Cellnet tees-off new brand, eyes acquisitions

ASX-listed distributor, Cellnet has consolidated its subsidiaries Cassa Australia and ITWholesale under one brand — the Cellnet Group.

The move - officially announced this week at a Golf event in QLD - was originally flagged in September 2005 before the company retrenched around 40 staff in an effort to cut costs and streamline the business.

With the restructure complete, company MD Adam Davenport said Cellnet would now look toward an acquisition in the near future.

“The board has given me some money to spend,” he said. “We are looking at businesses similar to ours and want to make acquisitions as soon as possible - the quicker the better.”

Davenport said the unification process would also see Cellnet Group eliminate obsolete inventory, reduce working capital and its cost base. The company is now looking to sell off one of its Brisbane warehouses.

“We did suffer a loss because we were putting our energy into combining our separate divisions - there were cost increases and stock write offs,” Davenport said.

“However if you look at the company’s revenues it grew to 26 percent to $318,759 in the financial year ending 2005” said Davenport.

Cellnet’s net profit after tax decreased 33 percent to $6.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2005.

Its restructure originally commenced eight months ago, but an external HR company to help Cellnet staff adjust to the new culture, had just been appointed, Davenport said.