Data centre operator NextDC has announced a rise of 32% in its revenue for the first half of 2018, with revenue up to $77.5 million, compared to $58.7 million in the first half of the previous financial year.
Net profit after tax rose marginally to $8.4 million in the first half of FY2018. In the first half of the previous year, the NPAT was $19.3 million, but this included a one-off benefit of $11.3 million.
NextDC chief executive Craig Scroggie (below, right) said: “We are very pleased to report another period of record performance. These results clearly demonstrate the company’s inherent operating leverage and further showcase continued strong growth with significant increases in contracted utilisation.
"The first half’s performance also included a record period for project revenues and a record period for new interconnections.”
{loadposition sam08}The company said its contracted utilisation was up 9.2MW, or 31%, to 39.2MW compared to 30.0MW in the first half of the previous financial year.
Customers grew by 176, an increase of 25%, to 875 compared to 699 at the end of December 2016. Interconnections rose by 1984 (36%) to 7456 (31 December 2016: 5472).
“NextDC continues to lead the industry in technological development delivering the country’s first UTI certified Tier IV constructed data centres," Scroggie said.
"In addition to this engineering leadership the company also further demonstrates its commitment to be an innovator in sustainability through delivery of the industry’s most efficient NABERS 5-star certified data centres that deliver record low PUE; combined with continued investments in Operational excellence through UTI Gold Certification of Operational Sustainability.”
Commenting on the results, Rod Tucker, Laureate Emeritus Professor at the University of Melbourne and a well-known researcher in the question of energy efficiency and energy consumption in telecommunications and data centres, said it appeared that NextDC was attempting to highlight the fact that the capacity of their data centres had increased.
"But it is misleading – and, in my view, inappropriate," said Tucker. "The only way to convert consumed power into some measure of capacity is to also give details of the energy efficiency of the IT equipment and the overall efficiency of the plant, including the cooling equipment."
He said there was a growing global concern about the growing energy consumption of data centres. "Many companies overseas focus on promoting the fact that they are reducing energy consumption, not increasing it," he added, pointing iTWire to an article that dealt with this topic.
Ticker also commented that NextDC had mentioned that their buildings had “industry leading NABERS 5-star ratings for energy efficiency”.
"If you go to the NABERS website you will find that a 5-star rating is not industry leading, 6-star is," he said.
Photo: courtesy NextDC