Credit: NextDC
NextDC (ASX:NXT) net profit after tax (NPAT) for the six months ended December 2017 was down 56 per cent, with the company posting a tally of $8.4 million.
However, the company reminded shareholders that the previous corresponding period was an exception as the company received an income tax benefit of $11.3 million associated with the recognition of deferred tax assets, which resulted in a one-off increase in profit after tax.
The underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were up 41 per cent to $33.6 million.
The data centre operator's revenue for the first half of the 2018 financial year was up 32 per cent to $77.5 million.
NextDC's number of customers has also increased, with 176 new customers or 25 per cent up from the previous corresponding year.
“The first half’s performance also included a record period for project revenues and a record period for new interconnections,” NextDC CEO, Craig Scroggie, said.
The company said that interconnections were up 36 per cent to 7,456.
“The first half of this year was the largest sales half in the company’s history. 1H18 also represented a watershed period in the development of NextDC’s ecosystem, with the company adding a new record number of more than 1,100 interconnections,” Scroggie said.
Victoria continues to be the most profitable region ($30.1 million) followed by New South Wales ($27.3 million) and Queensland, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.
NextDC told shareholders on 23 February that 90 per cent of its the current install capacity is being contracted.
Earlier this month a new update surged regarding the ownership of Nextdc’s data centres. Asia Pacific Data Centre Group (ASX:AJD), the entity that owns three of NextDC’s data centre sites, claims to be getting ready to sell its property assets for $280 million to an as-yet unnamed buyer.
Asia Pacific Data Centre Group said on 14 February it had entered into a 21-day exclusive due diligence period with the “preferred party” to purchase the entire portfolio of data centres owned by the Asia Pacific Data Centre Group Trust.
NextDC told shareholders on 15 February that it had previously rejected the Asia Pacific Data Centre Group Trust offer of $300 million for all three data centre properties and said that, based on the limited information provided so far, it is not prepared to acquire the Asia Pacific Data Centre Group Trust’s assets at a $280 million price.
None of this have had a negative impact on NextDC with the company updating its 2018 full year guidance from $146 - $154 million in revenue to $152 - $158 million.
