It has been yet another quarter of growth for self-managed super fund (SMSF) software provider Class Ltd (ASX: CL1). This morning the company announced that in the last quarter portfolios increased 12,030 to a total of 124,471 billable portfolios.
According to the release the growth was aided by the faster-than-expected addition of the funds from wealth accounting company Findex. In May the company signed up Findex to its SMSF software services in a deal which was expected to see over 8,000 SMSFs loaded onto Class over a two-year period.
With the majority of these SMSFs loaded onto Class well ahead of schedule, Findex will receive an implementation incentive that will see revenue from some these funds discounted through to June 2017.
The good news is that these additions should help to offset the decline in billable portfolios brought about by the loss of AMP Limited (ASX: AMP) as a client.
As management advised previously, AMP will be migrating 11,319 SMSFs off its platform over the next 12 months. It is worth remembering that this move was the result of AMP's acquisitions of rival software providers SuperCorp and SuperIQ, and nothing to do with the quality of its products.
Whilst competion in the SMSF industry from the likes of AMP, Onevue Holdings Ltd (ASX: OVH), and Praemium Ltd (ASX: PPS) is likely to intensify, I feel the company's award-winning software puts Class in a strong position for sustained growth.
In the last quarter the company grew its market share to 20.9%. Although the loss of AMP is likely to cause a temporary loss of market share, I expect it will start to grow its share again over the next two years.
Its shares may be a little on the expensive side at 72x full year earnings, but its strong earnings growth potential justifies the premium in my eyes. Analysts are expecting earnings to grow by an average of 32.5% per annum for the next couple of years, according to CommSec. This certainly is one growth share which I feel has an exciting future ahead of it.
