First big wins in US see Datacom consolidate its position as NZ's largest tech company

Datacom group CEO Greg Davidson. Photo / Supplied

Datacom Group saw revenue lift 17 per cent to $1.29 billion in the year to March 31 - a rise that should see its position as the largest technology company operating in New Zealand confirmed.

The Wellington-founded IT services firm, whose major shareholders are the rich-list Holdsworth family (54 per cent) and the New Zealand Super Fund (40 per cent), topped the Technology Investment Network's chart of our top techs for revenue last year, followed by F&P Appliances ($1.12b), F&P Healthcare ($980 million), Xero ($407m) and Gallagher Group ($250m).

Net profit was $42.02m versus the year-ago $23.5m, but Datacom said a shift to the IFRS 15 accounting standard mitigated against a like-for-like comparison.

The company's 5500 staff are spread across New Zealand, Australia and parts of Southeast Asia - the three territories that have accounted for most revenue in recent years.

But group chief executive Greg Davidson said Datacom had also started to push into North America and the UK.

"Globally we've seen our first big wins in the United States, as well as pleasing results out of the Australian business. Our work on the Australian Organ Matching System, which is a world-first in terms of innovation and delivery, and our relationship with regional governments is delivering great results across the Tasman."

Davidson said he couldn't name the US customers at this point, but said they were marquee multinationals in the technology space.

He noted that Datacom first moved into the Australian market after winning a tender to carry out work for Microsoft.

Capital expenditure increased over the prior year to $67.82m as Datacom invested more in its data centre operations, and long-term business strategy including investments in Local Government solutions with Datascape, and in Payroll solutions for Australia and New Zealand.

Datacom also named two new directors to its board from August 1: Tony Carter, the current chairman of F&P Healthcare's board and a former director of Vector, Fletcher Building and ANZ Bank NZ, and Chris Day, a director at Landcorp and advisor to the executive committee at Silver Fern Farms.