Data#3's John Grant.
Data#3 has already commenced its return from one of its more challenging years with the purchase of business and technology consultancy, Business Aspect Group, for $6 million in cash.
Business Aspect provides consulting services in strategy, risk and continuity, architecture, and planning and execution to the banking and financial services, education and training, energy, utilities, government, retail, health and community care, IT, manufacturing, and construction industries.
The consultancy ended fiscal 2014 with almost $14m in revenue, while its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to $1.3m.
With the transaction immediately earnings accretive, it will build on Data#3’s financial recovery which saw the company finish the financial year passed with solid revenue growth of 8.1 per cent to $833.6m after a marginal slip in the first half of the year. Net profit stabilised at $7.5m after a mid-year plummet of 62 per cent, but was still down 38 per cent for the full year.
According to Data#3 managing director, John Grant, the purchase expands Data#3’s two-year-old consultancy business which it launched to aid customers in the planning and management of transition to hybrid IT and app-centric environments.
“With the skills and expertise Business Aspect brings, we are launching Data#3 in scale into a more strategic market position where providing both independent consulting services and an integrated value proposition for our customers from strategy to implementation to management, on premises, outsourced and in the Cloud, becomes a reality,” Grant said.
While Business Aspect will operate autonomously, its operations will be moved into Data#3 offices across Australia.
Business Aspect managing partner, Dave Lennon, said, “Since formation in 2005, we have made significant headway in developing our business but we saw the next stage of growth best facilitated by leveraging the market position and influence of a bigger organisation.”
“Having made that decision, we commenced a process in early 2014 to find such an organisation. It’s ironic but we are delighted that process identified Data#3, a company we have worked with before, as the best fit for what we see as a very significant opportunity for our people and our clients.”
Data#3 has proposed to issue $2m in shares at the end of fiscal 2016 if it achieves earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $1.6m in 2015 and $1.9m in 2016.
