Amcom lifts profits by 43 percent to $17.3m

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 11:41

IT Industry - Listed Tech

Perth-based telco, Amcom Telecommunications (ASX: AMM) has reported a 43 percent increase in net profit after tax to $17.3m for the year to 30 June on revenues up 18 percent to $63m.

EBITDA was up 22 percent to $22.4m and the company boosted dividend payout to 1.4 cents per share, a 75 percent increase. Net profit after tax from 100 owned operations excluding equity accounted earnings of associates and significant items increased 34 percent to $10.6m.

Amcom's principle 100 percent owned units are Amcom Telecom and Amnet Broadband. It also has a 22.4 percent stake in iiNet and will be the largest single shareholder once AAPT divests its stake following the acquisition of AAPT's consumer business by iiNet.

iiNet contributed equity accounted earnings of $7.8m (2009: $5.8m) and during the year Amcom received dividends from iiNet of $2.7m (2009:$2.4m). Amcom paid $36m for its stake in iiNet, which it now values on its books at $52m. However at iiNet's current price the share is worth around$99m

Amcom CEO, Clive Stein, said: "We are continuing to see very strong demand for our products from the corporate, government and wholesale sectors as we move into the new financial year. With the company's strong balance sheet and track record of recurring earnings, Amcom is well placed to continue on its growth trajectory.

"Furthermore, following our acquisition of IP Systems earlier this year [the deal closed in May], we now have offices in major cities across Australia which gives us a national presence to grow our business."

The company anticipates FY11 net profit after tax to be at least 20 percent up on this year, including equity accounted earnings from iiNet, based upon analyst consensus forecasts for iiNet in FY11.

Amcom reports its operations under three business segments - Fibre, Amnet Consumer and Business Services, which comprises data centres and voice services. Amcom Consumer contributed $12.2m in revenues and $2.6b in EBITDA, Business services $5.3m revenue and $1.6b EBITDA. Fibre businesses contributed $44.7m in revenue and $21.8m in EBITDA.