Melbourne IT Limited (ASX:MLB) on Wednesday reported full year profit of $14.0 million, a 31% increase over the same period a year earlier.
Melbourne IT Limited posted revenue of $197.8 million in the period. This was 17% higher than the same period last year. The company declared a full year fully franked dividend of 11 cents per share, a 38% increase.
The Melbourne IT share price has fallen heavily in Wednesday morning trade, losing 29 cents or 8.50% to $3.12.
Melbourne IT has approximately 850 staff and operates two businesses marketed under 8 brands. The Small and Medium Business Division (SMB) is Australia’s largest domains and hosting business with revenues of approximately $100m and 400 staff. The SMB business operates under the Melbourne IT, WebCentral, Netregistry, WME, and TPP brands.
At the company’s full year results announcement, Melbourne IT CEO, Martin Mercer said that “Melbourne IT has delivered on its promise of continuing strong growth, with revenue up 17%, underlying EBITDA up 36%, and underlying EPS up 20%. These results are consistent with our guidance.”
Outlook
Looking to 2018, Mr Mercer said Melbourne IT “expects revenue to grow at least in line
with last year, while underlying EBITDA will temporarily grow at a slower pace while it digest the investments in 2018. Looking ahead to 2019, underlying EBITDA and underlying profit growth will accelerate.”
Melbourne IT has advised that it expects to report underlying EBITDA for 2018 in the range of $41.5m – $45.5m, and underlying undiluted EPS is expected to be in the range of 17.3 cents to 19.6 cents per share. At the lower end of that range, that would suggest modest growth in 2018.
The Melbourne IT Limited share price has fallen 16.57% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P/ASX 200 Index has fallen roughly 2.00%. The Melbourne IT share price has gained 45.89% in the last 12 months.
