221.0 million.
The group’s pro forma EBITDA was up 28% to $130.5 million from $101.8 million in FY21.
For its PEXA Exchange platform, a pro forma EBITDA of $152.7 million was posted, up 38% on the previous corresponding period’s $110.4 million, with a margin of 54.6% up from 50.0%.
“Our team continues to deliver for the practitioners, financial institutions and homebuyers and sellers who have used the PEXA Exchange over the past 12 months in Australia, driving strong transaction volume growth on our Exchange platform that maintained 99.9% availability across FY22,” said Glenn King, group managing director and CEO at PEXA.
“We continue to execute on our strategy to build on PEXA’s position as the operator of Australia’s leading digital property settlements platform. With further enhancements made, and a new jurisdiction entered, we recognise the key and unique custodial role we play in managing this critical infrastructure that supports the safe and secure settlement of the majority of land transactions in Australia.”
PEXA’s statutory NPAT was at $21.9 million, up from a loss of $11.8 million in FY21, with pro forma NPAT at $38.0 million, also up from a loss in the pcp of $4.9 million.
Pro forma free cashflow before capex was at $121.1 million, a 7% increase from $113.2 million in FY21.
PEXA ended FY22 with $75.4 million cash and a debt level at 1.47x net debt to PEXA Exchange EBITDA.
“Volumes on the PEXA Exchange platform in Australia remain robust, and we are targeting an Exchange EBITDA margin in the 50% to 55% range. To drive future growth of the PEXA Exchange, we continue to invest in our core business, with PEXA Exchange technology investment expected to be circa 20% of revenue in FY23 with a focus on API development, customer-facing enhancements, and cyber security and platform resilience,” said King.
PEXA’s operating metrics saw a five percentage point boost to transfer market penetration, up to 85%,
With PEXA Exchange transaction volumes up by 22% to 4,015,000 transactions from FY21’s 3,326,000
While PEXA Exchange’s launch in the ACT over the period seeing the group reach 59% transfer market penetration, with Queensland seeing strong growth, with transaction volumes more than doubling.
“We are excited by the opportunities for PEXA to grow its world-leading digital property settlement platform internationally, while also appropriately expanding data services in Australia to facilitate a more informed and efficient property industry at home. Our UK business will ‘go live’ next month, and by the end of FY23 we aim to have four lenders transacting on the platform,” concluded King.
“To support this, we plan to invest circa $45 million in international expansion over the next 12 months. In addition, with the growth opportunities we see for PEXA Insights, we plan to invest circa $15 million in FY23 into this business unit to support organic growth.”
