Contract wins nearly double Empired's FY15 earnings

Enterprise IT solutions provider, Empired Limited, signed AU$65 million in new contracts in the financial year ending June 30, 2015, allowing the Australian-listed firm to post earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amoritisation (EBITDA) of AU$11 million, up 94 percent year-on-year.

Empired recorded net profit after tax of AU$5 million, up 135 percent from FY14, as well as AU$130 million in revenue, up 94 percent from last year -- AU$10 million higher than the company initially expected.

Empired managing director, Russell Baskerville told shareholders that his company had "come a long way, very fast" from 2012, when it had presence only in Western Australia, to now covering both Australia and New Zealand.

Last year, Empired purchased New Zealand-based IT services firm Intergen for a price of NZ$19.5 million. As part of the acquisition, Empired saw the addition of 825 staff members across Australasia and North America.

"Our acquisitions, now consolidated under the Empired brand in Australia and integrated into our mature structures, systems, and processes, are demonstrating very pleasing performance," Baskerville said.

In June, Empired landed a three-year, AU$15 million contract with Singapore-based InterOil Corporation; a AU$10 million, three-year deal was also signed with another global oil and gas organisation, which -- although unnamed -- also has its Australian headquarters in Perth.

In May, global mining giant Rio Tinto awarded Empired with a AU$20 million managed services contract; and last year, Empired announced a AU$12 million contract with the Ministry for Primary Industries in New Zealand.

Additionally, Empired signed a deal with Toyota Motor Corporation Australia to provide managed services to Toyota's core Microsoft platforms, as well as a contract with an unnamed Melbourne-based "professional services organisation" to provide managed cloud-based infrastructure as-a-service.

Looking forward, the company has predicted it will record AU$155 to AU$175 million in revenue in FY16 thanks to a "strong pipeline of major strategic contracts to be awarded".

"Key investments have positioned Empired to capitalise on structural shifts within the industry around social, mobile, analytics, and cloud, supported by multi-million dollar contracts and in-house IP," Baskerville said.

"Empired is well positioned to continue to deliver strong growth in FY16."