Rhipe logs 47% growth in New Zealand business

Rhipe has racked up a record half year revenue, pulling in $69.5 million – a 44% increase compared to the same period a year earlier – with New Zealand performing strongly for the company.

The results, for the H1 2016 half year ending 31 December 2015, show Rhipe recorded revenue of $6.5 million in New Zealand for the period, up 47% on the $4.4 million recorded in H1 2015.

Gross margin for the company overall was $13.0 million, up 65% on the comparative period a year earlier. Underlying EBITDA, excluding growth, sat at $3.3 million, up 17% year on year.

However, despite the strong growth, the company recorded an overall loss of $772,000 for the period, an increase on the $317,000 loss recorded the same time a year ago.

That loss followed significant investment in new programs, including Microsoft cloud solution provider in Australia, LSP and IBM, with investment in new programs up 447% to $1.4 million. The company also invested in its new South East Asia markets to the tune of $1.2 million.

The distributor says it experienced 'solid' revenue subscription growth, with the significant majority of this revenue being monthly annuity based licensing revenue from more than 1750 technology service provider customers – up 17% during the period.

Those partner numbers were bolstered by Rhipe's appointment as a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider in Australia, alongside other key distributors, including Ingram Micro, and other South East Asia regions. That appointment saw the distributor add 482 customers, since July, of which 34% were new to Rhipe, the company says.

The company did not gain Microsoft CSP status in New Zealand.

The half year also saw Rhipe awarded a licensing program with IBM Softlayer to sell its public cloud products, and the signing of new vendor licensing relationships with a number of complementary software vendors to allow strategic bundled offers to the Rhipe customer base.

Rhipe says its growth continues to come from its heritage geographies of Australia and New Zealand, but that growth is now complemented by growth from its expansion into South East Asia, where its business 'continues to build momentum' in cloud licensing and is expanding its vendor relationships across multiple geographies.

Looking forward, Rhipe says its on track for revenue growth of 40% for the full financial year.