Imarda reports strong result; says transport industry turning around | The National Business Review - New Zealand - business, markets, finance, politics, property, technology and more
Imarda reports strong result; says transport industry turning around
Chris Keall | Wednesday July 8 2009 - 08:07am
New Zealand fleet management and vehicle-tracking company Imarda expects a jump in revenue and profit for the first half of 2009 - in part thanks to a big FedEx deal - and says it saw a lift in confidence in the global transportation sector during Q2 after a Q1 decline.
The privately-held Imarda said it is on track to register a big lift in revenue and profit for the first half of 2009.
"With total revenue of $US7.8 Million ($NZ12.5 million) for the half year and combined margins of approximately 53%, ebitda in excess of $US2.6 million ($NZ4.2 million) for the half year is expected," said CFO Claire Mitchell.
Imarda has seen a significant lift in confidence in the global transportation sector during Q2 of 2009 and, as a result, its order book is building again after a marked decline in Q1, 2009, said chief executive Selwyn Pellett.
Debt retired
Imarda, which bill itself as an Australasian company and maintains offices in Auckland, Sydney, Perth, Singapore, the US and the UK, was founded byMr Pellett, an Auckland-based entrepreneur in May 2007.
It established its real-time GPS fleet tracking product suite through its $A6.6 million acquisition of Australian fleet management and tracking specialist SmartTrack in July 2007, and its $7.59 million acquisition of New Zealand telematics hardware specialist Prolifix during the same month.
Mr Pellett said he pleased with the company’s growth through the recent economic turmoil, which has allowed it to retire all debt associated with the SmartTrack and Prolifix acquisitions.
Imarda scored some large deals during the second half of 2008, including a $12 million, multi-year deal with a US freight company believed to be FedEx, as well as multi-million dollar contracts with an Australian FMCG trucking company, and Australian construction conglomerate Boral.
These wins in turn helped Imarda ship around 9000 units of its telematics hardware during 2009. The hardware, which uses both Imarda’s own software and third party systems including Google Maps, helps track the real-time location of trucks, the state of their engine and whether their load is secure.
A second company in Mr Pellett’s stable, networking technology maker Endace, listed on London’s AIM, also recently recorded a solid result, with its full-year profit increasing to $US4.7 million from a year-ago $US4.5 million on revenue that rose 25% to $US30 million.
Endace's shares (AIM:
EDA) have subsequently begun to recover some ground after a
brutal 12-months that saw the company beaten down alongside nearly all tech stocks.