Laurence Baynham (Data#3)
Data#3 has kept its trend of breaking yearly revenue records going with revenue rising 20.3 per cent year-on-year during the 2021 financial year to reach $1.96 billion.
The result sees the publicly listed technology solutions provider surge past the previous financial year's result of $1.6 billion in revenue, which in turn was higher than FY19’s $1.4 billion.
Breaking down the business’ revenue into its various segments, software solutions revenue, which includes volume licensing and public cloud subscription services, was up 26.8 per cent to $1.25 billion, making it Data#3’s highest growing business unit.
Infrastructure was another heavy hitter, rising 13 per cent to $466.8 million in revenue. Despite the uptick in revenue, this segment was hit by the ongoing global ship shortage, which it flagged as cost it $3 million back in July.
Regardless, Data#3 CEO and managing director Laurence Baynham was optimistic overall.
“We expect technology, and specifically digital transformation, to play the leading role in Australia’s economic future, irrespective of any ongoing impacts of the pandemic. We are already seeing a return of larger infrastructure projects across our corporate and public sector customers,” he said in a statement posted on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
“The Australian IT market is predicted to grow at a record rate this year and this will allow us to accelerate growth of our services businesses and further cement our leadership position. We are experiencing a steady increase in the pipeline of large integration project opportunities and our services growth strategy will continue to improve our margins and complement our growing software and infrastructure business units.”
Meanwhile, its people solutions unit was its only one to decline, recording a revenue loss of 2.7 per cent, to $57.26 million.
Overall, Data#3’s net profit after tax (NPAT), excluding minority interests, was up 7.5 per cent, to $25.41 million.
“We knew that FY21 would be challenging after a record profit performance in FY20. Our goal is to provide our shareholders with sustainable earnings growth and we are pleased to announce that we delivered another record result," Baynham said.
“The result reflects improving services profitability and demonstrates the inherent strength and relevance of our solution offerings in a rapidly evolving market.”
While Baynham added Data#3 would not be providing specific guidance for FY22, he did mention that FY21’s backlog has given the provider a “fast start” to FY22.
The provider also offered an insight into its strategic priorities for the new financial year, which included the target areas of security, solutions, people and community and operational excellence, according to documents submitted to the ASX.
Data#3’s security strategy moving forward is to consolidate its security focus under a unified executive leadership as well as utilising its recently established security committee. By combining its security offerings, the provider claims it will be able to grow quickly in the market, as its security practice has been one of its fastest growing areas in FY21.
For solutions, Data#3 highlighted that it will look to partner with specialists on digital transformation projects as it has done in the past with healthcare and education.
In its people and community strategy, the provider stated that, along with its people solutions business unit, it will develop a talent sourcing strategy, focusing on a graduate recruitment program, traineeships and industry placements.
Meanwhile, under operational excellence, FY22 will see Data#3 implement a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system based on Microsoft Dynamics 365. Additionally, it has several automation projects underway and, while upfront investment is required, returns are expected to be generated in the long term.
