The 2014 Australian Registry Provider Survey, produced by the Governance Institute of Australia and JP Morgan, collected data from surveys of companies in the ASX 200 conducted from December 2013 to January 2014.
The survey found that Computershare and Link were the main providers in the market, contracted to around 86 per cent of the companies in the ASX 200.
The two companies also represent around 95 per cent of shareholders in the market.
However, Boardroom Pty Ltd doubled its number of shareholder accounts to four per cent throughout 2013 – and increased its market share to seven per cent.
According to the report, Boardroom won a number of large contracts in 2013, “challenging the market structure which had existed for a number of years which saw minimal contract switches”.
Almost five per cent of the market switched providers in 2013, according to the report – which is higher than the historical rate of between one and two per cent per annum.
“However the rate of companies putting their contract to tender is stable at 29% in 2013, broadly in line with historic rate,” said the report.
Shareholder numbers are continuing to decrease, falling by around 3.3 per cent in 2013 for the companies in the ASX 200 in both December 2012 and December 2013.
The pricing of registry service was judged as “flat or decreasing” by the report, with only five per cent of surveyed companies indicating a worsening in prices.
The report put the pressure on pricing down to decreasing shareholder numbers, the low number of contracts coming up for renewal each year, and increased competition in the market “as evidenced by higher contract switches”.
Computershare received a higher percentage of positive responses for overall performance than Link (98 per cent versus 93 per cent).
“Link continues to perform better on cost, with Computershare receiving 20 per cent negative responses indicating its performance was ‘below expectations’ or ‘poor’, whereas Link received 11 per cent,” said the report.
