Phillip Britt (Aussie Broadband)
Aussie Broadband has wrapped up a very successful FY23, with all major metrics rising, including net profit after tax, which shot up 308 per cent year-on-year to $21.7 million.
This is significantly higher than its bottom-line result for FY22, which rose to $5.3 million.
Other top-level rises include revenue, which was up 23.1 per cent to $788 million, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), which rose 52.1 per cent to $89.6 million, and total broadband connections, which increased by 18.2 per cent to 691,172.
“It’s been another successful year for Aussie, marked by strong financial performance, growth across all segments and continued investment in our network infrastructure,” cofounder and managing director Phillip Britt said.
“Our transition from being a largely residential-focused retail service provider into a multi-faceted communications and technology company underpinned by award-winning customer service is well underway. We achieved strong levels of growth across the board, achieving record revenues and EBITDA, and we are continuing to win NBN [National Broadband Network] market share ahead of other providers.”
Revenue across all its main service sectors rose, with wholesale seeing the largest growth with 61.7 per cent over the period to $100.4 million. Residential revenue went up 23.3 per cent to $511.8 million, enterprise and government increased by 8.5 per cent to $86.4 million and business rose by 7.3 per cent, to $89.4 million.
During the period, Aussie Broadband divested in its Zintel New Zealand and Fonebox Contact Centre operations – two businesses that made up part of its 2020 $36 million acquisition of J2 Global.
It flagged its intentions to divest these businesses in its half yearly results for FY23 by selling them off to Maxotel Telecommunications, with it selling off Zintel New Zealand on 28 February and Fonebox on 4 May.
The total from these sales came to $5.8 million, with $4.8 million of this already received. The remaining $1 million is due before the end of the calendar year.
Looking ahead to FY24, Aussie Broadband claimed it has had a strong start to the new financial year, with broadband services rising to over 715,000 in the last seven weeks of trading.
The outlook however is not entirely optimistic, as there is uncertainty surrounding NBN wholesale pricing, the NBN SAU and “aggressive” discounting by competitors.
“While we will continue to find ways to compete, Aussie Broadband will not chase growth at any cost, and is focused on striking the right balance between growth and profitability,” a statement from the company said.
As such, its current EBITDA range for FY24 is at $100 million to $110 million, an increase of 12 per cent to 23 per cent, with capex guidance of $47 million to $52 million. This outlook, Aussie Broadband added, are subject to the final SAU details, industry reaction to new arrangements and market conditions.
