NEXTDC ON CLOUD NINE AS DATA CENTRES BATTLE CONTINUES

AS NEXTDC (ASX: NXT) continues its battle for control of the Asia Pacific Data Centres (APDC) (ASX: AJD), the cloud services provider has reported a massive rise in full year profit to $23 million.

The Brisbane-based tech company's net profit after tax was a huge leap from 2016's $1.8 million profit result.

NEXTDC generated revenue of $123.6 million, exceeding the top end of the guidance range, and earnings of $49 million.

"They demonstrate the company's continued strong growth with significant increases in contracted utilisation, strengthening EBITDA and a more than doubling of operating cash flow," says NEXTDC CEO Craig Scroggie (pictured).

"Coupled with liquidity greater than $600 million, NEXTDC is in an outstanding position to take advantage of current and future customer opportunities."

Those current opportunities likely include the ongoing battle to takeover Asia Pacific Data Centres.

Recently, APDC gave shareholders their blessing to sell to NEXTDC and allow the takeover to happen.

As of today, NEXTDC holds a 21.1 per cent stake in APDC, with the NEXTDC offer to close on 15 September.

Demand for NEXTDC's data centre services is at an all-time high, with the number of customers increasing by 19 per cent to 772. Scroggie says the company is currently talking to some big potential customers.

"We are currently in advanced negotiations in relation to several large customer opportunities, which are likely to result in a significant increase in the company's contracted utilisation base," says Scroggie.

Off the back of a strong FY17, NEXTDC expects FY18 to be even better. Guidance for revenue is in the range of $146 to $154 million for FY18 and earnings are expected to fall between $56 million and $61 million.

Following today's announcements NEXTDC's share value has risen by 1.88 per cent to $4.33.

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Business News Australia