Nuix CEO Jonathan Rubinsztein declares all up from here amid ‘strategic refresh’ after annual loss

Tech group Nuix has called bottom, telling investors it’s all up from here after swinging to a $22.8m annual loss on the back of a business shake-up.

Nuix boss Jonathan Rubinsztein has declared that the worst was behind the tech company after a difficult few years.

Nuix has called the end of a period of intense turbulence for the company after swinging to a $22.8m annual loss for the 12 months to June 30 on the back of a business shake-up.

The embattled technology group posted a $25.2m net profit in the previous financial year.

Revenues for the year fell 13.5 per cent to $152.3m. The company will not pay a dividend.

Nuix chief executive Jonathan Rubinsztein said the worst – which included regulatory scrutiny, legal action from former executives and poor earnings – was behind the company.

Mr Rubinsztein said Nuix’s “strategic refresh”, which will see the company shift its operating model to consumption-based subscription services, will soon start paying dividends.

Mr Rubinsztein was brought in to replace former chief executive Rob Vawdrey, who stepped away from the company after investors mauled Nuix’s shares in the wake of profit flops and action by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Nuix is still in the sights of the regulator, which is investigating its statements to the market in the wake of its ASX float.

ASIC is also investigating Nuix’s former chief financial officer Stephen Doyle over an alleged insider trading case.

Mr Rubinsztein said the latest results were “clearly not where we want them to be” but Nuix was “changing direction”.

“In the eight months since I started we’ve been very focused on changing the trajectory of the company so we can present a different set of results next year,” he said. “Internally I’m using the words urgent and focused.”

Nuix recently launched a new price book, pushing up costs to customers and moving to standardise its global sales process.

Mr Rubinsztein said there was a “huge opportunity” to extract more value from existing customers by selling them further products and it would deliver “strong growth” for the company in the year ahead.

“We haven’t really driven the comprehensive Nuix solutions to our existing customers,” he said, adding part of the transformation relied on “the right people in the role roles to get the right capabilities”.

Nuix shares fell 2.5c to 68c.