Volante profits rise despite hardware lag

Volante net profits were up eight percent to $3.3 million for the six months to 31 December, with good results from Ipex, solutions and recruitment countering a decline in profits from its remarketing division.

Volante Group reported net profits after tax of $3.3 million for the six months to 31 December, up eight percent on the previous six-month period, on revenue of $204 million, up 44.7 percent from the previous half-year.

Ian Penman, managing director at Volante Group, said the company was competing well for corporate and government deals in organisations with 200 to 5000 seats.

“We are in the process of building a strong services-led business,” he said.

Much of the good result could be credited to a successful integration of former independent box-builder and service provider Ipex into the group, he said.

“The integration of Ipex’s hardware and government services business with our services and procurement business has increased Volante’s competency and skill base,” Penman said.

“It has also given us the scale to win an increasing share of the IT services and infrastructure market.”

The Global Remarketing business was hit by falling demand for used desktops. Its revenue plummeted 20 percent to $1.6 million, representing a loss of $0.3 million.

“Volante is considering realigning the business from refurbishing and marketing second-hand IT products to e-waste recycling,” the company reported to the ASX yesterday.

The combined Volante Systems and Ipex business for IT consulting, managed services and product procurement earned $197 million in revenue, including $11 million in total profit.

Volante Solutions upped its revenue 21 percent from the previous six months to $4.6 million. However, partnering costs from new vendor deals slashed total profit to $0.1 million, the company said.

Affinity IT, Volante’s recruiter, recorded profit before tax of $0.4 million, up 17 percent from a loss of $0.1 million in the previous half-year.

Although the group still carried $14 million in debt at 31 December, operating cash flow was expected to be positive for the full year to 30 June 2005, the company said.

Volante had not responded to requests for more information at press time.