Datacom surges to a billion dollar tech business

Pushing into the Australian market paid dividends for privately-owned Datacom.

The Wellington-based technology company reported 13 per cent revenue growth to a shade over NZ$1 billion. It is the first New Zealand technology company to pass the billion dollar milestone.

In comparison profits were small. The group after tax profit was NZ$27 million, up 12 per cent on the previous year.

Revenue grew 13 per cent in New Zealand. The Australian and Asian business grew by the same amount.

Datacom says it’s Australia Systems division saw increased demand for hybrid cloud services and the company’s new software portfolio. It says software development in Australia gained as the company boosted delivery capabilities in Melbourne and Sydney.

The company opened four new offices in the last year and now operates from 29 locations around the world.

Comment: 

Unlike Spark Digital, which now focuses almost exclusively on New Zealand, Datacom is increasingly international in its outlook.

This is paying off: the company is on a strong growth path, albeit with razor-thin margins.

Those slim margins are not likely to worry anyone during an expansion phase. And, anyway, cloud is a low-margin business. For now, the game is all about bulking up. Datacom is doing that with a vengeance.