Anittel turnaround coming, says new owner

The new owner of Anittel predicts it will turn around earnings at the telco and IT services provider this year, following two full-year losses in earnings.

Inabox, which bought Anittel in January, expects Anittel’s earnings before interest, depreciation, interest and amortisation (EBITDA) will break even on a monthly basis in the second half of the 2015 financial year.

The company expects Anittel’s EBITDA to reach $2 million for the 2016 financial year.

Anittel had posted two years of negative adjusted earnings losses, as well as years of overall losses before it was snapped up by Inabox.

Following a run of acquisitions that saw Anittel add various NSW locations to other offices across Australia, the firm experienced years of losses, which have been steadily falling in size.

Inabox will use Anittel to provide direct ICT services, on top of the wholesale telco services it already provides to resellers. The company now has 410 active resellers, more than 1,000 direct SME, corporate and government customers and over 200 staff working from 14 offices around Australia.

Anittel is benefiting from cross-selling opportunities under new owner Inabox. The business has secured a $1 million sale to an unnamed customer, which came from a lead generated by Inabox's Telcoinabox channel.

Inabox managing director Damian Kay said the Anittel acquisition moves Inabox "to a direct sales and service model in segments of the market where we have not traditionally been represented by our resellers".

“We welcome 130 highly skilled and dedicated staff operating from 14 locations across metropolitan and regional Australia. Inabox now has a national footprint and the scale and capabilities to compete effectively in the next-generation ICT market," he said.

Inabox's revenue was down 3.5 percent to $23.3 million of the six months to 31 December, while net profit after tax was down 21.1 percent to $317,843. That result was impacted by the sale of Neural Networks and costs relating to the acquisition of Anittel.

However Inabox's underlying earnings, excluding transaction costs, were up 28.6 percent to $1.45 million.

Meanwhile, with Anittel sold and the listed shell rebranded as Axxis Technology Group, John Walters has left the board. Walters is also managing director of Nextgen Distribution and former director of sales and marketing for Ingram Micro.