Snapshot: WiseTech Global – 1H '21 revenue & ebitda up; stock hits 2021 lows

WiseTech (WTC) reported on Wednesday its interims for the first six months of fiscal 2021 (ended 31 December 2020).

(Source WTC)

One key highlight, according to WTC, was “underlying NPAT up 61%*” (check out the table above; click to expand) as well as “efficiency initiatives on track to deliver $10 million of cost reductions in FY21”.

(*Aka “bottom line”. Also, underlying net profit after tax, or NPAT, excludes fair value adjustments from changes to acquisition contingent consideration; 1H21: $0.8 million; 1H20: $32.7 million)

Sourced from the firm’s statement – a snapshot of its P&L, balance sheet, cash flow statements is here – the overview of its first-half 2021 performance follows:

– Total Revenue of $238.7 million, up 16% on 1H20;

– CargoWise revenue up 19% (1H21: $150.0 million; 1H20: $126.5 million), a testament to increasing customer usage of the CargoWise platform;

– Acquisition revenue1 of $88.7 million, up 12% on 1H202;

– Strategic investment (via in-house R&D and acquisitions) is driving CargoWise’s revenue growth and market penetration delivering: a) geographic expansion; b) the addition of new functionalities and products; c) and increasing momentum in the number of global customer roll-outs of CargoWise (eight new sign-ups since 1 January 20203 : Aramex, Hellmann, deugro, CEVA Logistics, a. hartrodt, cargo-partner, Seafrigo Group and Hankyu Hanshin Express);

– Organisation-wide efficiency initiatives including synergies from acquisitions delivered $6.1 million in cost reductions in 1H21 (net benefit $1.0 million post $5.1 million restructuring costs);

– EBITDA of $89.2 million up 43% and EBITDA Margin up 7pp; reflecting continued revenue growth and cost reduction initiatives’

– Underlying NPAT 4 of $43.6 million up 61%;

– Cash at 31 December 2020 of $251.4 million; 1H21 free cash flow of $48.7 million up 74% on 1H20;

– Fully franked interim dividend of 2.70 cents per share declared, payable on 9 April 2021.

(…)

WiseTech Founder and CEO, Richard White said, “Notwithstanding the subsequent waves of COVID-19 in major markets, our business has continued to deliver solid revenue and EBITDA growth in 1H21.

“Our strategic focus on ‘Product, Penetration and Profitability’ has enabled us to continue to expand the CargoWise ecosystem, increase our market penetration, with eight new global customer roll-outs signed since 1 January 2020 and deliver 61% growth in Underlying NPAT, demonstrating the step change in operating leverage that we are achieving by extracting acquisition synergies and implementing organisation-wide efficiencies.”

More details about its performance can be found here. 

Stock down 7% to A$27.8 on Wednesday, in line with its 2021 lows.