Credit: Dreamstime
Telecommunications services provider Over the Wire (OTW) has seen total revenues rise by a quarter but net profit after tax drop by more than a quarter in the half year ending 31 December 2019.
In the first half of the 2020 financial year, revenue increased by 25 per cent to $42.9 million compared to the same period a year ago.
Earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also increased, albeit slightly, by one per cent to $8 million.
Meanwhile, net profit after tax and amortisation (NPATA) was down by four per cent to $4 million and net profit after tax (NPAT) was down 27 per cent to $2.3 million.
OTW managing director, Michael Omeros, said although revenue was behind budget, it had a strong sales pipeline forecast for the second half to the financial year and is in line with expectations.
“We remain focused on delivering organic growth, especially of the recurring kind, as this is the best form of long- term growth and a good indicator of the future strength of our business,” Omeros said.
In order to support Over the Wire in its next stage of growth, the publicly listed company revealed a number of executive switches with Scott Smith being appointed to chief executive officer (CEO) as of March 9 2020. Smith was previously the general manager of Comlinx, which was acquired in 2018.
Meanwhile, Omeros will remain as the group CEO.
During this period, the publicly-listed provider’s security and services division saw the largest improvement with revenue increasing by 118 per cent up to $9.5 million.
This was followed by hosting with an increase of 21 per cent to $5.1 million, voice increasing by 14 per cent to $9.2 million and data networks increasing by eight per cent to $19.1 million.
Omeros flagged a number of milestones the provider was approaching that he predicted would lead to further growth.
“We have a number of new capabilities being finalised in the next six months. We will be launching a Microsoft Teams Direct Routing service and adding post-paid mobile services to our product portfolio," he added.
“The most significant milestone for us though is approaching the final stages of our carrier interconnect project that will see NetSIP become a ‘Tier 1’ voice carrier. Complemented by quality acquisitions, which will be a focal area for the remainder of the calendar year, we can see strong opportunities for growth and remain committed to delivering on our strategy.”
