Macquarie Telecom Group has announced its FY19 results, showing five successive years of profitable growth as revenue nears the A$250 million mark.

The company has said it will continue to invest in hybrid IT, cloud (including adding public cloud capability) and cyber security, as it migrates thousands of customers to the NBN under the agreement announced last year.

“Macquarie’s profitable growth has enabled us to invest across our four business units,” said the firm’s Chief Executive David Tudehope. “The success of our private cloud and cyber security services underpins our Hosting revenue and profit growth.”

KEY RESULTS

Full year revenue increased 6% to A$246.6 million for FY2019, up from A$233.6 million for the prior year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) was A$52.1 million for FY2019, an increase of A$4.3 million on the prior year and in line with guidance.

Net profit after tax decreased 3% to A$16.5 million compared to a profit of A$17.0 million for the previous corresponding period, which the telco attributed to increased depreciation.

Capital expenditure for FY2019 was A$46.1 million (FY18: A$33.8 million) driven by growth Capex of A$14.8 million for: The Fortune 100 Customer Stage 3 and Data Hall 4 fit out, NBN migrations, Government Cloud and IC3 investment.

In addition, customer related Capex was A$21.8 million while Maintenance Capex was A$9.5 million.

KEY GOALS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020

Macquarie Telecom said its focus in fiscal year 2020 would center around improving customer experience to ensure a leading Net Promoter Score. In addition, its Government team will prioritise its efforts on growing revenue in both cyber security and secure cloud computing.

“Telecom will continue to migrate thousands of customer’s services to the NBN under the company’s six-year wholesale supply agreement with NBN Co,” it added. “Telecom Capex will increase from A$15.8m in FY19 to $A25-A26m in FY20. The increase in capex can be attributed to both growth and customer capex projects in FY20 including the Telecom core network upgrade and a continued investment in new data networking technology (SD WAN).”

LOOKING AHEAD

The company said its EBITDA will continue to grow in FY20, noting however that the 1H FY20 will be flat compared to 2H FY19 due to one-offs received in June 2019 and further investment in sales growth in its Hosting business.

While a delay in planning and approval will mean practical completion of IC3 East (part of the Macquarie Park Data Centre Campus) will be pushed on from 1H to 2H CY20, the company said this would impact its ability to support its customers’ current and future growth plans.

Upon completion, the Macquarie Park Data Centre Campus will provide 43MW in total load, a significant increase on the current 10MW facility.

The Company plans to make a significant investment in growth and customer growth capex (excluding IC3) during FY20.

Total capex, excluding IC3 East, is expected to be between A$51-A$54m consisting of:
Growth Capex – A$12 to A$13 million
Customer Growth Capex – A$24 to A$25 million
Maintenance Capex – $A15 to A$16 million