Praemium Ltd (ASX: PPS) saw its share price soar more than 18% today to 34.5 cents after announcing that it had signed up wealth management firm JB Were.
JB Were had $20 billion in funds under management and $50 billion in assets under advice at the end of January 2016. The company is wholly owned by National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) – in a similar manner to Commonwealth Bank of Australia's (ASX: CBA) ownership of Colonial First State.
The deal, worth an estimated $1 million in annual revenues to Praemium, will see JB Were roll out the Praemium platform for all wealth management client portfolios. It will replace JB Were's in house system.
What it means for Praemium
It's a significant announcement for Praemium – which had 300,000 accounts with approximately $80 billion in funds on its platforms globally. However, the potential $1 million in revenue annually won't significantly move the needle for Praemium – the company generated $13.3 million in the 6 months to end of December 2015.
We covered Praemium last week as one of our top 4 super software companies, taking advantage of the growth in wealth management, pension fund growth (superannuation in Australia) and the rise and proliferation of separately managed accounts (SMAs) for investors.
In Australia, Praemium recently reported that it had surpassed $3 billion in funds under administration on its SMA platform – a five-fold increase since Praemium acquired the scheme in December 2012.
The company also says that SMA now supports over 9,000 accounts over 260 model portfolios, delivered by 40 plus fund managers.
Now what for Praemium?
The addition of JB Were to the company's platform bodes well for Praemium, and could see the company win even more contracts among Australia's largest fund managers.
However, competition is likely to increase, with Onevue Holdings Ltd (ASX: OVH) ramping up its roll out of SMAs having recently joined the party – along with Hub24 Ltd (ASX: HUB).
Foolish takeaway
Despite the price rise, investors might want to add Praemium to their watchlists.
