WiseTech Global has once again underlined why it is a top-performing tech darling – its 2018-19 result on Wednesday showed solid revenue growth, good profits, a higher dividend and expectations for another big year in 2019-20.
It is a signal message to all those growth demanding investors that a good tech company can grow quickly and make profits – the product or products have to be spot on and offer something business needs, or has found difficult to do, but there has to be something different about them.
WiseTech’s global trade and logistics processing systems have that in spades, and the company in many respects is a growing beneficiary of Donald Trump’s illogical trade wars against Canada, Mexico, the EU and especially China.
So its continuing global expansion saw WiseTech Global report a 33% lift in full-year profit to $54.1 million, up from $40.8 million in 2017-18.
The company cited strong organic revenue growth and international acquisitions for driving a 57% jump in revenues to $348.3 million for the year to June 30.
That was better than the revenue growth guidance issued by 47% and 53% percent.
Founder and CEO, Richard White said yesterday he expects that to grow by as much as another 32% in 2019-20 to more than $450 million.
He said the increasing prevalence of tariffs, regulation and taxes are creating “ever stronger tailwinds for greater adoption” of WiseTech’s software as the firm raised its final dividend by a third of a cent to a fully franked 1.95 cents.
“The opportunity available to us is vast and while our growth rates to date have been strong our penetration of both customers and addressable markets is still in the early stages,” Mr. White told investors on Wednesday following the results announcement.
“In the last 12 months, the pain points across the industry have deepened.”Our global platform CargoWise turn these pains into tailwinds,” he added.
And with Brexit looming at the end of October, the stage is set for a company like WiseTech to do even better with the looming confusion about tariffs, trade rules, and processing problems.
The final dividend was lifted a third of a cent to $1.95 cents a share, making a total for the year of 3.45 cents a share, up sharply from the 2.65 cents paid for 2017-18.
The shares surged to $30.76, a jump of 11% in a market that was in the red all day.
Investors obviously appreciate the way WiseTech manages its profitable growth and shareholder rewards.
