Time for YBR to get its skates on
If Yellow Brick Road is to achieve its stated aim of producing its first profit in the 2014/15 financial year, its management team will need to get their skates on. While the company's revenue grew strongly in the year to June, its losses got bigger.Revenue increased by 27.3 per cent to A$31.7 million. However, some expense items grew faster; commissions and consultancy expenses were up 42.7 per cent to $19.4 million.The result was a loss of $8.7 million or the year to June, compared with a loss of $6.6 million in the previous corresponding period.In the commentary accompanying the financial report, executive chairman Mark Bouris focused on the underlying EBITDA, which went from a loss of $5.8 million in 2012/13 to a loss of $5.1 million in the year to June.The company's cash flow statement provides another perspective; it shows an outflow of $5 million from operating activities, which is a slight improvement on the outflow of $5.1 million the previous year.Bouris said that on a standalone basis (that is, without factoring in the recent acquisitions of Vow Financial and Resi Mortgage Corp), the YBR business had completed its establishment phase and would be using the "scale generated to date to track towards ongoing and sustainable profitability."Revenue from the company's branch network increased by 39 per cent and loans under administration increased by 49 per cent to $2.7 billion. On the wealth management side, funds under management and advice grew by 55 per cent to $427 million.The number of branch licensee agreements increased from 168 at the end of the 2012/13 financial year to 206 in June. The financial report did not break down the revenue change for existing branches compared with revenue growth from new branches.The company's less successful distribution channel, its professional services network, continued to present problems. Revenue was down nine per cent to $5.3 million.Bouris said this decline was largely attributable to the disposal of a client book. Last December the company disposed of what it described as a book of marginally profitable accounting clients, associated with a departing executive, for a cash consideration of $450,000.YBR also announced on Friday that it had completed its acquisitions of Vow Financial and Resi Mortgage Corp, and completed a $42 million share placement for the purpose of funding the two deals.The company has also entered into a new five-year consultancy agreement with its executive chairman Mark Bouris.