WiseTech Global finds strength in consolidating acquisitions

Shares in WiseTech Global climbed higher on Wednesday, buoyed by a strong half-year ­result.

Richard White chief executive officer of logistics software maker WiseTech was looking to accelerate growth in the future. Picture: Britta Campion

Shares in WiseTech Global climbed higher on Wednesday, buoyed by a strong half-year ­result including a 16 per cent ­revenue jump to $238.7m as chief executive officer Richard White declared his company had successfully weathered the COVID-19 pandemic.

In its half-year results, the logistics software maker lifted its full-year earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation guidance by $10m to between $165m and $190m, while it posted EBITDA growth of 43 per cent, year-on-year, to $89.2m.

Underlying net profit after tax was up 61 per cent to $43.6m.

The company, which has weathered numerous short attacks over the past two years, ­declared an interim dividend of 2.7c per share – up 59 per cent from a year earlier – payable on April 9.

Investors immediately liked the results, sending the company’s shares 9 per cent higher in early trade, before closing up 1 per cent to $29.85.

“Notwithstanding the subsequent waves of COVID-19 in major markets, our business has continued to deliver solid revenue and EBITDA growth in 1H21,” Mr White said.

“We were really pleased with the results today. We put a lot of effort into making sure that business was continuing to perform in COVID, but we also took the time to make the business much more efficient during this time.”

The company was previously known for its voracious appetite for acquisitions, having made 39 since its IPO in 2016, but has not made any pick ups for the past six months. Mr White said that’s a result of WiseTech shifting its focus to integrating the companies it has acquired, rather than buying more of them.

“The main line of that program has completed to the point where we’re comfortable with the position we needed,” Mr White said. “We’ve turned our attention to building out the product capabilities that these acquisitions enabled.

“Our main focus for those acquisitions is countries where the compliance requirements for our customers are deadly complicated, and they need us to build something which is far better, more productive and much lower risk so they can be ultra-competitive.”

He added that WiseTech was now looking to accelerate growth.

“We‘ve put a lot of effort into making the company solid through COVID, and we’re in a strong position going forward. We’ve signed eight new major global customers in the past 12 months, and that’s a run rate we’ve never seen before. It’s definitely something that is going to powerful going forward.

“We‘re going to continue to grow the company and we’re going to continue to accelerate our building of the platform for global logistics.”

WiseTech is a member of the high-profile WAAAX ASX technology stocks, and Mr White said now was a good time to be an Australian technology company.

“Australia has weathered the pandemic better than almost everybody. Our economy is strong, unemployment rates are not too bad but there’s still work to do for everybody in this economy. We’re a very strong contributor to the Australian economy and most of our revenue generation comes from major overseas sources, and so we’re very proud of being a major creator of value for Australia,” he said.