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Operator

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Iress Limited 2026 Half Year Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to hand the conference over to Andrew Russell, Iress CEO and Managing Director. Please go ahead.

Andrew Russell
Group CEO, MD & Director

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. I’m Andrew Russell, Group CEO and Managing Director, and I’m joined by Cameron Williamson, our Chief Financial Officer. Today, we’ll take you through our first half performance, updated FY ’26 guidance and the progress we’re making against the strategic priorities we outlined at our AGM. Most importantly, we’ll show how disciplined execution is building a stronger, higher-quality software business and positioning Iress for sustainable long-term value creation.

There are 5 key messages for our shareholders today. First, we have delivered a solid first half result with materially improved earnings quality, driven by disciplined execution, a simpler operating model and continued margin expansion. Second, we have continued to simplify the business, progressed our business efficiency program ahead of plan and strengthened the balance sheet. This provides greater financial flexibility to self-fund disciplined investment in product evolution.

Third, our focus has now shifted to evolving our products. Having mobilized our partnership with Thoughtworks in April, we are now embedding AI into our product and engineering strategy and improving our delivery velocity. Fourth, our focus is on building a higher-quality software business with better products, stronger customer relationships and more consistent commercial execution. We

What is it like to buy a private jet and then lose so much money that you have to sell it? Or take a $1 million European vacation to celebrate a deal closing? I asked the people who have lived it. 

I crisscrossed the country to sit down with millionaires and billionaires for

The WSJ Money Interview, hearing about how the ultrasuccessful make, spend and grow their money. Through eight flights, 14 days on the road and countless hours in interviews and in the editing room, I got a peek at the moments—both stomach-churning and euphoric—that shaped them.

I witnessed off-camera interactions with assistants, friends and family. We also had some fun. I quizzed them on whether their fortunes, which ranged from tens of millions of dollars to billions, were driven by luck or skill.

The yen was 0.2% stronger against the U.S. dollar at 159.055 yen, on track for a second straight day of modest gains against the greenback but still firmly within its trading range of the past week, after data released Monday ‌showed Japanese GDP ⁠for the ⁠second quarter expanded at an annualised 1.1%.

“The details were a mixed bag,” Capital Economics analysts wrote in a research note. “GDP ​expanded at a decent pace in Q2 and with the government still limiting the pass-through from higher energy ​prices,” they wrote, while a jump in government consumption “suggests that Takaichi’s expansionary fiscal policies are starting to have an impact.”

The euro was flat at $1.1573, while the British pound was up 0.1% at $1.3546. Both ​the Australian dollar and its kiwi counterpart were level at $0.7085 ⁠and $0.5891 respectively.

Soggy ‌U.S. data, including non-farm payrolls and gauges of price inflation for consumers and ​producers, have ​doused investor expectations of rate hikes from the Fed this year, with few ⁠clues expected from the U.S. central bank until the Jackson Hole ​symposium between August 27 and 29.

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“Softer U.S. data over recent weeks ​has reduced rate hike expectations, with less than one full hike now priced for December,” BNY analysts wrote. “The back end of the Treasury curve remains elevated, with some commentators attributing higher yields to credibility concerns.”
Fed funds futures are pricing an implied 66.9% probability that Fed policymakers will hold interest rates at their next two-day meeting ending on September 16, up from a 47.6% chance a ‌month ago, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was 0.1% lower, ​trading near its ​lowest levels of the month ⁠at 99.519.

Oil prices fluctuated between gains and losses, while U.S.-Iran talks to resolve the Middle East conflict remain stalled. Brent crude edged down 0.1% at $88.48 a barrel as President Donald Trump told ​Americans to prepare for continued high fuel prices as a result of the war, while Iran called on the U.S. to accept defeat. Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains a trickle.

Against the Chinese yuan, the U.S. dollar was flat at 6.7428 yuan in offshore trade ahead of activity data due for release later on Monday.

In cryptocurrencies, both bitcoin and ether were down 0.3% at $62,854.48 and $1,874.80 respectively.

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

“Like” counts, for instance, have been part of Meta since its early years, when it was still called Facebook and that was its only platform.

Today, likes are omnipresent on social media platforms. It is the main way in which people engage with text, photos and videos they see online.

Yet, likes are increasingly viewed as a way to foster negative feelings, particularly among young people.

Kaley, a young woman who prevailed in her lawsuit against Meta earlier this year, described during court testimony how she created dozens of accounts on YouTube and Instagram.

She would use the system of accounts to create likes on her own posts, hoping to drive engagement with other users and her own feelings of validation and self-worth. Kaley was only nine years old at the time. She said she remembered feeling depressed, something she was later diagnosed with, aged 10.

Research over the last several years has shown that engagement metrics such as like counts can drive feelings of rejection and depression, external in teenagers.

In the states’ lawsuit against Meta, in which the company said it has handed over more than 2 million documents, lawyers pointed to Meta’s own research that showed like counts drove “social comparison”, or the mental act of marking one’s self worth against images of someone else.

That social comparison driven by Instagram was linked to “increased loneliness, worse body image, and negative mood or affect”, according to Meta’s internal research.

As Judge Biedscheid put it in his order, external, which was the first time a social media company has been deemed a “public nuisance”, the way Meta’s platforms have operated for over a decade has been part of a growing “youth mental health crisis” in New Mexico and elsewhere.

Now, attorneys from 30 more states will be pushing Judge Gonzalez Rogers to reach the same conclusion.

But Ferrari’s shares dropped the day after the Luce’s launch, following backlash over the car.

Amongst those criticising teh car were Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini and former Ferrari chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, who said the car was “risking the destruction of a legend”.

Ferrari’s chief design officer Flavio Manzoni said in an interview in May that critics are part of the innovation process and that he believed people would come to appreciate the Luce.

The company has not disclosed its target for Luce sales but, according to a Financial Times report, it has hit this year’s goal thanks to strong demand from China.

Ferrari did not respond to a BBC request for comment on the FT’s report,

Sotheby’s said in a statement, external that the auctioned vehicle marked an “unbeatable opportunity” to own the first production car of the Luce.

The car has special wheels, customised brakes and an exclusive white finish.

The charity sale marks a “tangible expression of innovation, responsibility, and long-term vision for future generations,” Sotheby’s said.

Ferraris often attract some of the highest prices at car auctions.

A bespoke Ferrari Daytona SP3 supercar raised $26m for the carmaker’s education initiatives at an auction in 2025. At the time it set an auction record for the highest-price paid for a new car.

The current record for the highest price paid at auction was an ultra-rare 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, which was sold for $142m in 2022.