WiseTech capitalises on tech sector lay-offs by hiring as revenue leaps forward

Announcing a 35 per cent rise in revenue, billionaire tech entrepreneur Richard White says his ASX-listed software company is getting the pick of the talent as others lay off workers.

WiseTech Global founder and avid electric guitar collector Richard White. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Investors have rewarded logistics software maker WiseTech Global for its strong earnings results, sending its shares up nearly 5 per cent.

And its billionaire chief executive Richard White says it’s been capitalising on the lay-offs plaguing other tech companies.

WiseTech has been one of the ASX’s most robust tech performers over the past 12 months and Mr White, a former AC/DC guitar technician, said his software firm had benefited from the turbulence affecting both big tech companies and small start-ups.

“My talent team is delighted. We’re hiring well, we’ve tried to really focus on the high-end talent that we need, and we’ve got a very particular employment envelope we’ve been working with for some time,” Mr White said.

“There is definitely a shift away from start-ups that are not going to get funding and companies that lose a lot of money in order to grow revenue.

“WiseTech has had high growth but it also is a very profitable business. And we are a long-term, high-value employer that wants our staff to stay and we obviously give all of our staff shares in the company as part of the packaging – and I was walking around today and there were smiles all over the office, because it is a very attractive company to work for and it’s a lot of fun.”

WiseTech provides cloud-based software for the logistics industry, giving freight forwarders a single platform to manage the movement of goods from start to finish.

The company posted a bumper first-half result on Wednesday, buoyed by fresh contract wins. In the half year to December 31 WiseTech posted total revenue up 35 per cent year on year to $378.2m, with statutory net profit after tax up 41 per cent to $109m. It posted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) up 36 per cent at $187.3m.

It will pay an interim dividend of 6.6c in April, up 39 per cent from a year earlier, and updated its guidance for FY23 saying it expected stronger revenue growth but slightly softer EBITDA growth.

“Our ability to deliver strong growth in revenue, earnings and free cashflow in a softening global macroeconomic climate is the result of a tremendous effort by our teams around the world and we’re immensely proud of the progress we are making towards our vision of being the operating system for global logistics,” Mr White said.

The tech outfit has completed a string of acquisitions recently, including buying Envase Technologies for $US230m in January and Blume Global for $US414m.

Mr White said the company’s revenue growth was largely “organic”, including from increased usage by existing customers.

“We use acquisitions to power us into new markets and new capabilities that then turn into organic growth as well,” he said.

“Acquisitions are never about adding revenue to the company, they happen to do that as a side effect but the revenue adds are quite small compared with the organic growth.

“The M&A that we’ve always done, and the way that we’re doing now, is always about entering new markets and building capability that we would otherwise have a lot of difficulty building.”

WiseTech shares closed up 4.9 per cent at $58.52, giving it a valuation of about $19.16bn.