Brisbane technology services firm Data#3 Limited (ASX: DTL) on Thursday reported positive first-half results to deliver a 7.8% increase in its dividend.
The company posted a 19.2% increase in first-half revenue compared to 12 months earlier, raking in $856.7 million.
Net profit was also up, with a 10.2% boost before tax and a 7.9% increase after tax.
Data#3 chair Richard Anderson attributed the latest results to a multi-year strategy and “resilience” to COVID-19 conditions.
The result matches up with a market update provided last month when the company dumped its previous “flat” guidance after a bumper December.
Among the turnover was $346 million from its public cloud services, which was a tidy 37.4% boost since the first half of the 2019 financial year.
Cloud technology sales are important because it is a recurring source of revenue.
“It is… reassuring that approximately 62% of our total revenue is recurring, derived from contracts with government and large corporate customers,” said chief executive Laurence Baynham.
“We continue to see growth in the Australian IT market.”
Unfortunately for Data#3, the market has savaged its shares today. The Data#3 share price is down 4.61% to $5.59 with an hour of trade remaining.
However, that’s still well up on the $4.64 Data#3 shares were fetching one year ago.
Data#3 maintains 90% dividend payout ratio
Data#3 backed up the bright financial results with a dividend boost.
It will pay out 5.5 cents per share fully franked, which is up 7.8% from the 5.1 cents provided this time last year.
That keeps the dividend payout ratio the same at 90.3%.
| Dividend ex-date | Type | Amount per share | Franking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16.3.2021 | Interim | 5.5 cents | 100% |
| 15.9.2020 | Final | 8.8 cents | 100% |
| 16.3.2021 | Interim | 5.1 cents | 100% |
| 13.9.2019 | Final | 7.1 cents | 100% |
| 14.3.2019 | Interim | 3.6 cents | 100% |
| Table created by author | |||
While headcount costs went up during the year, the coronavirus pandemic allowed Data#3 to save on other expenses, like rent and travel.
Data#3 moved to slick new headquarters in inner Brisbane in August last year, while many workers were still practising telecommuting.
The company was founded in 1977 and has been listed on the ASX for 24 years. It has 1,200 employees spread across 12 sites in Australia and Fiji.
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