Bill Stone’s eyes dance with dollar signs.
The founder and CEO of Windsor software provider SS&C Technologies oversaw a $161 million initial public offering in March 2010, and the company hit record revenues of $329 million in 2010.
But Stone focuses on a much bigger number — $3 billion.
If SS&C does $3 billion in revenue, the company will grow 10 times in size. The number of employees will jump from 1,425 to more than 14,000.
“Facetiously, I told you ‘We are going to take over the world,’” Stone said. “That was only partially facetiously.”
Much like its stock in the year since the IPO, SS&C has gone up and down in its 25-year history, but the general direction has been for growth. The company had to lay off employees in the 1980s and 1990s; went public in 1996 but was taken private again; and saw drastic revenue increases in the late 2000s when it invested more resources in software as a service for financial institutions.
Stone’s goal of $3 billion is a far cry from last year’s $329 million; but the company is following through on baby steps toward that lofty number.
“The good thing is they are playing in a large pool of money,” said stock market analyst Terry Tillman, senior vice president for equity research at Raymond James & Associates.
By focusing on information technology for the financial services sector, SS&C has the potential to bolster its revenues, Tillman said. With 60 products and services for the industry, SS&C provides customers will plenty of options.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. has an information technology budget of $1 billion. Stone estimates $500 million of that business could go to SS&C.
In 2010, the company generated $329 million in revenues — and a record net income of $32 million — with 5,000 clients. If one client has the potential for $500 million in revenue, the $3 billion goal can’t be too far off selling to existing clients, Stone said.
To increase its offerings, SS&C has been aggressive in acquiring various companies, completing 31 takeovers since 1995. That includes three acquisitions costing $47.5 million last year.
This aggressive acquisition policy attracts investors in the stock, Tillman said. While the company does research and development — $31.4 million in 2010 — it isn’t shy about using acquisitions to bring products to market quicker.
SS&C kept rolling right along in 2011, obtaining Glastonbury employee benefits software servicer BenefitsXML on March 11.
“It is truly amazing to see what you’ve accomplished on a global scale,” BenefitsXML CEO David Donahue told SS&C officials in March.
SS&C gets 83 percent of its revenues from North America and nearly everything else comes from Europe and Australia. In addition to offering more services to existing clients, the company’s growth strategy calls for rapid international expansion.
Last week, SS&C announced it was expanding its Global Wealth Platform into Asia. The company believes its proven software will be needed in Asia’s rapid wealth expansion and the resulting competitive environment in the wealth management industry.
Tillman said while Asia is a relevant move, SS&C needs to upgrade its offerings in Europe to take full advantage of that market.
At the SS&C IPO on March 31, 2010, the company’s stock was valued at $15 per share. In the past year, the number has bounced up and down, dropped to a low of $13.27 and reaching a high of $21.95. At the close of business on March 16, the stock sat at $18.51, a 23 percent increase in value since the IPO.
“Success isn’t success year after year,” said Norm Boulander, SS&C president and CEO. “Success is working through the struggles.”
In the past 25 years, working for SS&C has been managed chaos, Boulander said. The company has grown exponentially since the beginning, but the successes have been hedged with struggles, such as laying off 60 percent of the company’s employees in 2000.
Emerging through those struggles is what led to the current success, just as any future struggles will help the company long-term. Without the company scaling back when it needed to, SS&C would never have become a 1,400-employee company in 11 countries with $329 million in annual revenues, Boulander said.
Stone makes no qualms about his desire to make money. He said a good job provides money to do the things he wants to do in life, such as owning a golf course in Maryland. Stone takes pride in his employees’ ability to buy new houses and luxury items such as boats.
His $3 billion goal comes from believing SS&C is the best company in the world, and that growing the company’s revenues 10-fold is just a matter of time and effort.
“I find it fun. I’m competitive… very, very competitive,” Stone said. “Winning is fun.”
