Amaysim grows energy, mobile customers

Amaysim’s mobile subscribers grew 8 per cent to 1.16 million in the 12 months to 30 June, while its energy and broadband customers grew 16 per cent to 191,000 and 196 per cent to 15,000, respectively.

The telco recorded record revenue for FY18, but today also reported a large drop in net profit after tax. While revenue grew 77 per cent to $577.6 million, net profit after tax dropped 76 per cent to $2.7 million — the telco cited increased depreciation of technology investment and financing costs related to acquisition funding as factors in the profit slide.

“In 2018, we continued to invest in strategic initiatives that will position Amaysim for long-term growth and enable it to be competitive,” said CEO and managing director Peter O’Connell.

“This included the broadening of our suite of unlimited mobile products to target the new and growing sub-$20 market and launch of Amaysim Energy.”

The company reported a “solid result” in the face of a highly competitive market, he said. Amaysim is “no longer just a telco” but an “asset-light utilities provider focused on customer experience”.

O’Connell, a co-founder of the company, earlier this year replaced Julian Ogrin as chief executive following the former CEO’s departure for a role at Foxtel.

Amaysim CFO Leanne Wolski will leave the company in late October, the telco said today.

“I would like to thank Leanne for her significant contribution to Amaysim over the past eight years,” said Amaysim chairperson Andrew Reitzer. “Particularly throughout the critical period from start-up to becoming a publicly listed company, Leanne was a very commercial chief financial officer with a tremendous work ethic and a deep understanding of our business.”

O’Connell said that Amaysim expects intense mobile competition to continue in FY19, but the company is “still confident about the sector over the medium to long-term”.

“We continue to achieve strong mobile subscriber growth in July 2018 and expect the roll out of 4.5G and 5G networks in Australia over FY19 and FY20 to provide increased rationality and a slowing of competitive excess,” the CEO said.

The Australian reported earlier today that Optus and Amaysim have engaged in possible takeover talks. The rumoured talks follow TPG and Vodafone Hutchison Australia confirming that they have engaged in “exploratory discussions” around a potential merger.

The telcos are exploring a potential “merger of equals,” a TPG statement issued last week said. “At this stage, these are exploratory non-binding discussions, with no commitment from VHA or its shareholders,” VHA said.

Amaysim’s energy arm is currently facing legal action from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.