Melbourne IT is changing its name to Arq Group as part of a restructure to better reflect its acquisition streak over the past four years and diversification into enterprise services.
Similar to Google's restructure under the Alphabet parent company, the new Arq Group will operate as two separate businesses: the SMB business that includes traditional domain registration, hosting and legacy services business, and enterprise services which includes digital solutions for large enterprise and government customers.
The domain and hosting business covers SMB customers and includes a handful of brands the company has acquired such as WebCentral, Netregistry, WME, Domainz and TPP, as well as Melbourne IT. The SMB business accounts for approximately $100 million in revenue and has 300 staff.
The enterprise services business includes Melbourne IT, Infoready and Outware Mobile, and accounts for approximately $95 million in revenue with 430 staff.
The name change is still subject to shareholder approval, which will be resolved at the company's next annual general meeting on 28 May.
"The Melbourne IT of today is almost unrecognisable from who we were four years ago," managing director Marin Mercer said.
"Today’s market is changing rapidly, and while the old brand has served us well, it no longer represents the business we have become.
“Acquisition has always played an important role in our growth and evolution, but never has it been more significant than in the past four years. So naturally, this new chapter in our story is marked by our transition from a melting pot of individual businesses, to a single, united brand.”
Melbourne IT's acquisition spree went into high gear in 2015, starting with Canberra-based managed hosting firm Uber Global in February for $15.5 million, followed by a 50.2 percent stake buy in Victorian app developer Outware Mobile for $21.7 million four months later. In March 2016, Melbourne IT acquired data consultancy firm and IBM partner Infoready for $15.4 million.
The company announced its financial results for the year ending 31 December 2017. Revenue grew 17 percent from 2016 to reach $197.8 million, while EBITDA was up 36 percent to $38.6 million. Melbourne IT also revealed its plans to relocate its Melbourne and Sydney offices to make way for the influx of 270 new jobs that will be created as part of the restructure under Arq Group, bringing the total staff headcount above 1000.
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