Quadtel turns profit – finally

Bruce Ind, CEO at Quadtel, said the company had concentrated on its core businesses of software republishing and distribution at the expense of its broadband arm. Quadtel had also begun promoting its republished software – particularly Panda antivirus products – to the corporate market through the reseller channel, a move expected to boost profits progressively in coming months.

“There are plenty of box-movers, and we were distributing Symantec and McAfee and dealing directly against HP. With broadband, vendors have become very aggressive in their pricing and many are dealing direct. So we moved back to our traditional model of high-margin republishing and distribution for niche vendors,” Ind said.

The company has maintained its investment in Chinese wireless networking vendor Hong Kong Dragon Industries. Ind believes wireless will reap stronger rewards than broadband long term. “We believe [Hong Kong Dragon] is worth a lot more than the auditors think,” he said.

Quadtel republishes titles for ScanSoft, Arcsoft, Panda Software, Newtech InfoSystems and Transparent Language, and distributes software for “about 10” other vendors through Australian retail and reseller channels. Quadtel shares opened at $A 0.009 on Friday.