Field Solutions Holdings (ASX:FSG) has posted a $994,588 net loss after tax (NPAT) for the financial year ending June, following a public listing and a quick succession of acquisitions.
Field Solutions provides private cloud hosting services and generic cloud hosting services, drawing upon its own nationwide IP network, and counts Microsoft, Oracle and VMware among its partners.
The end-to-end cloud and telecommunications services provider, which has strong regional and rural focus, made its debut on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in early May, after embarking on what was essentially a reverse takeover of publicly-listed voice over IP (VoIP) player, Freshtel.
The telecommunications provider, which had been publicly-listed on the ASX, revealed in November last year that it would merge with privately-owned cloud services player, Field Solutions Group, in a deal worth millions.
In March, Freshtel told its shareholders that it would entirely shed its legacy VoIP business in favour of the raft of IT, telco and cloud services provided by its acquisition target.
“Upon settlement of the acquisition, the company’s focus will shift to that of a telecommunications, technology and cloud computing company,” the company said in a prospectus sent to shareholders at the time.
Following the combined entity’s re-emergence on the ASX as Field Solutions Group, the company wasted no time making use of its public capital to acquire new businesses.
In the space of a about a month, the company announced a deal to acquire enterprise wireless network services provider, BMS Network Solutions, in a bid to bulk up its regional credentials, and entered an agreement, worth up to $1.5 million, to acquire Australian National Telecom (ANT).
Now, although the company’s revenue is up – by about three per cent over the previous year, to $5.2 million – the group reported negative earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of -$699,452. In 2016, before listing publicly, it claimed an EBITDA of $1.4 million.
The company told shareholders that the “significant decrease” in EBITDA from the prior year was largely due to increased listing expenses and other acquisition costs of just over $1.5 million, together with other expenses associated with its reverse takeover of Freshtel.
“During the FY17 we signed a heads of agreement for the acquisition of Field Solutions Group Pty Ltd which was finalised in April 2017,” Field Solutions CEO, Andrew Roberts, told shareholders.
“The public listing now gives the Group the scale and resources to continue the growth of regional and rural telecommunication solutions.
“Additionally, we announced a binding heads of agreement to aquire the business assets of Australian National Telecom Pty Ltd (ANT). Strategically, this delivers to the group a direct relationship with [nbn] and the ability to utilise the SkyMuster satellite as part of our rural and regional solution set,” he said.
