Publications
Partners
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
Document and storage management specialist Metrofile said on Monday a return of clients to the office helped it deliver double-digit revenue growth in its year to end-June.
Revenue increased by 16% to about R1.1 billion, but profit only rose 3.2% to about R138 million, with the company reporting net finance costs were 18% higher at R58 million. Net debt rose by 11% to R496 million.
The company kept its dividend for the year unchanged at 18c but bought back about R33.7 million worth of its shares during the year, or about 2.3%.
Valued at about R1.3 billion on the JSE, Metrofile operates from 71 facilities at 36 locations, owning the equivalent of about 17 soccer fields in storage space. It also operates in Kenya, Botswana, Mozambique and the Middle East.
The 2023 financial year saw the return to offices by some of clients, which has increased the demand for both its products and services, Metrofile said - adding that actions taken towards the end of the previous year, including the investment in the go-to-market industry team, yielded positive results with growth in storage, image processing and products and solutions.
The group also got a boost from its late 2021 acquisition of IronTree, which provides data-management services, including cloud backup, disaster recovery and specialised server hosting in a private cloud, as well as cybercrime and ransomware prevention.
However, even excluding this organic revenue grew 13% in 2023, Metrofile said.
"The expansion of our core capabilities in digital and cloud services has distinguished Metrofile from traditional competitors," the group said in its results.
"Continued growth in the revenue contribution from digital services has validated our strategy of innovating across our core offerings. We are transforming our Company and preparing it for accelerated digital and cloud adoption by shifting our investments to strategic growth areas that will allow us to focus on accelerated market growth opportunities."
Shares in Metrofile were up about 3.4% in morning trade on Monday but have fallen just over 9% in the past one year.
